The document provides advice for lean startups based on the experiences of three companies:
- ONElist launched in 1998 and was acquired by Yahoo in 2000. It raised $55k initially and then $46M over multiple rounds but had a high burn rate and aimed for an IPO.
- Bloglines launched in 2003 and was acquired by Ask Jeeves in 2005 after raising only $200k total by keeping costs low and focusing on getting users then adding ads and flipping the company.
- Snap Groups just launched with only $6k in funding by keeping costs extremely low and focusing on building to last rather than aiming for an exit.
The document advises startups to focus on solving real
My Talk to The Integrated Marketing Class at NYU (April 28, 2014)Andrew Wong
My 60-minute talk to the integrated marketing graduate students at NYU on April 28, 2014. Topics presented include 1). why it is relatively easier to start a business in today's environment; 2). what challenges are facing most first-time entrepreneurs; 3). the fundraising options for today's startup entrepreneurs and small business owners; 4). key success factors to survive and thrive with your business; 5). what resources are available to help startups succeed; 6). the definition of "happiness" through different lenses of business professionals.
Diseña juegos. Ilumina el camino. Las dos facetas del líder ágilGustavo Quiroz
Di esta charla como Keynote del evento Ágiles 2013 el 11 de Octubre en Lima, Perú.
Presento una metáfora y una estructura para entender y ejercer el liderazgo, cuyo propósito es ir más allá de Scrum, Kanban y Agile para liderar. Entiendo liderazgo como la capacidad de influir y persuadir, es decir de actuar como gente de cambio. Propongo usar "game dynamics" y diseñar "juegos" (sistemas basados en 4 características: propósito, reglas, mecanismos de feedback y participación voluntaria) para liderar personas, grupos, equipos y organizaciones.
Para evitar caer en el "lado oscuro de la fuerza" y la manipulación, complementemos estos sistemas con un enfoque humanista basado en: visión correcta, escucha correcta, habla correcta, mente correcta y accionar correcto. Entiendo "correcto" como coherente e íntegro.
Descarga la presentación de aquí: http://www.leadersgame.org
Blogging is a proven, powerful way to generate
qualified web traffic. Are you frustrated that your
corporate blog is not generating the results that you had hoped? Worried because nobody is reading it? Michael Reynolds, President and CEO of SpinWeb, shares why your blog isn’t generating leads and what you can do about it.
Start a Developer Group and take TrailheaDX Home With You! (TDX'17)Vivek Chawla
Do you love the passion and energy of the Salesforce Developer community, but wish you could experience it more often than twice a year? A Salesforce Developer Group (DG) is just what the doctor ordered! Join Vivek M. Chawla, (founder of the San Diego Salesforce DG, 2015 Salesforce MVP, and current Salesforce ISV Technical Evangelist) to hear first-hand how to start, manage, and grow a Salesforce Developer Group in your neck of the woods!
UHY Advisors - Sparking Creativity and Fostering InnovationChris Osborn
This is a presentation - a new version - of Sparking Innovation and Fostering Innovation delivered May 26, 2010 to a group of UHY Advisors young professionals and clients.
My Talk to The Integrated Marketing Class at NYU (April 28, 2014)Andrew Wong
My 60-minute talk to the integrated marketing graduate students at NYU on April 28, 2014. Topics presented include 1). why it is relatively easier to start a business in today's environment; 2). what challenges are facing most first-time entrepreneurs; 3). the fundraising options for today's startup entrepreneurs and small business owners; 4). key success factors to survive and thrive with your business; 5). what resources are available to help startups succeed; 6). the definition of "happiness" through different lenses of business professionals.
Diseña juegos. Ilumina el camino. Las dos facetas del líder ágilGustavo Quiroz
Di esta charla como Keynote del evento Ágiles 2013 el 11 de Octubre en Lima, Perú.
Presento una metáfora y una estructura para entender y ejercer el liderazgo, cuyo propósito es ir más allá de Scrum, Kanban y Agile para liderar. Entiendo liderazgo como la capacidad de influir y persuadir, es decir de actuar como gente de cambio. Propongo usar "game dynamics" y diseñar "juegos" (sistemas basados en 4 características: propósito, reglas, mecanismos de feedback y participación voluntaria) para liderar personas, grupos, equipos y organizaciones.
Para evitar caer en el "lado oscuro de la fuerza" y la manipulación, complementemos estos sistemas con un enfoque humanista basado en: visión correcta, escucha correcta, habla correcta, mente correcta y accionar correcto. Entiendo "correcto" como coherente e íntegro.
Descarga la presentación de aquí: http://www.leadersgame.org
Blogging is a proven, powerful way to generate
qualified web traffic. Are you frustrated that your
corporate blog is not generating the results that you had hoped? Worried because nobody is reading it? Michael Reynolds, President and CEO of SpinWeb, shares why your blog isn’t generating leads and what you can do about it.
Start a Developer Group and take TrailheaDX Home With You! (TDX'17)Vivek Chawla
Do you love the passion and energy of the Salesforce Developer community, but wish you could experience it more often than twice a year? A Salesforce Developer Group (DG) is just what the doctor ordered! Join Vivek M. Chawla, (founder of the San Diego Salesforce DG, 2015 Salesforce MVP, and current Salesforce ISV Technical Evangelist) to hear first-hand how to start, manage, and grow a Salesforce Developer Group in your neck of the woods!
