Getting funded

Getting Funded

Surfing MetaphorRe-created by Allen Kim

Surfing metaphor

The concept was initially came about by an investor in Sequoia Ventures as an analogy to what VCs look for in startups

Surfing metaphor

There are 4 parts to the surfing metaphor

1. The Surfer(Most important)

Surfer = The Team

The team is the most important aspect for early stage startups.

Your team must be smart, passionate with the idea, dedicated, and focused.

Qualities of a great team

• Tenacity (Don’t give up easily)

• Street smart (Go out talk to customers with the right questions)

• Resiliency (Entrepreneurs don’t die, they commit suicide)

• Willingness to accept risk (Go all in or go home get a job)

• Competitiveness (There are competitions. Play to win)

• Decisiveness / Gets things done (Get s&*t done fast)

• Ability to pivot (Best entrepreneurs fine tune their biz model)

Source: From Mark Suster’s Entrepreneur’s DNA

Experienced Entrepreneurs

$$$=

Give me $30M formy next startup

Sure no problem

Entrepreneur VC

2. The Wave

Wave = Market

VC’s want entrepreneurs tackling big problems (≠hard problems) with big market opportunity

Big Market

Pivot

Pivot

Small Market

Baby professional sports apparel

Baby apparel

Market Size

Understand what market you are addressing

• What’s the market for my product?• How many people are gonna pay for it?• How much are they gonna pay for it?• When are they gonna pay?

Addressable Market size for your business

Addressable marketis $1B+

(if true)

$$$

3. The Surfboard

Surfboard = Product

The surfboard analogy is all about what your product does and how it serves your market

You need a product that’s a 10x painkiller

Why?

Because it has to be compelling enough to change the way your customers normally do things and pay money to use your product

Surfboard = Product

The surfboard analogy is all about what your product does and how it serves your market

You need a product that’s a 10x painkiller

Why?

Because it has to be compelling enough to change the way your customers normally do things and pay money to use your product

Providing new value to customers = hard

Your product

What does my product do?

What pain point does it address?

How is this different from other products?Why should someone use this?What product does the market currently use?Can your product beat your competitor’s?

People love it so much,we are experiencing a hockey stick growth!

time

# users/customers

$$$

4. The RideThe Deal & Why now?

Why Now?

Fail pointsImmature Market

Product is great, but the market is not ready for it

Fail points

There are too many playersin the market (Groupons)

Saturated Market

You have to have a good understanding of why this product hasn’t been built before and why now is the best time the world needs this.

Why Now?

In addition to the market, the deal itself has to be fair: The valuation of your company’s worth and the structure of the term sheet.

The VC Deal

(Will go more into details in later presentations)

You need to check if the VCs have reputable investmentbackground, understand your industry, and are

friendly to founders with fair terms

(I’ll cover more on this in detail later)

I want 50% of your company for $100k

Oh and I want you out

How to get fundedSummary

The Team The Market

The Product Why Now

VC Funded = Startup success?

Where do entrepreneurs get their money?

http://video.kauffman.org/services/player/bcpid40280745001?bckey=AQ~~,AAAAAF1AP-k~,paP-6btd7SPcN3he8b6wgT6uI64ClnLc&bctid=1304559795001

VC Funded = Startup success

Successfully bootstrapped companies

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Thanks!Made by Allen Kim

www.allenkim.me

allenkim77@gmail.com