Designing a startup

DESIGNING A STARTUP.

A Bit About Me Day Jobs: • President of Kristian Andersen + Associates • Co-founder of Pathagility • Co-founder of TinderBox • Co-founder of Gravity Ventures Investments: • Apparel Media Group • Healthx • Compendium Blogware • Last Piece Software • Dos Banderas • Patronpath • Formspring.me • TinderBox • Formstack • Valor Medical • Gravity Labs • Vontoo

"Design creates culture. Culture shapes values. Values determine the future." Robert L. Peters

PASSION

"Do what you want to be famous for, because you’re famous for what you do." Me, Kristian Andersen + Associates

CO-FOUNDERS

Co-Founders • Founders are authors • Beware of “Idea Guys” • Someone needs to be a domain expert • Someone needs to be able to build the product • Everyone needs to be able to sell • Make sure they pass the “O’Hare test” • Be picky - Don’t settle

THE PRODUCT

The Product • Focus – Solve one problem really well • Beware of shadow beliefs • 1 Great developer = 10 good developers • Speed kills... the competition • Launching is the best market research • Partner w/ customers (& prospects) • Let design lead engineering • NEVER outsource product development

"A prototype is worth a 1,000 business plans." Me, Kristian Andersen + Associates

DESIGN & MARKETING

“Design and marketing aren't just as important as engineering – they are more important” Addictive User Experience (Design) and Scalable Distribution Methods (Marketing) are the most critical components of success in consumer Internet startups, not Pure Engineering Talent. Dave McClure Angel Investor, Founders Fund

UX Design Is Branding A customers’ perception of a brand is driven, in large part, by the experience manifest in all customer touch points. The brand is represented by all customer touch points – retail, sales, product, interfaces, support, etc. The experience is comprised of all customer touch points – retail, sales, product, interfaces, support, etc.

"The product is the brand. You build brand in our industry through the product and the experience." —Jim Wicks, Motorola

"The interface is the product is the experience, is brand." Me, Kristian Andersen + Associates

Design & Marketing • The business of design is business • Overspend on design • Underspend on marketing • The best marketing is a great product • Publicity is a tool, not a goal • Communicate what matters • Outsource as much as necessary • Outsource as little as possible

CUSTOMERS

Customers • Find out where they live • Get to them ASAP • Make them pay something • Provide instant value • Customers and no product = business • Product and no customers = hobby • Don’t be afraid to say no... or goodbye

$ BILLS Y’ALL

“A startup is the organization used to search for a scalable business model” Steve Blank

Revenue • Know how you’ll make money • Know how you’ll make sales • Have revenue goals from day one • Focus every activity on moving toward those goals

PREPARE TO PIVOT

Prepare To Pivot • Flickr started out as a game • eBay was going to sell auction software • Twitter (Odeo) was a podcasting directory • PayPal was going to beam $ to Palm Pilots • YouTube was originally a dating site

FUNDING

Funding Sources • Consulting • Customer partnerships • Blood Money • Angel Investors • Seed Funds • Venture Capital

Funding • 100K is the new 1MM • Keep valuations low • Find investors with expertise • 10 angels are better than 1 VC • Become ﬂuent in the language of suits • Understand the size of the (addressable) market • Learn how to pitch

Twitter: kristianindy eMail: kristian@kaplusa.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/kandersen1 Crunchbase: crunchbase.com/person/kristian-andersen Web: kaplusa.com

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Designing a startup

by Kristian Andersen + Associates on Jun 06, 2010

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Designing a startup — Presentation Transcript