Speech notes: http://bit.ly/gwu-startup In this session at George Washington University, Siavash Mahmoudian (@siavash) shares his experience building a successful startup from the ground up. He lays out a step by step program for students, both domestic and international, who are interested in building companies of their own while still in school.

1. Become a Young CEO
Before You Graduate
Siavash Mahmoudian

2. Introduction
● Started computer programming when I was 10, built my first shooting game
with Pascal at 11, implemented my first Web Application at 13 sold it to my
school for $1600.
● Started coding remotely for companies in US at 15.
● Studied Industrial Engineering, Civil Engineering and Information Technology
in three different universities at the same time.
● Got 1st and 3rd prize in International Robotics Competitions
(Robocup 2007, Robocup 2009)
● Founded my first startup while I was at university.
● Came to US with H1B visa in 2011.
● Co-founded Breezio (formerly called Programming.com)
● Technical advisor of Company.com (Ranked #10 in the Inc 500 fastest growing companies)
● Have been speaker and mentor in Startup Weekend, Startup Grind, etc.

3. Content available at:
bit.ly/gwu-startup
#GWUStartup @siavash

4. Startups!

5. It’s very hard!

6. It’s very counter intuitive.
Like skiing. Lean back and you’ll fall.

9. (Idea + Product + Team + Execution)

10. (Idea + Product + Team + Execution) ⨉ Luck

11. Idea

12. Have an idea?

13. Does it matter?!

14. How to find it?

15. Explain your idea in
two sentences

17. You will spend your
next 5 years on it!

18. Define the market

19. Note Taking app

20. Validate your idea!

21. They will steal my idea.

23. My Story

24. ● Teachers-Student role
○ Taking courses you already know
○ Teachers cannot keep up
● Same learning path for everyone
● Evaluation of students
○ Exams
○ School gives you the certificate
Problems

27. Find a co-founder

28. Product

29. Build something that
users love!

30. Hand pick initial users
and talk to them

31. ● Build
● Show to users
● Support
● Get feedback
● Repeat

32. Start simple

33. Imagine the best
user experience

34. Do one thing
extremely well

35. Do things that
don’t scale

37. You can make something
that small group of people
LOVE, or big group of
people LIKE.

38. Focus on growth

39. When your product
is ready?

41. Define a metric

42. Find the magic moment!

43. My Story

46. STOP
unless you have
a great product

47. Team

48. Again, co-founder is
super important

49. How to hire?

50. Try not to hire!

51. When you must,
hire the best

52. Fire fast.

53. My Story

55. Execution

56. Focus! Prioritize. Say no.

57. Articulate the mission
and the vision

58. Define culture

59. Raising money

61. Be generous to your
employees on shares

62. My Story

63. International Student?
● International Services Office (ISO)
● GW Career Center
● GW Office of Entrepreneurship

64. Sources
● My own journey on starting Programming.com and Breezio.
● Funders and Founders (fundersandfounders.com)
● Stanford sessions on How to Start a Startup:
○ How to start a startup (Sam Altman, Dustin Moskovitz)
○ Team and Execution (Sam Altman)
○ Before the Startup (Paul Graham)
○ Growth (Alex Schultz)
○ How to build products users love (Kevin Hale)
○ Competition is for Losers (Peter Thiel)
○ How to get started, do things that don't scale
○ Culture (Brian Chesky, Alfred Lin)
○ How to run a user interview (Emmett Shear)

65. That’s it!

66. Questions?!

67. More questions?

68. Find me on

69. Stop listening and
START YOUR STARTUP

71. Backup Slides

72. Become a Young CEO
Before You Graduate
Siavash Mahmoudian

75. Don’t optimize
notifications