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The Truth About Startups: What I wish someone had told me about entrepreneurship, Silicon Valley, and successful careers
This is the talk I gave at MIT's Martin Center for Entrepreneurship. It's a talk I wish someone gave me when I was in college to help me think about the role of entrepreneurship and startups in my career.
You can find the video of the talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rus32iR_Ag0
Transcript
1.
THE TRUTH ABOUT STARTUPS
What I wish someone had told me about entrepreneurship,
Silicon Valley, and successful careers
45.
“What surprised me
most was how unsure
the founders seemed to
be that they were
actually onto something
big. Some of these
companies got started
almost by accident.”
46.
It’s not about coming up with a
single brilliant idea
62.
Join a startup if you want to grow
as a person
63.
“A startup is a company
designed to grow fast. Being
newly founded does not in itself
make a company a startup. Nor
is it necessary for a startup to
work on technology, or take
venture funding, or have some
sort of "exit." The only essential
thing is growth. ”
– Paul Graham
64.
Working for a growing company is
an amazing experience
76.
As a startup, we are searching for
the right what and how.
77.
“[Established] Companies
execute business models
where customers, their
problems, and necessary
product features are all
“knowns.” In sharp contrast,
startups operate in “search”
mode, seeking a repeatable
and profitable business model.”
– Steve Blank
98.
Average tenure for a firm
in the S&P 500:
1958: 61 years
1980: 25 years
2012: 18 years
99.
“On average, an S&P 500
company is now being
replaced about once every
two weeks […] At current
churn rate, 75% of the S&P
500 will be replaced by
2027.”
100.
Open source 19+ million repositories on GitHub.
Services AWS, Twilio, Stripe, MailChimp, Slack,
DesignCrowd, RocketLawyer, …
Distribution Mobile, email, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn,
Reddit, Meetup.com, YouTube, AdWords, …
Information Books, classes, blogs, accelerators, incubators,
conferences, …
Money Venture capital, angels, crowdfunding,
government grants, self-funding, …
101.
So why join a startup instead of
starting your own?
102.
If you start a startup, you are stuck
with it for up to a decade.
103.
In that same time period, you can
join 3-4 startups.
104.
Earning experience, connections,
and stock at each one.
105.
“The 100th engineer at
Facebook made far
more money than 99%
of Silicon Valley
entrepreneurs.”
– Dustin Moskovitz
116.
You have an idea or passion that
you simply must do.
117.
You’ve worked on it for years,
even while at other jobs.
118.
You just have to bring your dream
into the world.
119.
Just remember: a startup is one
way to accomplish your dream.
120.
1. Do a side project.
2. Go into politics.
3. Do volunteer activities.
4. Build a community.
5. Join someone else’s company.
6. Invest in someone else’s company.
7. Start a non-profit.
8. Start a lifestyle business.
9. Start a startup.
10. Do academic research.
11. Publish articles, papers, and books.
12. Give talks.
13. Create an open source project.
14. Become an advisor or mentor.
15. Become a teacher.
121.
1. Do a side project.
2. Go into politics.
3. Do volunteer activities.
4. Build a community.
5. Join someone else’s company.
6. Invest in someone else’s company.
7. Start a non-profit.
8. Start a lifestyle business.
9. Start a startup.
10. Do academic research.
11. Publish articles, papers, and books.
12. Give talks.
13. Create an open source project.
14. Become an advisor or mentor.
15. Become a teacher.
A startup is merely one means to
an end.
123.
So how do you start? How do you
build a good career?
124.
“You need to be good at
something before you can
expect a good job.”
– Cal Newport
125.
“The way to get
startup ideas is not
to try to think of
startup ideas […]
The way to have
good startup ideas
is to become the
sort of person who
has them.”
– Paul Graham
126.
The way to have a great career is
not to search for a great career but
to make yourself great.
127.
How to become great:
1. Study
2. Build
3. Share
128.
How to become great:
1. Study
2. Build
3. Share
161.
Office buildings: Floriane Vita
Man in suit: energiepic.com
Ladder: Miguel Virkkunen Carvalho
Cubicles: Tim Patterson
Office Space: 20th Century Fox
The Social Network: Columbia Pictures
Silicon Valley: HBO
The 4-hour Work Week: Tim Ferriss
Ping pong: SageChimera
Biz Stone: Joi Ito
Coding: Hitesh Choudhary
Steve Jobs: Matthew Yohe
Mark Zuckerberg: Brian Solis
Reid Hoffman: Joi Ito
Idea maze: Chris Dixon
Robert Heinlein: Wikimedia
Primitive Wheel: John O’Neill
Camp Fire: Eric Dufresne
Code: Ilya Pavlov
Software frustration: Tim Gouw
Coffee: David Mao
Steve Blank: Eric Millette
Paul Graham: Dave Thomas
Dustin Moskovitz: Dustin Moskovitz
Ambulance: Paul Sableman
Stressed woman: Aledander Dummer
Woman writing: Startup Stock Photos
Man and whiteboard: Startup Stock Photos
Classroom: Wokandapix
Journals: Lum3n
Meetup: Sebastiaan ter Burg
T-Shaped Person: Valve
Writing: Alvaro Serrano
Teaching: Pop Tech
Pair coding: Startup Stock Photos
Expert: Graham Lavender
References & image credits
This is the talk I gave at MIT's Martin Center for Entrepreneurship. It's a talk I wish someone gave me when I was in college to help me think about the role of entrepreneurship and startups in my career.
