This presentation was given at the Pecha Kucha Night San Jose - March 31st‏, 2015 It is the lessons learnt from a series of startups I have been involved in from 2002.

1. Lessons from Failure
A K2 Vista LLC Production
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Nana karobi ya oki, Japanese saying, Fall down seven, getup eight

2. Introduction
• This presentation was given at the Pecha
Kucha Night San Jose - March 31st‫‏‬, 2015
• It is the lessons learnt from a series of startups
I have been involved in from 2002.
• The slides are bare bones, and as you do not
have the commentary, I am including in small
text a brief summary.

3. Takes more than a garage-You need more than an idea, you need an infrastruture

4. VCs like elephantsWe targeted SMB (Small to Medium Business, but investors prefer Enterprise)

5. Keep the
Guru
in-house
Develop the product and key development
locally

6. One shotYou get one shot, get it right the first time

7. Check for reactionChemistry and in-fighting can destroy your startup, pay heed.

8. Nice guys-Nice guys don’t always win, they can get squashed.

9. What about Big Names?Don't be too impressed with big names

10. Check your inner GPSDo you preach what you practice Innovation vs listening

11. Just
becauseJust because you were successful before
doesn't mean you'll be successful at it again

12. Your
customers
Your customers will follow the bell curve
The good, do a little and they are happy,
Then the ones in the middle, and the ugly
ones are the squeaky wheels. No matter
What you do for them they will never be
Happy.

13. Uniforms can be boughtDon't be too impressed with credentials

14. Multiply by 3
-It takes 3 times the budget and time to take off

15. Free is ok,
Freemium is nice,
but premium is the
best.

16. My
Value
Prop is!
Make your value proposition compelling

17. It takes time

18. Is it buzz-worthy?Content is queen but buzz-worthiness is king

19. Likes or Link-backs?Likes and Followers are cool, but linkbacks are hot

20. The Unfinished Biz PlanYour Business plan is a work in progress, it is never complete.

21. Lineup
The sun, moon, stars and planets all need to lineup. That means your
idea, execution, team, timing, and luck.