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WhatTheyDontTeachYouinCollege-BecomingaSuccessfulTechEntrepreneur

(InspiredbyBruceNelsonsCMUCSImmigra;onCoursetalk)

Sco$Dietzen,CMUCSPh.D.CEO,PureStorage

sco$@dietzen.com

dietz@purestorage.com

Original content herein available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License

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ThistalkdedicatedtothememoryofBruceNelson,CMUCS82

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WhyDietzforthistalk?(i.e.,whyIfeltsufficientlypresumptuoustovolunteer) WhileIcantfillBrucesshoes Brucehelpedinspiremyentrepreneurship Ivehadsomemodest

successasanentrepreneur

TransarcIBM WebLogicBEASystems ZimbraYahoo!VMware PureStorage?

Acknowledgements IplagiarizedfromBrucesoriginaltalk JohnDunham(BrucesAuspexcoworker&friend)

sharedpictures

Dietzen - TechEntrepreneurship

Preamble

Blogpostwri@enbyJohnaerBrucesdeath

h@p://rob3rt.com/bruce/BZM_Days/BZM_19990923/BZM_Archive199909234.html

Sourceofmyphotos:h@p://rob3rt.com/bruce/1.html

h@p://rob3rt.com/bruce/2.html

h@p://rob3rt.com/bruce/3.htmlh@p://rob3rt.com/bruce/4.html

h@p://rob3rt.com/bruce/5.html

h@p://rob3rt.com/bruce/6.html

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WhyImaFailedResearcher

Wantedtoputtechtoworkatchangingtheworld Ques^onedevalua^oncriteriaforresearch

(Non-CMU)Academiaseemedpoli^cal Moneylessarbitrarywaytokeepscore?

Fatherwasanentrepreneur Imnotsmartenough

Financialrewardswere(andshouldbe)secondary

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ProductsareHarderthanTechnology

Gengatech.productrightisveryhard Reliability/qualityassurance Easeofuse/designConsumer-ifica^onofIT Security&manageability Maintenance&packaging(SaaS,on-prem?) Forsuccess,eatyourowndogfood

Buildingsomethingnewfromscratchismuchharderthanenhancingsomethingthatsalreadysuccessful

Toptalentgravitatestostartupsbecause Theyreceivecommensuraterewardfortheiruniqueimpact Theygettosetasidelegacyconstraints

(Dietzsbestrecrui^ngline:Doyoureallywanttospendyournextyearturning10

year-oldsowareinto11yearoldsoware?)Dietzen - Tech Entrepreneurship 5

The intellectual level needed for system design is in general

grossly underestimated. I am convinced more than ever that thistype of work is very difficult and that every effort to do it withother than the best people is doomed to either failure or moderate

success at enormous expense. Edsger Dijkstra

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GengYourProductAdopted

Isoenharders^ll

Forallmarkets(consumer&business),enduser^meandmoneyarescarce!

Forsuccess,focusonspecificenduserstodeeplyunderstandtheirpainand/oraspira^ons

Mosttypicaldownfall:Interes^ngtechnology,butinsufficientvaluetocommandendusera$en^on

WhydoIcarerightnow?Forsellingtoenterprise,top3painkillersma$ermost;vitaminscangenerallywait

Doyouhaveaproductorafeature?Areyou10Xbe$erthantheincumbent?

Gengtheproductrighttakes^meandenduserfeedbackDietzen - Tech Entrepreneurship 6

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WhyNon-TechnicalIssuesMa$er

Sincetechnologyisgenerallythemeans,nottheend Togettechnologyadoptedintherealworld,youneedto

makethebusinesscasetothetechnologyend-user

Definecompellingvalueproposi^on Framedintermsthecustomerandpartnersfindcompelling Getyourmessagetothebuyer/adopter

Thereisaveryhighhurdlefordoingthis Thinkreceivingsolicita?ons

atyourhome! Thisiswhyproductmgmt.,marke^ng,

andsalesarehighly-valued

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Corollary:WhyDoTechnologistsFeel

(Rela^vely)Underpaid?

Becausetheydontunderstandthegame

Technologistscanfeelsales&marke^ng

aretrivial Butinmostcompanies,R&Dis

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GotoMarket(GTM)Innova^on

YourGTMstrategy(thehow,why,whoofselling)shouldevolvealongwithyourproduct

Consumerwebsites,opensource,otherfreebiesallowyoutoseparateadop^onfrommone^za^on

PRandviralpromo^onfarmoreeffec^ve&cheaperthanads/telemarke^ng

Goalistherepeatablesellanenduseradop^oncycleinwhichcustomerisiden^fied,receivesthepitch,andyouwin

oenenoughtojus^fyacquisi^oncost

DontscaleyourGTM(steponthegas)un^lyouhaveyourproductand

yourrepeatablesell

(thinkMythicalManMonth)

