lessons learned: pace, focus, niche and investments - startup live vienna
Post on 21-Oct-2014
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My talk at Startup Live ViennaTRANSCRIPT
#sulvienna13 – @andreasklinger
LessonsLearned
The hype of
“Startups”
[ ] Do magic landing page
[ ] Build your thing
[ ] Go to shit-loads of conferences
[ ] Get Investment
[ ] Get on Techcrunch
[ ] Get viral
[ ] Get rich
[ ] … or fail and start an accelerator
There is too much noise…
We tend to believe the “rockstar” sh*t
Some lessons from someone been
there.
INVESTORS
Carmen Busquets
Dave McClure
Eden Ventures
Sherry Coutu
Tom Hulme
Seedcamp
500 Startups
LOOKK
Social Discovery &
Shopping of emerging
Fashion Designers.
Text
2.0
June 2010
Sept. 2011
May 2012
@andreasklinger
OK GO
June 2008
QUIT Oct 2012
No time for
War-stories.
Read: www.klinger.ioor: http://www.thegap.at/autoren/autor/redakteur/
andreas-klinger/
@andreasklinger#sulvienna13
slides: http://slideshare.net/andreasklinger
#sulvienna13 – @andreasklinger
LessonsLearned
#sulvienna13 – @andreasklinger
Don’t rush
#howtoweb – @andreasklingerflickr: good_day
Don’t rush ahead.
Typical patterns something is wrong:
“We need more customers”
“We just need an investment”
“We are looking for a VC”
“How do i scale”
… but no market proof
#howtoweb – @andreasklingerfoto: LEAN LA
Startups have phases.
Find problem/solution
Find product/
market
Get efficient in Cust-acq.
Scale into similar
markets and products
Always be aware - Which phase are you?
Act accordingly
#howtoweb – @andreasklingerflickr: neilarmstrong2
E.g. Marketing Stunts, PR Campaigns
Without a proven product you get thousands
people on your product. They will not stick. Just
slide off.
Teflon Marketing
Usually biggest reason your product doesn’t sell:
It’s not solving the customers problem.
Focus on customer retention not acquiring more.
#howtoweb – @andreasklinger
Find problem/solution
Find product/
market
Get efficient in Cust-acq.
Scale into similar
markets and products
There is nothing you learn from 1000 or 10.000
potential customers, you wouldn’t learn from 10 or 100.
QualitativeValidation
QuantitativeApproaches
#sulvienna13 – @andreasklinger
Focus
Focus your product.
Don't confuse long-term vision with short-term strategy.
What is really the coreof what you do?Start with that and nothing else.
Plan outcomes not tasks
What’s your product’s job.
Do guys get racing cars just to drive to work?
Read about Jobs to be done framework by Clayton Christensen
Understanding the real job: - better value description - better focus - better product differentiation
flickr: bombeador
Marry a problem, not a solution
Space
Problem
,- current
| solution
#sulvienna13 – @andreasklinger
Please watch Rob’s Talk:
http://bit.ly/rf-custdev
When we speak with
customers…
We bias them…
#sulvienna13 – @andreasklinger
Niche, but globally
flickr: jdhancock
We are trained to niche
regionally.
Find your global niche
Find your global’s best…
Customers, Partners, Advisors
Get traction in your niche before you
extend.
#sulvienna13 – @andreasklinger
#sulvienna13 – @andreasklinger
Investment
flickr: bombeador
For proofing
- you need surprisingly little
Try not to mix them up.
Money is either…
For growing
- did you proof?
#sulvienna13 – @andreasklinger
flickr: bombeador
It’s easy to get a meeting.
VCs have “Radar” people. “Associates.”
Nothing but a time-sink.
Don’t think of investments as a
milestone
“We are talking to VCs”
#sulvienna13 – @andreasklinger
#howtoweb – @andreasklingerflickr: nasamarshall
Draft your company’s topics
How to approach
investment:
Find the best possible advisors for each topic.
Global people. Try to get them commit in time
first, then in investment.
community hotels
marketplaces global scale
B-level people
give C-level advice
Work with the best accelerators and
incubators to get network to advisors.
Risk-takers need guidance.
Best incubators:
YCombinator
500 Startups
Tech Stars
Seedcamp
Angelpad
flickr: eole
Avoid the typical mistakes…
* NO GMBH
* NO STATEFUND
* DO VESTING
* FUNDRAISE GLOBALLY
“There is no
Heimvorteil in
investment…”
#sulvienna13 – @andreasklinger
flickr: good_day
Summary:
Don’t rush, be aware of your phase
Focus.
Be strategic about investment
Get traction by global niching
#sulvienna13 – @andreasklinger
#sulvienna13 – @andreasklinger
Thanks!
Feedback & Questions please.
flickr: pictureperfectpose