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Starting an InternetVenture Today alexis ohanian alexis@breadpig.com
Starting anInternetVenture4 years ago alexis ohanian alexis@breadpig.com
Steve
Steve
(NOT US)
October’s traffic 7Muniques 150M impressions
Thanks.
(for smallpox vaccines?)
Starting an InternetVenture Today alexis ohanian alexis@breadpig.com
Start!
WARNING
STEAL THIS IDEA
http://www.paulgraham.com/siliconvalley.html
USD 2.6 billion
USD 2.6 billion USD 21 billion(2007)
Will it be you?
Co-founders matter, a lot
Everest is the Ben Nevis of the Himalayas
Good news, everyone!
Programmers are from Mars,business pplare from…
Special Messagefor all the“useless founders”
Be Mr. Wolf
Cheerleading
Writing
“Have character” - PrakashSwaminathan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HYDvWLGmo4
Look for opportunities to do something awesome
Working harder makes up for being dumber
Working harder makes up for being dumber (but it's not a substitute)
Respondquicklyto calls & email. Do so as a human.
The element of surprise
http://www.groupon.com/new-york/unsubscribed?mid=96988&addx=
Hand-mailing >300 sets of stickers is not fun work, but it’s rewarding.
Early adopters.
Early adopters.
no one wants to use your website
My mom
only your mom wants to use your website
you need evangelists
FAIL
Make something people want
Make something people love
Give them a reason to talk about it.
Know about competitors. But don’t care.
Launch. Improve.Repeat.
you don’t need PRfirms
stickers, wtf??
Starting an InternetVenture Today alexis ohanian alexis@breadpig.com
Start!
Questions?

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Alexis Ohanian talk in Edinburgh: Starting An Internet Venture

Editor's Notes

  1. Wasn’t going to be a lawyer
  2. Happy alien after acquisition
  3. We’ve grown a lot since
  4. I’m thrilled to be back in scotland
  5. As the name would lead you to believe, it’s about giving thanks
  6. The first ppl to believe in us after our parents
  7. My team
  8. The community
  9. The most important part about this talk…and the one thing I can guarantee you’ll need to do in order to succeed (get rdy to write this down)
  10. Working from one dataset
  11. I hope so, because then I’m going to take all the credit for your success. But you going at it alone is going to be difficult. At some point, you’re more than likely going to need a co-founder, but what’s most important is not that you have one, but that you have the RIGHT One.
  12. Choose wisely, but there’s good news, because most – if not all - of you in this room are programmers
  13. You have the power, and can learn a lot of the business side- no MBA required
  14. Don’t choose your editor by its logo alone
  15. If there’s one big disconnect between programming and non-programming cofounders
  16. It’s that a day could be spent staring at a computer screen that results in a few flashes of genius that solves a very complicated program. Like most arts, it could be a nap that inspires you.
  17. Contrast that with the non-programmer, who sees typing on a keyboard as being directly related to productivity
  18. It’s easy to imagine the nonprogramming cofounder as useless
  19. It’s easy to imagine the nonprogramming cofounder as useless
  20. Cannot under value cheerleading, esp given how many startups fail because they simply quit