Living the dream - life at a start-up

Living the Dream: Life at a Start-up Andy McLoughlin - Co-founder, Huddle.net © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-08- Confidential

Introducing Huddle.net © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential “ A winner. We have yet to see another online collaboration environment that offers the functionality of Huddle” Guidewire Report

Introducing Huddle.net
Launched March 2007
Enterprise 2.0 social collaboration
Network of hosted workspaces
Project management, team collaboration and document sharing
API, mash-ups, social network integration and other web 2.0 goodies
Built on Microsoft and Open Source
© Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential

Microsoft and Open Source?
ASP.net web application
SQL Server database
JQuery
NHibernate
Dot Lucene

Take a look – it’s free! © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential http://www.huddle.net http://facebook.huddle.net

Who has thought about running a start-up? © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential

Long hours
Terrible wages
Poor diet
Uninspiring office space
Huge uncertainty

Excitement
Work with people you like
Incredible satisfaction
Great support network
Cool factor

April 2006 © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential

June 2006 © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential Court – My Big Break

Lessons Learnt © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential Spend every waking hour researching and developing your idea and take any opportunity work on it. (Even if it gets you into lots of trouble with your current job or partner.) 1

June 2006 © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential

July 2006 ? © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential How do two guys with no commercial development experience and no money launch a web application?

July 2006 © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential London-based software development company specialising in scalable .Net and Java web applications (who’s CEO is best friends with Alastair’s wife)

Lessons Learnt © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential Take advantage of every connection (however tenuous) You never know who might be able to help 2

Lessons Learnt © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential Be ruthless when doing deals, even early on You aren’t in business to make friends and the early deals will set the precedent 3

August – November 2006 © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential (repeat ad finitum as i’m a really difficult customer)

Lessons Learnt © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential Be completely and utterly uncompromising in your vision Don’t worry about changing your mind. Your developers will hate you but your users will love you in the end. 4

November 2006
Leave jobs?
What about staff?
What about customers?
Are we ready to launch?
What if everyone hates it?
? © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential

Lessons Learnt © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential Go big or go home If you aren’t convinced that your idea will be a massive success how will you convince other people? 5

© Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential Seed funding! A seed round , sometimes known as a friends and family round or seed funding , is a securities offering whereby one or more parties that have some connection to a new enterprise invest the funds necessary to start the business so that it has enough funds to sustain itself for a period of development until it reaches either a state where it is able to continue funding itself, or has created something in value so that it is worthy of future rounds of funding. via Wikipedia

Lessons Learnt © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential The way to a rich man’s diary is via his PA Via The Beermat Entrepreneur 6

March 2007
Secured seed funding
Small office
Small team
Beta launch

Lessons Learnt © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential Software is expensive (but it doesn’t have to be) Spend time looking at Microsoft Partner Programs, Open Source tools, Online applications 7

Microsoft Empower
MSDN Access
Office Licenses
Development Tools
OS Licenses
Help and support

Lessons Learnt © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential At the beginning, focus all of your energy on building a great product Sales and PR will follow – keep everyone up to date with email, blogging and social media. Let the buzz spread virally! 8

July 2007
Nice Little Earner
or
Global Business
? © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential

Venture (Vulture?) Capital © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential Venture capital is a type of private equity capital typically provided by professional, outside investors to new, high-potential-growth companies in the interest of taking the company to an IPO [or sale] via Wikipedia

Early Stage VC – The Facts
VCs are in the business of making money
They invest in firms they believe will succeed
They want the largest stake for the lowest spend
They buy preferential shares that give ultimate control if things go wrong
They succeed if you succeed

Lessons Learnt © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential VCs are people too Good VCs in the technology space are passionate, knowledgeable and always keen to discuss new ideas. Don’t be afraid to approach them! 9

Lessons Learnt © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential Get out there! There are tons of events, meet-ups, showcases and parties in London. They’re a great place to meet investors, bloggers and other entrepreneurs. And sometimes there’s free beer! 10 mini bar

3 Approachable VCs in London © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential Ben Tompkins Nic Brisbourne Paul Fisher Plus many, many more...

The VC Process © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential

Lessons Learnt © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential Raising VC money is a full time job and takes months ! Is your team big enough to cope without having you coding / designing / selling / marketing? 11

Lessons Learnt © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential Don’t be afraid to play several VCs off against each other The better the deal, the bigger the island you can buy when you sell out  12

Other routes © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential American early-stage tech incubator Competitions with cash prizes, great pr and a ready-made contacts book Angel networks designed to provide early stage capital and mentoring

September 2007 © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential September 2007 St. Regis Hotel, San Francisco, CA

Lessons Learnt © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential Successful web 2.0 companies don’t have to be in Silicon Valley But getting out there from time to time doesn’t hurt. And it’s an awful lot of fun. 13

November 2007 © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential HUDDLE.NET RAISES $4 MILLION IN SERIES A FUNDING (WOO!)

Mo’ money, mo’ problems
Hiring (and firing)
No longer in complete control
User targets
Revenue targets
Stretch targets
Targets to set targets

Lessons Learnt © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential Funding provides a little breathing space Take this opportunity to ensure your team is perfectly balanced and packed full of superstars. 14

Lessons Learnt © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential You can’t do it all yourself If your assembled team is as good as it should be, there should be no problems in delegating responsibility. 15

Refine Business Model
Product Management
Team Management
Scalability

Lessons Learnt © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential ‘ Get Acquired’ isn’t a business model If it happens, great. If not, you need to ensure your business has legs. How will you generate revenue? Who are your customers? 16

Lessons Learnt © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential You will always have more ideas than capacity to execute them Prioritisation is the key. Put a $$$ value against everything you develop – what is going to earn revenue? 17

Lessons Learnt © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential A happy team is a productive team Be transparent about the company’s goals and keep everyone involved. Get partners along to socials. Make it feel like a family. 18

Lessons Learnt © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential Always keep one eye on the web You never know where inspiration will come from. It’s also the easiest way to stay ahead of the competition and find out what people are saying about you. 19

Lessons Learnt © Copyright, Ninian Solutions Ltd 2006-07 - Confidential Never lose sight of why you’re doing it You’re running a start-up because you get to do something you love every single day. If you become fabulously rich then even better! 20

We’re looking for interns!
Development
Design
QA Testing
Sales
Marketing
Come and talk to me to find out more!

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Living the dream - life at a start-up

by Andy McLoughlin on Jun 13, 2008

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