Gaza Sky Geeks Visioning & values lauren building the foundation of a great startup

1. Building the foundation of a
great startup:
From idea to a team

2. Agenda
•Startup skill-building: How to brainstorm
•Vision: How can you get others excited?
•Values: How can you live your vision every day?
•Motivating a team

3. So you want to start a startup…
What problem do you want to solve? What do you want the
future to look like?
“The way to get startup ideas is not to try to think of
startup ideas. It's to look for problems, preferably
problems you have yourself.”
-Paul Graham, Co-founder of Y Combinator
http://paulgraham.com/startupideas.html
How will you get other people excited about solving the same
problem?

4. Before we go any further…
…we’re going to learn how to brainstorm like the D.school at Stanford

5. Rules of brainstorming
There are no bad ideas in brainstorming
Source: Stanford University Design School

6. Let’s practice!
•Get in your groups
•Each group needs paper, post-it notes, and
pens—please tell us now if you do not have
these.

7. Exercise: Brainstorm warm-up
•If our group was an animal, what animal would we be?
-2 minutes to throw out every animal you can think of
•What would our animal’s name be?
-2 minutes to throw out any name you can think of
•Use a “show of hands” vote (1 for animal, 1 for name)
-No one can vote for their own idea
•This is your team name

8. Agenda
•Startup skill-building: How to brainstorm
•Vision: How can you get others excited?
•Values: How can you live your vision every day?
•Motivating a team

9. Every company needs a vision & mission
Mission: A computer on every desk and in every home.
Vision: To enable people and businesses throughout the world to realize their
full potential.
• Why didn’t Microsoft say, “We build computers”?
• Who looks at the vision and mission statements?

10. Define the vision first
Vision: “Our vision is a community where ________.”
Vision
Mission
Values
Mission: “To bring that vision into reality, we do
_______ for ________ in the region/area/township of
___________.”
Values: We always want the community to be
able to say ________ about the way we do our
work.
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“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and
falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.
Michelangelo

11. Example vision statements
Organization Vision
Our vision is that our daughters will not suffer from relationship abuse
We envision a world where all people - even in the most remote areas of the
globe - hold the power to create opportunity for themselves and others.
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To enable people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full
potential.
We aspire to turn compassion into action so that…
...all people affected by disaster across the country and around the world
receive care, shelter and hope;
...our communities are ready and prepared for disasters;
...everyone in our country has access to safe, lifesaving blood and blood
products.
Our vision is to be earth's most customer centric company

12. Most startups need time to find their mission
Vision: “Our vision is a community where ________.”
Vision
Mission
Values
Mission: “To bring that vision into reality, we do
_______ for ________ in the region/area/township of
___________.”
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This may change as your develop your startup

13. Tech company mission statements
To bring the best personal computing experience to students, educators, creative
professionals and consumers around the world through its innovative hardware,
software and Internet offerings.
To be the most successful computer company in the world at delivering the best
customer experience in markets they serve.
To be the fabric of real-time communication on the web.
To be the most essential global Internet service for consumers and businesses
To provide fast and easy video access and the ability to share videos frequently.
To organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful
Source: http://drdianehamilton.wordpress.com/2011/01/13/top-10-company-mission-statements-in-2011/

14. Example vision and mission statements
Organization Vision Mission
To give people the power to share and
make the world more open and
connected.
People use Facebook to stay
connected with friends and family,
to discover what’s going on in the
world, and to share and express
what matters to them.
…to build a place where people can
come to find and discover anything
they might want to buy online.
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Our vision is to be earth's most
customer centric company…
A computer on every desk and in
every home.
To enable people and businesses
throughout the world to realize
their full potential.

15. Exercise: Write a vision statement
1. Work individually:
• Write down your team’s startup idea.
• Write your vision by finishing this sentence (1 minute):
• Our vision is a community where __________.
2. Work as a group: Discuss what the vision statement ideas (5 minutes):
• Go around the group and have each person read the vision statement
that she or he wrote.
• As each person reads, write down words or expressions that you like.
• Finally, discuss as a group: What words do you agree on? Where do you
disagree?
• You don’t have to agree on a final vision statement today.
TIME IS UP!

16. Example vision and mission statements
Organization MissionVision
Our vision is of a world in which every
person – regardless of race, religion,
ethnicity, sexual orientation or gender
identity – enjoys all of the human rights
enshrined in the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights (UDHR) and other
internationally recognized human rights
standards.
To unite people from all over the
world to fight for human rights
using our signature tactics:
• Research
• Action
• Advocacy
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To provide education and training
so that communities and
institutions respond effectively to
women experiencing relationship
abuse.
Our vision is that our daughters will not
suffer from relationship abuse
To connect people through lending to
alleviate poverty.
We envision a world where all
people - even in the most remote
areas of the globe - hold the
power to create opportunity for
themselves and others.

