Talk I gave for Strefa 89 in Poland on tips of what not to do when creating a start-up, from idea conception to scaling the business, going through founders, business plans, prototypes and sales.

1. HOW NOT TO DO A START-UP
Strefa 89
Alex Barrera (@abarrera)
alex@press42.com

2. HELLO MY NAME IS...
http://www.slideshare.net/press42
Alex Barrera (@abarrera)

3. ♔
KEEP
CALM
AND
DON’T
PANIC

4. Oh start-‐up land!!

5. IDEA

6. Idea paralysis

8. Start small

9. Mom isn’t a market

10. Dudeeeee
Sweeeet!

11. Wait for it...

12. F*CK!
Don’t start coding... YET!

13. PROTOTYPE

14. GOAL: Test the hypothesis

15. Repeat after me...

16. GOAL: Test the hypothesis

17. Don’t build the damn thing!

18. No shame
“
If you are not embarrassed
by the first version of
your product, you’ve
launched too late.
Reid Hoffman

19. Scaling? Really?

20. Surveys

21. Interviews

22. PLANNING

23. Business plan?

24. Financial projections

25. Planning is great...

26. The plan is nothing

27. SCALABLE BUSINESS?

28. INCORPORATING

29. Single founder?

30. Multiple
co-founders

31. One too many

32. Trust your gut

33. When everything goes ok...

34. The Dark
Side

35. Sense of progress

36. SALES

37. use the force: Go out and sell

38. Great technical products don’t sell themselves

39. Communication
IS critical

40. Product reaction: Inkzee

41. Product reaction: Tetuan Valley

43. Are presentations useful?

44. Tell a story

45. AMBITION

46. Startups aren’t about the money

47. You will FAIL

48. more than once

50. It’s your baby

51. You grow into it

52. Family goes first, ALWAYS

53. REMEMBER
TO
HAVE FUN

54. Enjoy e-v-e-r-y moment

55. Enjoy e-v-e-r-y moment
THANK YOU!
Alex Barrera (@abarrera)
alex@press42.com
http://www.slideshare.net/press42