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Evolu^oninGTM

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OldSchoolTop/Down($) NewSchoolBoJom/Up()

Salesini^ates&controlsengagement

Customerini^ates&controlsengagement

ColdcallSalescall PRWebsite

Salesmakesbusinesscase;

qualifiescustomer

Customervisitswebsite&

self-qualifies,buys

Chargeforvalue Givevalueaway,mone^zeelsewhere(thinkrazor&blades)

Customerpaysupfront Payonlyaervalueisproven

SEinstallsproduct Customertriesfree/trailversionof

productthatcanbeupgradedlater

Companycontrolsproduct Companyfosterscommunity

(opensourcedev,publicforums,

opendefecttracking)

Staffsalestohitrevenuetarget Staffsalesasproduc^vitygrows

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LackofFocus-Sayingno Lackofcompellingproduct(especially

simplicityandquality)

LackofwinningGTMmatchedtoproduct

Weakexecu^on Missingskills Teamcomesapartor

doesntcometogether Insufficientlyresponsivetochange Overlyresponsivetochange

Ferociouscompe^^on Misstechnologyseachanges 11

WhyTechStart-upsFailwhentheOpportunityisReal

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Tech

Tech

GTM

GTM

Tech

EntrepreneursAlly:TheDislocator

Opportunity:~Tenyearsago Googlehadntmadeitsfirstdollarfromsearchadver^sing Applehadbeenwri$enoff;Facebookdidntexist Virtualiza^onandVMware?

NoWebLogicwithout TheWeb(ledtocrea^onofnewcategory---TheWebApp.Server) Java&standardWebprogrammingAPIs(J2EE) TheInternetfreetrialdownload

NoZimbrawithout Richlyinterac^veWebUIviaAjax(Web2.0) Mash-ups(Web2.0) OpenSource TheOpenCorebusinessmodel

PureStorage? Flashmemory

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TechnologyAdop^onCurve

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ThisisthebestcasescenarioAlltechaspirestobelegacy Shapeofthetailcanbeveryflat(Ethernet&IP,Intel

architecture)

Orverysteepasoldwavesupersededbynewone

*ThanksGeoffrey

Moore

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Dietzs2011TopTenTechDislocators

1. MobileWebHTML5-capablephones/tabletswilltrumpPCsastheprimaryInternetinterface(Bonus:Majorityofhumanityon-line)

2. Mobilecontent&commerceMobiledevice+appstrumptradi^onalmediaformats&security/creditcards

3. FlashmemoryStoragemedialosinggroundtoCPUfordecades;virtualiza^on&clouddrivinguprandomI/O(disk95%+inefficient)SeeJimGrays

Tapeisdead,Diskistape,Flashisdisk,RAMlocalityisking

4. Cloud&DevOpsElas^ccompu^ng(public&privateclouds)viacommodityhardwareandupdatedopera^ons

infrastructure(Bonus:convergepublic/private?)

5. SaaSThosewhowritetheapplica^onsowareshouldmaintain,secure,andmanageit

(Bonus:Solveapp.integra^ononceatscale?)Dietzen - Tech Entrepreneurship 14

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Dietzs2011TopTenTechDislocators(Cont.)

6. SocialNotonlychangingthewaywecommunicate,butalsochangingthewaywedealwithinforma^on(assearchdidbeforeit)

7. BlendedReali;esGamingisgengmorereal(e.g.,social)&good-oldrealityisgengaugmentedwithvirtualworlds

8. BigDataHowtobestleveragethedataweredrowningin;Howcanweeffec^velyminethesmartstherein?Scienceslikeastronomyand

par^clephysicshavebeenrecastasbigdataproblems

9. Func^onalProgrammingandNoSQLHowcanwesimplifyprogrammingformassively-parallel,massively-distributed,high-

performancesystems?

10. Collabora^onintheLargeContentandsowareauthored

acrossorganiza^onal,geographic,andlanguage

boundariesviaopensource&be$ertooling

11. ???Dietzen - Tech Entrepreneurship 15

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TechDislocators

Dogiveyourproductleveragevs.theincumbentsandhencetheopportunitytochangetheworld

Dontchangethefundamentals:Yous^llneed Amarketopportunity Agreatproduct Astellarteam GTMplanthat

enablesyoutoreachthatmarket

(Thiscomboispre$ymuchallIlookfor)

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Team+Idea,ThenMoneyPremierventurecapital Why?