17. Exercise: Write a mission statement
1. Work individually:
• Write down your team’s startup idea and the vision statement you
created in the last exercise.
• Write your mission by finishing this sentence (1 minute):
• To bring our vision into reality, we do _______ for ________ in the
region/area/township of ___________.
2. Work as a group: Discuss what the mission statement ideas (5 minutes):
• Go around the group and have each person read the mission statement
that she/he wrote.
• As each person reads, write down words or expressions that you like.
• Finally, discuss as a group: What words do you agree on? Where do you
disagree?
• You don’t have to agree on a final mission statement today.
TIME IS UP!

18. Agenda
•Startup skill-building: How to brainstorm
•Vision: How can you get others excited?
•Values: How can you live your vision every day?
•Motivating a team

19. What are values?
Vision: “Our vision is a community where ________.”
Vision
Mission
Values
Mission: “To bring that vision into reality, we do
_______ for ________ in the region/area/township of
___________.”
Values: We always want the community to be
able to say ________ about the way we do our
work.
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• What values will need to be present in the community for our vision to come to pass?
• How will our work reflect our values?
• How will we act in tricky situations?

20. 1 Focus on the user and all else will follow
2 It’s best to do one thing really, really well
3 Fast is better than slow
4 Democracy on the web works
5 You don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer
6 You can make money without doing evil
7 There’s always more information out there
8 The need for information crosses all borders
9 You can be serious without a suit
10 Great just isn't good enough
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Values example:

21. 1 Focus on Impact
2 Move Fast
3 Be Bold
4 Be Open
5 Build Social Value
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Values example:
You don’t have to know all your company values today, but you
should start thinking about how you want to act and how to set a
good example in the world.

22. Exercise: Values
• Please do this exercise individually.
• Take 5 minutes to write down the values you want to follow. You
can use the topics below to help you think:
• We always want the community to be able to say ________
about the way we do our work.
• What values will need to be present in the community for
our vision to come to pass?
• How will our work reflect those values?
• How will we act in tricky situations?
TIME IS UP!

23. Agenda
•Startup skill-building: How to brainstorm
•Vision: How can you get others excited?
•Values: How can you live your vision every day?
•Motivating a team

24. A startup will fail if it does not have the right team
“Make something people want” includes making a company that
people want to work for.
–Sahil Lavingia, founder of Gumroad
“Make your team feel respected, empowered and genuinely excited
about the company’s mission.”
–Tim Westergren, co-founder of Pandora
What do you do today to motivate your team?

25. How can you motivate your team?
• Hire the right people
• Create a vision that shows the future your company will build
• Then hire people that are excited about the vision
• Commitment to your vision is more important than experience or skills. You
will all learn new skills together, but commitment isn’t something you can
teach someone.
• Be careful about hiring family members—you can do it if you think you can
still treat everyone fairly.

26. How can you motivate your team?
• Hire the right people
• Compensate them well
• Financial compensation
• Non-financial compensation

27. How can you motivate your team?
• Hire the right people
• Compensate them well
• Financial compensation:
• If you can’t pay your team, then give them fair equity
• *Be ready to explain what equity is
• Places you can look up startup equity examples:
• https://www.wealthfront.com/tools/startup-salary-equity-
compensation
• https://angel.co/salaries
• Non-financial compensation:
• Say thank you. Regularly. And publicly.
• Along with that: NEVER criticize in public. Always do that
privately.
• Give employees a discount on your product or free access to it
• Reward your team for on-time releases with a pizza party
• Select an “employee of the month” every month and honor them in a
team meeting

28. How can you motivate your team?
• Hire the right people
• Compensate them well
• Financial compensation
• Non-financial compensation
• Value the skills and thoughts of your team
• In addition to giving feedback to your team, ask them for feedback—how
can you be a better teammate? How can you be a better manager?
• When your team gives you feedback, act on it
• Include your team members in brainstorms about the product—get their
ideas on how to make it better

29. How can you motivate your team?
• Hire the right people
• Compensate them well
• Financial compensation
• Non-financial compensation
• Value the skills and thoughts of your team
• Firing
• “Hire slowly, fire quickly.”
• If someone has a bad attitude, that’s bad for the whole team.

30. How can you motivate your team?
• Hire the right people
• Compensate them well
• Financial compensation
• Non-financial compensation
• Value the skills and thoughts of your team
• Firing
• Make sure that you set a good example
• Don’t ask your teammates to do more than you would ask yourself to do
• Be ready to help everyone—if your team feels like you’re helping them,
then they’ll be more excited about helping you

31. How can you motivate your team?
• Hire the right people
• Compensate them well
• Financial compensation
• Non-financial compensation
• Value the skills and thoughts of your team
• Firing
• Make sure that you set a good example
Which ideas work for you?

32. Exercise: Motivating your team
• Please do this exercise individually.
• What are 5 things you can do to motivate your team? (You have
2 minutes)
TIME IS UP!

33. Final words: What to remember
• There are no bad ideas in brainstorming
• Aim big—create a vision of what you want the
world to look like in the future
• Just as every person should have morals, every
company should have values.
• Treat your team well—your startup cannot succeed
without them.