Startups are hard work
(and other lessons I’ve learned)
Jeff Haynie
@jhaynie

About Me
• @jhaynie - twitter
• blog.jeffhaynie.us
• jhaynie@appcelerator.com

Some things I’ve learned over the years

You
Nobody loves your business as much as you
do (and you’re the #1 sales person)

Ideas
Your idea sucks (it’s about execution)

The Business Plan
Put it on one page (but don’t send it out to
anyone)

Money
You can never get enough money, fast
enough (but too much will ruin you)

Investors
You can’t get rid of them (and you can’t live
without them)

Raising money
The best time to raise money is when you
don’t need it

Investments
The best investments you can receive are in
the form of cash from customers (and they
don’t require you to give up equity)

Show me
You’ll have to prove it to people (and then
they’ll have known it was a good idea all
along)

Partners
Having a partner means you have to share in
the upside (and have a friend when times are
really tough)

Technology
Someone else is trying to do what you’re
doing right now (and you have to be better,
faster and cheaper)

Analytics
Measure everything (and then some more)

Change
I once heard: “you’ll do 10 things, 3 will fail
miserably, 3 will not be good, 3 will be OK
and 1 will be great” (you just need to figure
out which one)

Teams
Investors, customer and employees believe in
the team (and most importantly, the
entrepreneur)

Relationships
At the end of the day, it’s about your
relationships (which isn’t networking)

Mentors
Get people to tell you what you’re doing
wrong (and cheer you on when you’re doing
it right)

Failure
Don’t stop believing (but know when to fold)

Failure (deux)
Some of the best things in life come from
our failures (at least you tried, most don’t)

The Valley
It’s great - don’t let anyone tell you it’s not
(and yes, it’s expensive and consuming)