Lecture at opening session fall 2011 The Founder Institute Amsterdam on the Knowledge Land Foundation as a startup

1. Lessons from a
successful
but unscalable startup
October 11th, 2011
The Founder Institute, Amsterdam

2. Lessons from a
successful
but unscalable startup
October 11th, 2011
The Founder Institute, Amsterdam
@fnauta

3. 1993 1997 1999 2000 2003 2005

4. Startup
=
Greatest tool to realize
your dream

5. My dream:
Catalyst for a smarter country
"Vision in action":
• Think Tank creates new vision for
Netherlands
• Translates it into projects
• Help with kickstarting projects
• Give them away
• Organize learning around it

6. My dream:
Catalyst for a smarter country
"Vision in action":
• Think Tank creates new vision for
Netherlands
• Translates it into projects
• Help with kickstarting projects
• Give them away
• Organize learning around it
Target: 2002 elections knowledge economy
is central in coalition agreement

7. On the The Founder
Institute scale
• Meaningful: certainly, but on local scale
• Enduring: hardly
• Technology: no

8. Digital Playground

9. Lesson:
Ask for real commitment

11. 2002: Fit
• We got a 'CFO'
• Restructures in first month
• Businessmodel clear
- From Sponsor-model, to Consultancy, to service-
& projectbureau
• Research in other countries, such as Finland
• First substantial profit

12. 2003:
Mission accomplished
• We create Knowledge economy hype
• and we become a hype
• Knowledge economy is part of the coalition
agreement
• I start working in The Hague as secretary of
innovation for the Prime Minister

14. Lesson:
Acquisition is not holy

16. Lessons on money
• Avoid what seems easy money (subsidy, sponsors),
it makes you stupid and creates huge transactional
costs (and find a launching customer)
• Even if you think money is not important, you still
need a scalable business model, or you will get
bored

17. Lessons on me
• Startup is the best way to discover your strengths
and weaknesses, make sure you find great people to
cover your weaknesses
• Working > 80 hours structurally is not cool, it means
you're not organized effectively and wearing
yourself out
• A startup is a marathon: see yourself as a top
sporter, and take care of yourself that way

18. Lessons on people
• It's amazing how easy it is to get people to listen to
you if you truly believe in something
• Your team is by far your most important asset, so
never accept anyone in the team because he's 'a
friend of a friend' or because he's just 'OK'
• Find truly great coaches and mentors (not famous
ones, they are to busy)

19. More lessons
• Look outside the Netherlands
• Design is crucial, the love for detail shows you are
really serious about your dream
• You'll be pretty incompatible with large
organizations after doing a startup