TEN things every startup TE founder can do to un-fail their startup - PDF document

8/9/17 TEN things every startup TE founder can do to un-fail their startup Colin Kinner | Founder, Startup Onramp | 2 September 2017 @ColinKinner 1

8/9/17 billion billion 2

8/9/17 Startup = growth Paul Graham, Y Combinator NOT Scalable Revenues $ Costs time 3

8/9/17 NOT Scalable Revenues $ Costs time Scalable Revenues $ Costs time 4

8/9/17 1. Think BIG 5

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8/9/17 2. Do some market research 7

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8/9/17 Source: https://steveblank.com/2013/11/08/a-new-way-to-look-at-competitors/ Attribute Attribute Attribute Attribute 1 2 3 4 Us ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ Competitor A ✖ ✔ ✖ ✖ Competitor B ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ Competitor C ✔ ✖ ✖ ✖ Competitor D ✖ ✖ ✔ ✖ 9

8/9/17 Us Competitor D Attribute 1 Competitor C Competitor B Competitor A Attribute 2 3. Tell EVERYONE about your idea 10

8/9/17 NDAs 11

8/9/17 4. Build a great landing page 12

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8/9/17 If you need a designer. . . get a designer. 14

8/9/17 29 5. Validate your idea with CUSTOMERS 15

8/9/17 THERE ARE NO FACTS INSIDE THE BUILDING A startup is a company that's confused about (1) what its product is, (2) who its customers are, and (3) how to make money Dave McClure, 500 Startups 16

8/9/17 Lean Canvas PROBLEM SOLUTION UNIQUE VALUE UNFAIR CUSTOMER PROPOSITION ADVANTAGE SEGMENTS Outline a possible List the top 1-3 problems solution for each A single, clear, What advantages do you List your target problem compelling statement have that can’t be easily customers and users about why customers will bought or copied buy your product KEY METRICS CHANNELS EXISTING EARLY ADOPTERS HIGH-LEVEL ALTERNATIVES List the key numbers that List your path to CONCEPT tell you how your customers List the characteristics of List how these problems your ideal customers business is doing One-line description of are solved today your business (eg. YouTube = Flickr for videos) COST STRUCTURE REVENUE STREAMS List your main fixed and variable costs List your sources of revenue www.leanstack.com 17

8/9/17 “Business plans are as good as following directions given by a blind chimpanzee.” Franck Nouyrigat Co-Founder, Startup Weekend “Business plans are as good as following directions given by a blind chimpanzee.” Franck Nouyrigat Co-Founder, Startup Weekend 18

8/9/17 6. Bring technical skills into the team “We won’t back founders who have an agency as a co-founder. Employees care 10x less than founders. And agencies care 10x less than employees.” Source: https://medium.com/blackbird-ventures/what-blackbird-is-looking-for-in-2017-bfada0be5aa1 19

8/9/17 “A tech startup without dedicated, in-house technology expertise is a recipe for failure and disaster. With no tech skills in your founding team, your startup is broken at multiple levels.” Source: http://www.smartcompany.com.au/startupsmart/advice/business-planning/steve-baxter-on-why-a-founding-team-with-no-tech-skills-is-doomed/ No, I will NOT be your technical co-founder. 20

8/9/17 7. Implement founder vesting 100% Monthly vesting 75% Percentage vested One year cliff 50% 25% 0% 0 12 24 36 48 Months 21

8/9/17 “Most startup teams will not survive the first year intact. If someone leaves after six months but keeps all the equity, that’s a bad situation for us and for the rest of the team.” Source: http://www.afr.com/brand/boss/the-one-mistake-every-startup-founder-should-avoid-20170214-gucm6i Rick Baker, Blackbird VC 8. Get your name right 22

8/9/17 Choose a name that’s easy to spell 23

8/9/17 Choose a name that’s easy to pronounce 24

8/9/17 A great name is S imple M emorable A vailable R epurposeable T imeless Get the .com 25

8/9/17 Avoid domain hacks 26

8/9/17 Like these. . . facebo.ok face-book.com getfacebook.com facebookapp.com facebook.io facebook.fm facebook.biz facebook.net 27

8/9/17 9. Understand metrics 28

8/9/17 Pirate Metrics A cquisition: Customers acquired from various channels A ctivation: GET Customers have a positive first visit and plan to come back R etention: Customers care enough to come back KEEP multiple times R eferral: Customers love your product and refer GROW others R evenue: Customers pay for your product North star metric = The single most meaningful metric for your startup Daily active users Nights booked Messages sent Gross transaction value 29

8/9/17 10. Understand investors 3Fs Accelerators Angels VCs 30

8/9/17 > > Smart, Dumb, Dumb, involved involved passive money money money Startups Speculative listed stocks Return Blue chip listed stocks Government bonds Risk 31

8/9/17 Return Risk 11. Become a pig (not a chicken) 32

8/9/17 > 12. Join a community of entrepreneurs 33

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8/9/17 @ColinKinner colin@startuponramp.com Ph 0411 122 976 www.startuponramp.com 36