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CONFIDENTIAL
Startup & Venture Lessons
Jay Jamison
Venture Partners, BlueRun Ventures
[email protected] | @jay_jamison | jayjamison.com
CONFIDENTIAL
Agenda
Introduction
Top 10 Lessons
Q&A
CONFIDENTIAL 3
Introduction
Employee Founder
Investor
CONFIDENTIAL 4
About BlueRun Ventures
• Over $1.0B under management
• Investing out of Fund IV ($240M)
• Focus: Mobile & consumer internet
• Seed & Series A
CONFIDENTIAL 5
Stuff that surprised me
• Having nearly 10 years at MSFT didn’t matter at all.
• Having an MBA from Wharton mattered even less.
• Both were seen as basically negatives.
• But, several of the skills from both really helped.
CONFIDENTIAL 6
Top 10 Startup Lessons
1. Today’s Golden Age For Founders & Its Double-Edge Sword.
2. What’s #1: Markets, Team, or Product?
3. Picking Co-Founders & How to Split the Baby.
4. The “Whatever Works” Principle
5. Getting used to “No,” and Being a Meat Eater
6. Hire Slow, Fire Fast
7. Distribution is Really Hard & Really Important
8. If You Stop Loving It, Make a Change.
9. Values and Value Add
10. Pitching & Fund-Raising
11. My go-to resources
CONFIDENTIAL
Lesson 1:It’s a Golden Age for Entrepreneurs….
Cheaper than ever to start a company.
Better resources
• Incubators: Y-Combinator, 500Startups, …
• Resources: Startup Digest, Lean Startup, TC, VB
Technology is easier to learn, access, &c.
• Codecademy
• RoR
• AWS
CONFIDENTIAL
… And Investors Understand This.
I see lots of great companies that are:
• Capital efficient
• High velocity in coding and releasing
• Product in market with traction
• Clear customer insight on what works
• Battle-tested founding teams
• Clear, concrete ask on what $$$ they need
CONFIDENTIAL
Implication
While we’re in a Golden Age for Entrepreneurs, it is raising the bar
for most very early stage companies…
You need to prove more on very little money, because so many other
start-ups are already doing so.
CONFIDENTIAL
Lesson 2: What’s #1: Markets, Team, or Product?
Which is most important?
A.Market
B.Product
C.Team
CONFIDENTIAL
Which is most important?
A.Market
B.Product
C.Team
CONFIDENTIAL 12
Analysis
• 75 pitches / quarter
• 0-2 get to term sheet
• Score each
• Multiple regressionProduct
Traction
Team
Market
CONFIDENTIAL
• World’s largest store
• Redefine social
• Organize & access information
• Reinvent money
• ????Your Company
How I think about Markets Choose Any 4 Companies, Stack Rank Vision
CONFIDENTIAL
• World’s largest store
• Redefine social
• Organize & access information
• Reinvent money
• Teach English to children everywhere
How I think about Markets Choose Any 4 Companies, Stack Rank Vision
CONFIDENTIAL 15
Lesson 3: Picking Co-Founders & Equity Split
What a tech founder needs in a business co-founder…
• Someone who sells what you build
• Someone who can do all the important stuff that’s not coding
• Leadership and vision
• Potentially you can raise money, while you code.
What a business co-founder needs in a tech co-founder…
• Someone who writes code and gets technical stuff done, and who ideally understands how to hire and expand the technical team over time.
• Technical chops, CS/EE degree
• Nice to have: a track record building stuff
• Very nice to have: Ideas on how to hire devs
CONFIDENTIAL 16
Finding a Technical Co-Founder
More important than fund-raising
Requires almost the same skills
• Pitching and salesmanship
• Capacity to speak enough geek
• Resourcefulness
CONFIDENTIAL 17
Default founder split: equal
50%50%33%
33%
33%
CONFIDENTIAL 18
Lesson 4:The Whatever Works Principle
Lean Startup
Scrum
StealthCo
Never stealth!
Customer Development
If you’re not embarrassed with your first launch, you’re waiting too long. –
Reid Hoffman
Minimum Viable Product
Revenue from Day 1
Building for Scale
OffshoreEverything Inhouse
HTML5
Native Apps
You never get a second chance to make a first impression. – Anon.
CONFIDENTIAL 19
Whatever Works
Lean Startup
Scrum
StealthCo
Never stealth!
Customer Development
If you’re not embarrassed with your first launch, you’re waiting too long. –
Reid Hoffman
Minimum Viable Product
Revenue from Day 1
Building for Scale
OffshoreEverything Inhouse
HTML5
Native Apps
You never get a second chance to make a first impression. – Anon.
My Advice & Learning:
• Absorb all this stuff
• Listen to people you trust
• Use what works for you
• The key is work fast & economically
CONFIDENTIAL 20
Lesson 5:Get Used to No
As Founder: Heard “No” a lot, especially fund-raising
• At least 150 times
• From 5 different countries
As an Investor: I say “No” a lot, especially to fund-raisers
• Probably 1%
CONFIDENTIAL 21
What’s weird about this…
• These numbers are probably about average
• Generally “No” coming from smart, polite person
(Not always the case, so be careful)
• Under 10% of founders really follow-up and stay after it
• Lesson: build a plan to deal with “No”…
CONFIDENTIAL 22
Be A Meat-Eater
• Speed
• Swagger & optimism
• Persistence
• Follow-through
• Showcase progress
CONFIDENTIAL 23
Lesson 6:Hire Slow, Fire Fast
Hire Slow• Wait for real pain
• Everyone interviews
• Share feedback
• Do reference checks
• Dinner w/ SO
Fire Fast• When perf lags, speak up
• Set clear expectations
• Set a crisp timeline
• Fire
• Ensure lawyer is in loop
CONFIDENTIAL
Lesson 7: Distribution, distribution, distribution
This is by far the weakest part of your business at this point
And, it is also one of the most important…
CONFIDENTIAL 25
Love It or Leave It
CONFIDENTIAL 26
Lesson 9Values & Value-Add
Values are key from day 1
• Set them & talk about them constantly.
• No “right” way to do this, but doing it is important
Value-Add is also a key from day 1
• If someone stops pulling their weight, deal with it
CONFIDENTIAL
Lesson 10 Thoughts on Fund-Raising
CONFIDENTIAL
Logistics : Pre-Meeting
• Arrive 15 minutes early every time
• Have back-ups (2nd PC, Dongles, USBs)
• Treat everyone you meet politely
• Setup & preflight ppt & demo before meeting starts
• Bring ideally 2-3 people
Remember: You are SELLING
CONFIDENTIAL
Logistics: During Meeting
• Give everyone who attends a role
• Script which person handles which slide(s)
• Assign a scribe, every time
CONFIDENTIAL
Logistics: Q&A During Meeting
Often badly managed, and very important
Answer questions directly
Script answers on the obvious questions– How much are you raising?– How long does this last?– What beachhead markets do you think are most promising?– What holes exist in your team?– Why won’t Google, Facebook, Twitter, or someone else eat your
lunch?– What makes you the right team to do this?
CONFIDENTIAL
Logistics: Post Meeting
• Scribe: Write down all new QA for FAQ
• Follow-up in email that day w/ thanks, etc.
• Do what you need to handle rejection
• Keep positive & keep in touch
CONFIDENTIAL 32
Go To Resources
• TechCrunch, VentureBeat, TechMeme, etc.
• JoelonSoftware
• http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/
• Startup digest
• Netflix on Culture
• Compstudy.com
• Igor International Naming Guide
• Paul Graham’s blog.
CONFIDENTIAL 33
Thanks!