Defactosealofapprovalforcompany/product Tradeshareofownershipforresources Lettheprostaketherisk

(entrepreneur'sriskischieflyopportunitycost)

Getpluggedintothenetwork Earlywarningaboutcompe^^on Helpwithrecrui^ng Easiertogetmoney

downtheroad

Smarterthanstrategicindustrymoney

WhyNot? Dilu^on Interference/lossofcontrol Youneedagoodfit

(Thinkthesisadvisor)

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WhatVCsWant(MostlytheSameThings

thatEntrepreneursWant)

Hugemarketopportunity(Stretchgoal)

Safetynetondownside(Moremodestgoals)-KeepinmindVCsonlyneed

someoftheirbetstohit Awesomefounding/early-stageteam Deepknowledgeofthetargetcustomer Unfairadvantage-Hightechnicalhurdlesforcompe^tors

surmountableforyou

FaiththatteamwillfindacompellingGTMstrategy(Techonlypartofthebusinessplan)

Butallatalowvalua;on Note:SiliconvalleyVCsgenerallydontneedtoseeabusinessplan!

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WhatVCsWant-FundingtoMilestones

Capital

Risk ()

Valuation

Idea is

Feasible

Beta or FCS

(customervalidation)

Repeatable sale

identified andproven

Seed R&D Ship Expansion

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ABrilliantMomentinJavaHistory?

Excerptsfromacommi$eemee^ngregardingtheforma^onoftheJavaCommunityProcess(JCP):

Dietz:

Sunexec:Andwhywouldyoupossibly

thinkthatthatsgoingtobeacceptable?

Dietz:Well,IguessImjustablind,stupidop^mist.

Anotherexec(laughing):Sco$,Isurehopeyoudontloseyourop^mism,causethenyoure

justgoingtobeblindandstupid!

Ifyouaspiretolead,op^mismisessen^al

justtrynottobeblindandstupid

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Scott Dietzen 21

Recommenda^onsfor

TheWould-BeEntrepreneurs

Blind,stupidop^mismrequired Learnhowtowriteandspeakwell Beateamplayer

(theresnoiinteam)

ButalsobealeaderTakeresponsibility

Touchcustomers Workonintersec^onoftech/business

(productmgmt.,productmarke^ng,technicalsales)

Learntobecomfortablemakingdecisionsfromincompleteinforma^on

Prac^cework/lifebalanceItsamarathon,notasprint

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GengStarted

Ifyourenotquitereadyforyourownstart-up,joinsomeoneelses! Start-upexperienceisvastlybe$erthanbigcompanyexperience Anditsmorefun

Evalua^ngstart-upsishard Greatteam Compellingmarketopportunity,product&GTMvision Wellconnected Maylearnmoreataloser, Butfarbe$ertotrytofindawinner

Findingstart-upsisalsohard InSiliconValley,therearetoo

manytokeeptrackof

OnetrickCheckouttherostersofthetopVCs,e.g. Greylock&Su$erHill(Pure) Benchmark,Redpoint,&Accel(Zimbra) AndreessenHorowitz,Sequoia

Mostwillacceptyouresumedirectly Ortrytofindarecruiter

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Dr.BrucesFinalExam Purelytechnicalissuesareofter^aryimportance.Predic^ngtechnology

evolu^onanddeliveringhigh-addedvaluetothebusinessarefirstandsecond

CSeduca^onoenblissfullyignoresthis Start-upcompanieshavethebestwealthpoten^al,

butrequirethehighesteffort,discipline,

commitment,andrisk

Thegreatesttechnicalinfluencecomesoutofconnec^ngtechnologytothe

business(CTO,technicalmarke^ng/sales,

productmanagement,etc.)

Compensa^oniscommensuratewithresponsibilityandabilitytoassimilateincompleteinforma^onandactdecisivelyuponit

ManyCSgradswithmaturitybecomegreattechnicalmanagers.Farfewerbecomegreat

marketeersorexecu^ves

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TheCharge Greatestthingaboutourindustryiswhat

asmallgroupofpassionatepeoplecanaccomplish

Mobilephones,opensource,andcloudshavedrama^callyreducedthehurdlestoyoursuccess

Youjustneedthesparkforanamazingproduct! Fourgoldenrulesforconver^ngthatsparktosuccess

Cashisyourlifesupply,manageitruthlessly(formostofyou,thatmeansnotoverstaffing,innumbersorinseniority)

Getthefirstversionoutthedoorquickly&iterate...don'twaitfortheperfectproduct Focusoninnova^oninbothproduct&GTM Makedecisionsfast.Somewillbewrong.Makesureyouhave

enoughfeedbackinthesystemtocoursecorrect

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BestQuoteonEntrepreneurship?

Youmustneverconfusefaiththatyouwillprevailintheend---whichyoucan

neveraffordtolose,withthediscipline

toconfrontthemostbrutalfactsof

yourcurrentreality,whateverthey

maybe.

AdmiralJimStockdale

Thanks you!

Comments most welcome.

scott@dietzen.com

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