2. THINGS ENTREPRENEURS LEARN
1. Ideas grow on trees
2. Solve problems
3. Partners in crime
4. Funding is a crap shoot
5. Big ships turn slowly
6. Be agile not fragile
7. Bat above your weight
8. Piggyback brands
9. Beware the Scope Creep
10. Blood on the bleeding edge
11. The market is not ready for
you
12. Timing counts
13. The market is small
14. Be ready to fail
15. Fail better
16. First mover disadvantage
17. Sell or Build
18. Incubate
19. Keep lean and mean
20. Great products sell
themselves
3. IDEAS GROW ON TREES
It’s all in the execution
NDAs are for amateurs
Patents hard to enforce
The real threat is out there
“20 competitors by Christmas”
4. SOLVE PROBLEMS
Needs vs Wants
Market-led development vs Product-led
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they
would have said faster horses.” ~ Henry T. Ford
“It's really hard to design products by focus groups.
A lot of times, people don't know what they want
until you show it to them.” ~ Steve Jobs
5. PARTNERS IN CRIME
Founders
Everybody needs somebody, to lean on
1+1=3
Team full of Talent
Hire entrepreneurs, not employees
1 great developer = 4 good ones
Academia
Long term friends
6. FUNDING IS A CRAP SHOOT
Three F’s
Misadventure capitalists
The curse of competitions
Sucking from the EI teat
Sales!
7. BIG SHIPS TURN SLOWLY
Google and social networking
Facebook and search
Mobile operators and LBS
The environment changes faster than large
organisations
8. BE AGILE NOT FRAGILE
Classic “waterfall” project management is
important for capital intensive work where early
errors can be catastrophic later
Not so valuable for small, resource-limited
works where specifications change regularly
and errors can be fixed post-launch
9. BE AGILE NOT FRAGILE
Use rapid iteration
Release early, release often
Quality?
10. BAT ABOVE YOUR WEIGHT
Multinationals do partner with small companies
sometimes by luck
Franchise organisations
Channel partners
System Integrators
11. PIGGYBACK BRANDS
#1 Christmas app 2009
and again Summer 2010
from TV show
Jedward: Let Loose (Aug 24)
12. BEWARE THE SCOPE CREEP
The Scope Creep ♥
Feature Bloat
“Making a product
better often requires
removing features”
Marco Arment, Instapaper
13. BLOOD ON THE BLEEDING EDGE
Technology evolves quickly
Window of opportunity is small
Locle’s cell-tower positioning
system was irrelevant within 2
years
15. TIMING COUNTS
Is all luck
Will make or break you
Perseverance vs Insanity
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again
and expecting different results.” ~ Einstein
Media Buzz ≠ Market Signals
17. BE READY TO FAIL
90% of startups fail
It’s OK to fail
Failing = Trying
Two types of “failing”
Not pleasant fail
Iteration fail
18. FAILING BETTER
Pivot, pirouette, exit or axe?
Funda.ie – a 6 month affair
Mediocre product
Low user traction
Lawsuits
Price war
Property implosion
19. KILL PROJECTS BEFORE THEY KILL YOU
“You’re killing startups before they’ve even
made it out of nappies” ~ Shane McAllister,
Mobanode
But don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater
Every kill has a carcass
20. FIRST MOVER DISADVANTAGE
Pioneers are the ones with arrows in their backs
Learning from others is cheaper
Easy to copycat
2nd gen tech is cheaper
Unless
Deep pockets
Patents
22. ACCELERATORS INCUBATORS
Dogpatch Labs
Wayra Academy
NDRC LaunchPad
The Digital Hub
DBIC Guinness Enterprise Centre
DIT Hothouse
Tallaght IT M50 Incubator
DCU Invent
Ryan Academy Propellor Venture
Accelerator
NOVA UCD
Trinity Technology & Enterprise
Campus
IADT MediaCube
LINC IT Blanchardstown
IGAP
Launchbox
23. KEEP LEAN AND MEAN
Small is beautiful, and cheap
Telepathy and osmosis
Nimble herds
70 Employees
$3.4 million revenue/person
24. SELL OR BUILD
Technologists love technology
But somebody has to sell
Accelerator programmes teach developers to
sell first
“Lead, follow or get out of the way”~Idiocracy
25. GREAT PRODUCTS SELL THEMSELVES
Invest in design
Customer service obsession
Turn customers into sales force
The difference between PR and marketing
“Brands are built, not bought”