Entrepreneurshit. The Truth About Building Starutps

Entrepreneurshit

The Real Story

Mark Suster

Seedcon – November 2012

@msuster

Software Developer (Accenture)

University of Chicago alum (MBA)

2x Startup CEO / Founder

VP Products, Salesforce.com

VC at GRP Partners in LA

BothSidesoftheTable

Me

So What It’s Really Like

What You Imagine When You Read TechCrunch

What It Really Feels Like

How You Imagine You Might Spend Your Days

How You Will Actually Spend Your Days

Raising Money After Y Combinator

You Raising Money

Founders You Know

Most Founders

Entrepreneurshit: All Joking Aside, It’s a Grind

We’re All Naked in the Mirror. Don’t Think Everybody Else is

“Killing It”

So What Does it Take to Succeed?

Tenacity

Resiliency

Street Smarts

Decisiveness

Ability to pivot (with a small “p”)

Inspiration

Perspiration

Risk Tolerance

Attention to Detail

Competitiveness

Domain Experience

Technical DNA

Some Suggestions to Make it Easier

Take 50 Coffee Meetings

Create a Sense of Urgency in Your Business

Ship Product

Manage What you Measure

Triangulate. Ask Lots of Opinions.

But In the End You Must Trust Your Own Judgment

Solve Real Problems

On Fund Raising

You Need to Meet Investors Early

Otherwise They’re Just Judging Your Presentation Skills

When I First Meet you, You’re a Dot

Over Time I Start to See a Patterns

And It’s OK if it’s Not Always Moving Up. I Get to See Your Resiliency

ABR

It’s Part of the CEO’s Fulltime Job. Get Used to It

Customer

BizDev

ProductMgmtRecruiting

Mktg

Raising Capital

Tech

HR

Acctng

If Raising Angel / Seed, You Need an Anchor

If you show proof the rest usually follow

You Need to Create a Sense of Urgency

Cuz We All Still Act Like We Did in High School

All Too Often FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) Drives Deals

Too Many Entrepreneurs Try to Over Optimize

Time

$

Company Progress / Valuation

Dilution

When Markets Turn, Progress Might Not = Valuation

Time

$

Company Progress

Valuation

And Some Good Companies Simply Don’t Get Funded

Time

$

Company Progress

Valuation

So Get As Long of a Runway as You Can (within Reason)

And Finally

Startups Really Are Roller Coasters

It’s Not All Glamour But If you Love the Game – Have Fun With It

There Will Never Be a Better / Easier Time to Go For It. If Not Now, When?

Q & A