What not to do on a startup if you intend to stay afloat (and not die)

1. A SHORT AND CONCISE GUIDE OF WHAT
NOT TO DO IF YOU INTEND TO STAY
ALIVE IN THE OVERLY COMPETITIVE
WORLD OF STARTUPS
(PART 1 OF MANY)
by @herval

2. KNOWING WHAT TO DO IS EASY
work a little bit
have an idea profit!

3. MISTAKES SLOW YOU DOWN
“I’ll fail until I succeed”
(I just hope I’m not 90 years old when I do)
Success = making less mistakes (and learning from the ones you make)
Learning from others’ is a shortcut

4. HERVAL FREIRE
Starting up since 2002
Founder of 4 companies, a
dozen projects
Helped founding a gazillion
other companies (mostly as a
hacker)

5. THIS PRESENTATION SPONSORED BY...
&
(we’re hiring!)

6. DON’T DELAY THE
PAPERWORK

7. DON’T OVERENGINEER
Build as few things as possible
Solve specific problems, don’t
generalize too soon
Be quick - that’s your
only weapon as a startup

8. DON’T HIRE INTERNS FREELANCERS NOOBS
A strong foundation requires a
brilliant team
No time for unexperienced people
or mistakes
The first 10 employees will
determine your company’s DNA.
Make the best of it.

9. DON’T UNDERESTIMATE COSTS
Starting with empty pockets will
only bring you frustration
Hidden costs, taxes and
accidents
Having money to eat is
peace of mind

10. DON’T EXPECT ANYONE TO SUPPORT YOU
Your friends will think you’re crazy (unless
you’re in the Valley, in which case they’re probably crazy too)
Your family will ask you to get a job
Users won’t flock at your door
Ignore the naysayers and do
your stuff

11. DON’T ASK CUSTOMERS WHAT THEY WANT
“If I’d asked my customers what they
wanted, they’d have said a faster horse”
- Henry Ford (that dude that went broke 5 times before Ford Motors)
Measure everything!
DATA is King

12. DON’T PANIC
Nothing is as easy as it looks
Anything that can go wrong will go
wrong
Everything will take longer than
expected to get done (rule of
thumb: 3 times longer)
Expect the best, plan for the
worst

13. DON’T BLAME OTHERS
The economy downturn
Those pesky developers
My disappointing sales team
The weather
Blame yourself and yourself
alone

14. DON’T PIVOT TOO MUCH...
“so many opportunities out there! Gotta
catch them all”
- Pokemón entrepreneur
“It didn’t work at first try, so it sucks, let’s
do something completely different”
- Glass-half-empty entrepreneur
“revenue is so 90‘s! We should gamify
those micropayments. Everyone is doing it!”
- The trend-follower

15. ...BUT PLEASE DON’T BE STUBBORN
“Insanity: doing the same thing
over and over again and expecting
different results.”
- Albert Einstein (that kid who didn’t speak until he was 4!)
(SMS group messaging) (Bourbn - another Foursquare) (that MMORPG)

16. DON’T DIE
“I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways
that won't work. “
- Thomas Edisson, that dude that invented the lamp (and a thousand other things)
Rovio: 52 games, 8
years, almost zero
revenue before
Angry Birds
Paul Graham’s “How not to die” - http://bit.ly/nYDNaT

17. QUESTCHUNS?
about.me/herval