StartupsTips

7th July 2013

Ido GreenDeveloper AdvocateGoogle

http://plus.google.com/+greenido

greenido.wordpress.com

Agenda●Tips from my experience

●A Failed Story

●BS To Avoid

●Q&A

Entrepreneur

A person who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so.

Mark Cuban

"Don't start a company unless it's an obsession and something you love. If you have an exit strategy, it's not an obsession."

Companies should be planning a legacy not exit strategy

Keep In Mind● Companies are efficient

● Technology is becoming

commodity

● Aim for real need

● Avoid a 'little feature'

startup

Freemium, Premium and BlaBla

● Great product - you should/cloud give free samples.

● Agile & Organization &OPs are CSF.

● If you not sure about returning users - improve your product.

Hiring The Right People

● Do it yourself (Hire only when you must)

● Don't pass on great people

● CV are full of 'years of irrelevance' (Try before you hire)

● Empower your team - Level 5 Leader

Good Is Fine

● MVP - When good enough get the job.

● Agile as you move○ Many small decisions are

better then a huge one.○ Small wins to keep

momentum.

● It's a speed boat○ Pivots quickly to

increase the success rate○ Money/Air/Time - you have a limited amount of it.

Start A Business Not a Startup

● Is it la-la land? ○ "We will use some ads here and there"○ First we wish to gain users...

● Build to 'exit' --> Build to flop.

Belief And Reality

● We know what 'they' want.

● We can predict the future because...

● Progress is execution against our plans.

● We are the only one who do X.

How To Move The Needle?

● Focus - Focus and more focus

● Passion

● Execution (Everyone got wonderful ideas)

● Plan / have a clear strategy but be agile

● Find good advisors and be willing to listen

What to do fast?

Build --> Ship --> Measure --> Improve -->

A Failed Story

Background (2003-2004)● Classified Ads are one of the Internet's best cash cows

with $1.4bn in 2001, 20% of all Internet advertising.

● Market may grow to replace the $20bn printed

newspapers classified sales.

● The company operates a successful classifieds search

tool in Israel as a joint venture with a leading portal, and

prepares to implement the concept in the USA.

The Need● There are thousands of classifieds websites

across the web with diverse specialties and

geographic focus.

● Consumers don't know all relevant websites.

● Searching takes too long.

The Product● A dedicated portal for classified● Offers added value services:

○ Ad history

○ Geo/local

○ Price predictor

○ Trends

Penetration / Revenue Models

● The service is sticky, and characterized by repeat users and multiple impressions.

● Thus, ROI on buying traffic and running campaigns is high.

● A click in means several clicks out.

● Per-click referral fee

● Expect ~30 cents per

click, 10s of millions

clicks per month.

● Display advertising

● eCPMs in verticals like

'cars' are high.

What Went Wrong?● Listen to users

("We need a faster horse")

● Fail often fail quickly (try to avoid 'known' mistakes)

● Follow people advice (Ignore some and try to understand it)

● Distribution / Market penetration(Harder - you think)

WTF?● Strategic partners

○ "Win-Win" situation(or not)

○ Don't put all your eggs in one basket (Even if you must)

Lessons Learned● Focus: solve one main

pain-point.

● Founding Team

Budget: You will need

more than you think.

● Partners

The “management

team” is not the

“decision making”

team. It’s a support

function.

What To Avoid

Entrepreneurs and BS

● “No one else can do what we're doing.”● “Our product will go viral.”● “Our projections are conservative.”● “The large companies in our market are too big /

slow to compete with us.”● “Fortune 500 companies are set to do X with us.”● “Hurry up because other investors are about to do

our deal.”● “We filed patents so our intellectual property is

protected.”● “All we have to do is get 1% of the market.”

Investors and BS

● “Show us some traction, and we will invest.”● “This is a plain, vanilla term sheet.”● “We love to co-invest with other firms.”● “I liked your company, but my partners didn’t.”● “We have lots of bandwidth to dedicate to your

company.”● “We are patient investors who want to help you

build a great company.”● “There are no companies in our portfolio that

conflict with what you're doing.”

Resources

● avc.com

● paulgraham.com

● Entrepreneurship Corner @ Stanford

● feld.com

● onstartups.com

● venturehacks.com

Q & AThank you!

http://plus.google.com/+greenido

greenido.wordpress.com