You can find the video of the talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rus32iR_Ag0
Transcript
1.
THE TRUTH ABOUT STARTUPS
What I wish someone had told me about entrepreneurship,
Silicon Valley, and successful careers
45.
“What surprised me
most was how unsure
the founders seemed to
be that they were
actually onto something
big. Some of these
companies got started
almost by accident.”
46.
It’s not about coming up with a
single brilliant idea
62.
Join a startup if you want to grow
as a person
63.
“A startup is a company
designed to grow fast. Being
newly founded does not in itself
make a company a startup. Nor
is it necessary for a startup to
work on technology, or take
venture funding, or have some
sort of "exit." The only essential
thing is growth. ”
– Paul Graham
64.
Working for a growing company is
an amazing experience
76.
As a startup, we are searching for
the right what and how.
77.
“[Established] Companies
execute business models
where customers, their
problems, and necessary
product features are all
“knowns.” In sharp contrast,
startups operate in “search”
mode, seeking a repeatable
and profitable business model.”
– Steve Blank
98.
Average tenure for a firm
in the S&P 500:
1958: 61 years
1980: 25 years
2012: 18 years
99.
“On average, an S&P 500
company is now being
replaced about once every
two weeks […] At current
churn rate, 75% of the S&P
500 will be replaced by
2027.”
100.
Open source 19+ million repositories on GitHub.
Services AWS, Twilio, Stripe, MailChimp, Slack,
DesignCrowd, RocketLawyer, …
Distribution Mobile, email, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn,
Reddit, Meetup.com, YouTube, AdWords, …
Information Books, classes, blogs, accelerators, incubators,
conferences, …
Money Venture capital, angels, crowdfunding,
government grants, self-funding, …
101.
So why join a startup instead of
starting your own?
102.
If you start a startup, you are stuck
with it for up to a decade.
103.
In that same time period, you can
join 3-4 startups.
104.
Earning experience, connections,
and stock at each one.
105.
“The 100th engineer at
Facebook made far
more money than 99%
of Silicon Valley
entrepreneurs.”
– Dustin Moskovitz
116.
You have an idea or passion that
you simply must do.
117.
You’ve worked on it for years,
even while at other jobs.
118.
You just have to bring your dream
into the world.
119.
Just remember: a startup is one
way to accomplish your dream.
120.
1. Do a side project.
2. Go into politics.
3. Do volunteer activities.
4. Build a community.
5. Join someone else’s company.
6. Invest in someone else’s company.
7. Start a non-profit.
8. Start a lifestyle business.
9. Start a startup.
10. Do academic research.
11. Publish articles, papers, and books.
12. Give talks.
13. Create an open source project.
14. Become an advisor or mentor.
15. Become a teacher.
121.
1. Do a side project.
2. Go into politics.
3. Do volunteer activities.
4. Build a community.
5. Join someone else’s company.
6. Invest in someone else’s company.
7. Start a non-profit.
8. Start a lifestyle business.
9. Start a startup.
10. Do academic research.
11. Publish articles, papers, and books.
12. Give talks.
13. Create an open source project.
14. Become an advisor or mentor.
15. Become a teacher.
A startup is merely one means to
an end.
123.
So how do you start? How do you
build a good career?
124.
“You need to be good at
something before you can
expect a good job.”
– Cal Newport
125.
“The way to get
startup ideas is not
to try to think of
startup ideas […]
The way to have
good startup ideas
is to become the
sort of person who
has them.”
– Paul Graham
126.
The way to have a great career is
not to search for a great career but
to make yourself great.
127.
How to become great:
1. Study
2. Build
3. Share
128.
How to become great:
1. Study
2. Build
3. Share
161.
Office buildings: Floriane Vita
Man in suit: energiepic.com
Ladder: Miguel Virkkunen Carvalho
Cubicles: Tim Patterson
Office Space: 20th Century Fox
The Social Network: Columbia Pictures
Silicon Valley: HBO
The 4-hour Work Week: Tim Ferriss
Ping pong: SageChimera
Biz Stone: Joi Ito
Coding: Hitesh Choudhary
Steve Jobs: Matthew Yohe
Mark Zuckerberg: Brian Solis
Reid Hoffman: Joi Ito
Idea maze: Chris Dixon
Robert Heinlein: Wikimedia
Primitive Wheel: John O’Neill
Camp Fire: Eric Dufresne
Code: Ilya Pavlov
Software frustration: Tim Gouw
Coffee: David Mao
Steve Blank: Eric Millette
Paul Graham: Dave Thomas
Dustin Moskovitz: Dustin Moskovitz
Ambulance: Paul Sableman
Stressed woman: Aledander Dummer
Woman writing: Startup Stock Photos
Man and whiteboard: Startup Stock Photos
Classroom: Wokandapix
Journals: Lum3n
Meetup: Sebastiaan ter Burg
T-Shaped Person: Valve
Writing: Alvaro Serrano
Teaching: Pop Tech
Pair coding: Startup Stock Photos
Expert: Graham Lavender
References & image credits