“The first thing you should learn in a course on entrepreneurship is how to make yourself valuable.”

•  Combine Skills •  Fail Forward •  Find the action •  Attract Luck •  Conquer Fear •  Write simply •  Learn Persuasion

Scott Adams WSJ 4/9/11

Entrepreneurial Lessons Learned By Sam W. Beal

SCU Apr 11, 2012

Linkedin/in/SamWBeal @sambeal Sambeal.com

“The first thing you should learn in a course on entrepreneurship is how to make yourself valuable.”

•  Combine Skills •  Fail Forward •  Find the Action •  Attract Luck •  Conquer Fear •  Write Simply •  Learn Persuasion

Scott Adams WSJ 4/9/11

Catch a paradigm shift, if you can

People tend to over estimate near-term change And under estimate long-term change

expectation

reality

entry exit

What business are you in?

Technology Products Solutions

Bigger

Faster

Cheaper

Time to Market antifuse

Plan on needing a Plan B

Don’t bet all your capital on Plan A Conserve funding until you validate assumptions with real users.

Validation is tricky

People tend to “see” evidence that confirms beliefs but overlook what doesn’t. Does the customer refer the product to friends? Is she still using it 3 or 6 months later? Anything that takes money or attention away from your target customer is competitive.

Validation is tricky

Plan B examples

AOL Yahoo Google Facebook

ISP Search Search edu directory walled garden + Netscape sold - $$$

yahoo 2.0 ?

display ad Portal verticals

Plan D?

adwords search + video + mobile + social

walled garden the future web

A

B

C

Can’t do Plan B, our patent is on Plan A

Xilinx 2010

A patent doesn’t mean you can make it or sell it

1998

You can be too early Right idea – Wrong time

If you are too early, you need

Deep pockets

Partners – Alliances, Evangelists

Patience Patent filed in 2007 issued on 2/21/12

Build a team, don’t be the team.

Summary

Good ideas aren’t enough Find a mensch Be a Samurai

Ideas, people and $$$ are not enough.

Find a mensch

Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom

@kevin was an intern under @Jack – the founder of Twitter and Square

Jason Calacanis*