Tales From The Startup (updated v2)

Tales from the Startup Karri Saarinen, April 19, 2010 New Practice, Turku

http://bit.ly/tfts-turku Slides + Links

1 The Process case: Flowdock 2 The Start case: ArcticStartup 3 Before The Start What to do?

? Who is this dude?

6 developer years designer of web stuff entrepreneur

Now Product Manager / Product / Customer / Co-founder Business Developer

Now ...And I study Business Management at University of Vaasa Product Manager / Product / Customer / Co-founder Business Developer

Introduction; What is a Startup?

startup: 1. a new organization or business venture

Really, a startup: Rather recent Product business High growth potential High risk / reward

Chapter 1; The Process case: Flowdock

Belief; 1 You need a great idea to start a business

“There are two types of startup ideas: those that grow organically out of your own life, and those that you decide, from afar, are going to be necessary to some class of users other than you.” - Paul Graham

The ﬁrst idea of Flowdock: Time tracking software for the enterprise

Fortunately we didn’t go there. Instead...

Flowdock, The best group messenger http://ﬂowdock.com

Ideas change, it’s ok. People & execution are more important.

Belief; 2 You need to do a business plan

We didn’t write a business plan. We contacted people.

Planning is useful but no plan survives the ﬁrst customer. Business Plan: Executive Summary + There are no facts Financials inside the building. sheet + Go outside! Business Model Powerpoint Canvas Deck

Belief; 3 You need to know a lot about your business

For a startup everything is unknown. Just deal with it

Product = Problem + Solution unknown unknown startup known known established company

Traditional method: How Products Are Made Concept / Product Alpha / Beta Launch / Idea Development Test Ship

Traditional method: How Products Are Made Concept / Product Alpha / Beta Launch / Idea Development Test Ship Where are the customers?

How To Deal Better With The Unknown Problem (What your product will solve)

Steve Blank

Customer Development

Customer Development Customers Customers Customers

Customer Discovery: State your hypotheses Test “Problem” Test “Product” Verify: Iterate or Exit

How To Deal Better With The Unknown Solution (How you solve the problem)

We practice Agile / Scrum 2 weeks Plan Do Release Hypotheses Daily 15min Have something Insights meetings that works User stories Iterate

Problem + Solution

Traditional Product Development: The Waterfall Requirements Speciﬁcation Problem: known Design Solution: known Implementation Veriﬁcation Maintenance

Lean Startup Product Development Customer Development Hypotheses Problem: unknown Data Experiments Feedback Solution: unknown Insights Insights Plan Do Release Iterate

Chapter 2; The Start case: ArcticStartup

2007 Started a blog about startups & growth entrepreneurship in the Northern Europe

2007-2009 4 guys No journalist background No business model No money Working on nights & weekends

What there was: People Passion Opportunity

2010 2 guys employed full-time Well known brand Proﬁtable Advertising, Events, Consulting, Product

What Do You Need? People. It’s easier with co-founders. Find something you’re passionate about. Mostly forget money. Start something. Figure it out as you go.

People. Choosing a co-founder is more like choosing a wife / husband. It’s nice to have complimentary skills but the relationship is more important.

Start. Start something or join a startup. As a student you have advantages: Spare time, low costs of living, minimal commitments and no-one cares if you fail

Mark Zuckerberg didn’t try to start a company when he wrote the ﬁrst version of Facebook. Apple was just a project when Steve Wozniak started working on the ﬁrst model.

Chapter 3; Before The Start What to do?

Meet with founders / go to events ArcticEvenings (Nordics) www.arcticstartup.com/arctic-evenings More Nordic events: www.arcticindex.com/events Aalto Entrepreneurship Society (Helsinki) www.aaltoes.com BoostTurku (Turku) www.boostturku.com Open Coffee (World-wide) Google: open coffee Local events, industry conferences

Finland probably is not the forerunner about in anything. (And anyway, it’s useless to lie in self-excellence) Follow and learn from others outside your friends, school, country, industry...

Talent, skill or taste has nothing to do with nationality, heritage, history or anything. It’s an individual or an organizational attribute. You can act like Apple even you can’t be Apple.

“The quality of any collaborative creative endeavor tends to approach the level of taste of whoever is in charge.” - John Gruber

Taste is crucial for makers & directors. Taste is not a matter of an opinion, but a sense of sophistication. People who make new things need to practice taste and recognize beauty when they see it.

Taste comes from appreciation from the things you make. When you appreciate things you will always try to further your skills, taste and protect the best. It’s not about being a snob, but rather developing a sense of what’s great and still be able to enjoy simple things.

Read Online ArcticStartup www.arcticstartup.com Hacker News news.ycombinator.com Mixergy (Video interviews with founders) www.mixergy.com Paul Graham Essays www.paulgraham.com

Read Books Crush it! The Monk and The Art of The Riddle The Start

Remember, Advice = Limited Life Experiences + Over-generalization - Paul Bucheit

Thanks. email: karri@karrisaarinen.com http://twitter.com/karrisaarinen slides: http://bit.ly/tfts-turku http://ﬂowdock.com / http://www.arcticstartup.com

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Tales From The Startup (updated v2)

by Karri Saarinen on Apr 19, 2010

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