SG Emprende l David Weekly - Factores de Éxito para un Ecosistema Sustentable de Emprendimiento

Launching the Mexican Internet Boom
Observations from a Silicon Valley Nerd
David Weekly, November 2010, Mexico City

Where are we?

Where am I from?

What does SV have that MX doesn’t?
Good food?
Good weather?
Good programmers?
Good businessmen?
$ for ideas?
Better access to information?

What does SV have that MX doesn’t?
Good food? GREAT FOOD BOTH PLACES.
Good weather? GREAT WEATHER HERE.
Good programmers? SHARP HACKERS HERE.
Good businessmen? WORLD’S RICHEST BUSINESSMAN IS A MEXICAN.
$ for ideas? US GOV’T PROVIDES NO FUNDING.
Better access to information? PACKETS DON’T TAKE YEARS TO CROSS THE BORDER.

I Thought SV Funded Ideas!
(Kinda true in late 1990’s, but…)
Terrible idea.
No revenue focus
No validation for team/idea/market
0% 10-year returns
Angels Today? Looking for:
Validated idea & team
Fanatical, payingcustomers.
Ideas are worthless. The value is in execution.

SV Funding Infrastructure
Landscape is changing rapidly.
Friends & Family ($1k - $50k)
Angels ($50k - $1m)
Often ex-entrepreneurs, investing own money!
New resources like AngelList
Angel Groups ($250k - $2m)
Seed VC / Series A / Series B ($500k - $100m)

Why does Silicon Valley work?

Failure Acceptance
CA Gold Rush, 1849
Hard work earned you a chance at wealth, but no guarantees.

Failure Acceptance
If you want to succeed more, fail more.
Edison, Hewlett-Packard, Nintendo, GM!
Success hides failurepretty well.
Odio, Wirehog, Google Base
Could scientists learn anything if every experiment had to succeed?

Pay-it-Forward
Hippie Movement, 1960’s
Life is better together.
Joy > Dominion

Pay-it-Forward
Entrepreneurship is tough.
You need support, peers, and energy.
So do they.
You could, today:
Help a fellow entrepreneur.
Share something you know.
Ask for mentorship / advice.

Creating a Support Ecosystem
#1 = CONVERSATIONS.
Regular meetups
Mailing lists
Conferences
Places!
Read, write, discuss, hold each other accountable.

Don’t Be Afraid to Start Small...

…Things Can Grow Fast!!
SHDH 40
500+ hackers!
<18 months old
187members!
8000+ square feet

Sharing? What About Competition?
If you’re not both growing fast, you both fail.
Economic growth comes from innovation.
This is not a zero-sum game. Make more pie.

Scrappiness
Homesteading: 1800’s
The government gives you some empty land. You gotta take it from there.
Autonomy -> Prosperity

Scrappiness
Are you a programmer?
Start now. You have no excuses.
Are you not a programmer?
Befriend a programmer.
Learn how to program. 
Guess how much $ Shawn Fanning had to start Napster?

CocevePBwikiPBworks
Started in August 2003 as Coceve.
Quit my job: no idea what to build.
$6,000 in savings.
No office, no grant, no government loans.
Every day I’d look myself in the mirror:
“If I fail, it won’t be because I didn’t try.”

CocevePBwikiPBworks
Sole employee for 2+ years. $0 salary.
$60,000 raised from friends & family.
1.5 years on IM Smarter.
BotBlock, Coceve, SingleStat.us…
PBwiki: 1am->8am @ SHDH#1
The power of encouragement!
1.5 years later: 1st financing: $350,000.
0.5 years later: 2nd financing: $2,100,000.

CocevePBwikiPBworks
Ad supported? Low revenues
Prosumer? Limited market
Education? Semi-limited market
Small business? Slow growth
Creative professionals? Ah-ha! Legal & Agencies
Six years after starting the company, we find a reasonable product-market fit.

Important Lessons
Nobody cares how fancy the technology is.
Find people willing to pay to solve a problem.
Speak to their pain.
Be a solution and not a tool.

“Hustle”
Learn how to make a dollar from day one.
Trust: a capitalist with a clear business model.

What is Success?
Investment?
Sale of the company?
Profitability?
IPO?

What is Success?
Investment? NO WAY. (Masters, pressure)
Sale of the company?DEATH OF YOUR BABY.
Profitability?GONNA STAY THAT WAY?
IPO?LIABILITY, FORMS, PRESS, STRESS!!
There is no finish line.
You must be happy with every stage.

Not You:

What is sustainable?
Making more money than you spend.
Have the luxury of picking who invests in you, if anyone.
You pick if or when you want to sell.

Profitability = you in the driver’s seat.

Don’t be a Twitter Birdbrain
Beware deferred business models.
HUGE uptick needed…
…and if anything goes wrong…

You Need To:
Stop playing at entrepreneurship and start some real companies.
Stop waiting for government grants.
Start selling to international market.
Start shootingfor billionpeso opportunities.

Mexico Needs…
Successful & visible Internet entrepreneurs.
Role models.

Mexico Needs…
You.

Mexico Needs…
You.
to be rich, successful, visible, popular, supportive, and awesome.

So…
Get started!

Thank You.
David E. Weekly
@dweekly
david@weekly.org

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SG Emprende l David Weekly - Factores de Éxito para un Ecosistema Sustentable de Emprendimiento

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SG Emprende l David Weekly - Factores de Éxito para un Ecosistema Sustentable de Emprendimiento — Presentation Transcript