Mark Suster - @msusterOctober 2013

Building & Funding a Startup

Background

2

2x Entrepreneur (sold 2nd to Salesforce.com)

Partner, Upfront Ventures (large LA-based VC fund)

Blog http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com

Lived in Europe 11 years

Blog: BothSidesoftheTableVideo: http://www.youtube.com/show/thisweekinventurecapital

Agenda

3

What’s it Really Like?

Getting Started

Raising Capital

Some Final Thoughts

How most

people imagin

e startup

life

What It Really Feels Like

How You Imagine You

Spend Your Days

Your Actua

l Days

Raising Money in

the Press

You Raising Money

Truthfully Startups

are a Grind

We’re All Naked in the Morning Mirror

Agenda

12

What’s it Really Like?

Some Tips When You Get Started

Raising Capital

Some Final Thoughts

Take 50 Coffee

Meetings

Create a Sense of Urgency

Prove You Can Ship Product

You Manage What you Measure

Don’t Hire

People Just Like

You

Agenda

18

What’s it Really Like?

Some Tips When You Get Started

Raising Capital

Some Final Thoughts

You Need to Meet

Investors Early

Otherwise They’re Judging Your

Presentation Skills

Frankly You Don’t Want to Judge Investors Quickly

Either

Over Time I Start to See a Patterns

It’s Part of CEO’s Fulltime Job. ABR. Always. Be.

Raising.

Customer

BizDev

ProductMgmtRecruiting

Mktg

Raising Capital

Tech

HR

Acctng

If Raising Angel / Seed, You Need an Anchor

Get As Long of a Runway as You Can (18 months the norm)

Agenda

27

What’s it Really Like?

Some Tips When You Get Started

Raising Capital

Some Final Thoughts

There are 99 Wantrapreneurs For Every One Who Just Starts

There’s a Huge premium for taking the first leap

Triangulate

In the End Trust Your Own

Judgment

Only start with an idea you’re passionate about

Mark Suster - @msusterOctober 2013

Thank You