1. the traps, pitfalls, mistakes, and best
practices on the journey towards the
summit
Startup Secrets

2. blockbusters,successes,and failures
There are 3 types of startups
#vc4heroes

3. NO! But avoidingstupidityis easier than seeking brilliance
Is there a formula for success?
#vc4heroes

4. team issues,market issues,resources issues,and growth
issues are determinant
But there is a clear pattern
#vc4heroes

5. Team Issues

6. winners are 38 years old at founding (average),and 80% are
second-timers withexperience in tech
Experience is a key ingredient
#vc4heroes

7. winners that have mentors,use OKRs, are
knowledge seekers raise 7x more capital and have 3.5x
better traction
Learning agility is a secret weapon
#vc4heroes

8. winners are typically3-founders with history of
working together
It is a team game
#vc4heroes

9. business-heavyare 6.2x better at enterprise software,
technical-heavyare 3.3x better at product-centricstartups,
and balanced teams are 2.9x better at marketplaces,
ecommerces
Picking the right battle
#vc4heroes

10. lack of flexibilityon cap-table and understanding of how to
slice the pie
But 1 in 4 fails due to founder conflict
#vc4heroes

11. Market Issues

12. ~50% of new product launches fail. Winners spend 41% of
their time deciding what goes in products
Product no one wants
#vc4heroes

13. most of the times,first mover is a curse
Bad timing
#vc4heroes

14. 1 in 6 fails for bad CAC, churn, gross margin,
working capital
Bad unit economics
#vc4heroes

15. two types: david x goliathor the gorilla fight
Competitive fine tuning
#vc4heroes

16. Money Issues

17. 1 in 3 startups fails for lack of cash. It takes 2-3x longer to
validate than expected
Too much optimism
#vc4heroes

18. Seeds have 25% chances of raisingSeries A, which have
50% chances of gettingto Series B
It is a funnel (multi-turn game)
#vc4heroes

19. less money reduces in 70% chances of next round, more
money reduces in 25% chances of next round
Too much or not enough money
#vc4heroes

20. fat startups ends up with less than 10% of equity, lean
startups ends up with more than 40% of equity
Dilution kills
#vc4heroes

21. Growth Issues

22. 1 in every 10 startups fails due to premature scaling(traffic
no conversion, product, no sales,sales no margin, CAC no
LTV, people no sales)
False positive (out of synch!)
#vc4heroes

23. 1 in 5 fails when transformingfrom familyto tribe, to
village,to city, to nation
Organizational breaking points
#vc4heroes

24. 1 in 10 fails for carrying too much weight (several personas,
products, markets,and channels)
Lack of focus
#vc4heroes

25. Wrong talents reduce 2.6x the speed of startups (cultural fit x
technical fit, generalists x specialists,scope x autonomy, do
best x do worst)
Garbage in, garbage out
#vc4heroes

26. Summing up

27. There are no formulas, but there are patterns
Stages can be measured with specific milestones
Learning is a fundamental unit of progress for startups
Most startup advice is wrong
The score takes care of itself (skill & luck)
#vc4heroes

28. Sources
https://techcrunch.com/2013/11/02/welcome-to-the-unicorn-club/
http://avc.com/2011/06/there-arent-many-exits-over-100mm/
https://www.cbinsights.com/blog/startup-failure-reasons-top/
http://paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html
http://paulgraham.com/startupideas.html
https://codingvc.com/startups-are-risk-bundles/
https://www.quora.com/Is-the-80-product-failure-rate-statistic-actually-true
https://speckyboy.com/2014/09/18/building-minimum-viable-products-spotify/
http://pmarchive.com/guide_to_startups_part4.html
http://startupmanagement.org/2013/08/23/productmarket-fit-is-a-continuum/
http://labs.openviewpartners.com/product-market-fit/
http://mediafiles.pragmaticmarketing.com/pdf/PragmaticSurvey2016.pdf
http://paulgraham.com/ds.html
https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/15/overdosing-on-vc-lessons-from-71-ipos/
https://mattermark.com/too-much-startup-seed-funding-bad/
https://mattermark.com/startup-graduation-rate-surprisingly-low/
#vc4heroes

29. www.astellainvest.com
#vc4heroes