UHY Advisors - Sparking Creativity and Fostering InnovationChris Osborn
This is a presentation - a new version - of Sparking Innovation and Fostering Innovation delivered May 26, 2010 to a group of UHY Advisors young professionals and clients.
Based on 4 years of research with over 400 companies - there are companies that succeed and companies that fail. The biggest difference between winners and losers is smart winners make good, even mediocre, ideas great over time.
This lecture introduces the ABCs of Innovation
A = Alignment
B = Build ideas
C = Communicate and Check
S = Learning Systems
And explains why a systematic application of these stages of development can help you build ideas faster while reducing the risks of failure.
Reinventing Business: Audacity and HumilityBruce Eckel
The pitfall of traditional management is the expectation of deterministic cause and effect behavior, and this is reflected in the most popular business books. I look at the problems with these issues and how we can see the business landscape in a realistic and practical fashion, while still trying to achieve a happy workplace.
Winning your company over to modern product thinkinghopperomatic
To respond to the speed of digital change, teams need to embrace modern product development practices, but organizational change is hard. I outline specific, proven methods for bringing change to your company by using Design Sprints.
Social Media in Business - Best Practice for EntrepreneursAmar Trivedi
On Thursday 5 April, 2012, I was invited by the New Zealand Centre for Social Innovation (NZCSI) as a Social Media - Expert Witness to present to the Class of 2012 at Social Entrepreneurs School (SES) at Ko Awatea Centre, Auckland.
I had the honour of giving an introductory 90 minute session on Social Media in Business - Best Practice for Entrepreneurs. I titled it Social Media for SOLO-preneurs i.e. entrepreneurs (usually 1-2 person teams) armed with heaps of passion and a business plan to go with it.
I created this presentation mainly in the hope it inspires small businesses and professionals to get started, have a play and explore the vast possibilities (or switch up a marketing gear and take it up a notch or two) with social media.
Q - Who is a Social Entrepreneur?
A - "Social entrepreneurs act as the change agents for communities and society, developing ideas and new approaches, creating and implementing solutions to social problems that change society for the better."
Final cycles overview jan 2019 with toolkitBryan Cassady
Scaling up is hard and deadly if done wrong. We would like to help you get it right.
This presentation introduces the ABCs method of innovation and provides toolkits you could use to grow fast while reducing riks
Details
A study by Startup Genome analyzed the results of 3,200 start-ups, they found that of the majority of start-ups failed. That shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. What is more important is they found, 70% failed because of premature or faulty scaling.
In this workshop, you learn about the ABCs method. The ABCs method is a system-based approach to growing your business. It has been proven to build ideas up to 6x faster while reducing risks 30-80%.
We are excited to have the second Pau Hana in our series of "Meet the Mentors" this upcoming Tuesday, November 13th! Join us as we have a dynamic talk on innovation and failure from ex-Google and Cisco design lead - Ben Sykes! Alan Tien kicked off our first Pau Hana with a talk on Block Chain and it was a packed house! https://buff.ly/2qFamsY
Amplification is about catching bigger waves
What blogs do you read?
Most corporate blogs are • Boring • Bland • Safe What kind of blogs do you read? • Opinionated • Surprising • Have a point of view • Teach you something
What is Content Marketing?
How important is content marketing? Content wins for most effective strategy; but it’s also the hardest to implement
Amplification = content x channel
What is Amplification?
Example: Catching the wave in 2013 Original post: 2011
What is Amplification?
Section Two: Research
Start with People
People first The first question you need to ask is: “who do I want to reach?” Section Two Every good product, website, campaign, and piece of writing starts with people in mind.
How do you choose your audience?
Technique #2: draw a venn diagram
Our target audience is: __________________
Finding pain
Section Two When you understand your audience’s pain you’ll be able to better define their problem.
Example: pjrvs.com
Focus on their needs
Observe people in their habitat
Where do people hang out?
Research examples: where would you find managers?
What are you looking for? BIG problems trends pain points frustrations
Observing trends
Yesterday I saw this tweet:
He’s tweeting about this site: The Grid
He’s not happy about it
A lot of other designers don’t like it either
I go to Designer News:
Where have I seen this before?
What’s the trend we’re observing? Designers are feeling threatened.
This takes time. Collect and organize your research.
Sample research I’m using an app called keeeb.com to track trends.
Listen
Focus on your audience’s biggest problems
Organize your research • Record your findings • Organize them into groupings • Identify a big pain / issue / topic you could focus on You grow an audience by targeting a topic people care about!
Section Three: Writing & Promotion 3
Write for your audience
Writing viral content is hard.
Great, shareable content…
Why do people share content?
Types of content
Amplify your content
Which train are you going to hitch your content to? Your own small network Someone else’s big network
Effects of amplification
Two types of amplifiers: 1
How do you build relationships with influencers?
How do you earn the right to on online communities? Add value Hacker News Designer News Product Hunt
Target the right networks
Coordinate your efforts
Example 1: Groovehq
Coordinate your launch
The game plan
A note on Hacker News, Designer News, Product Hunt, Reddit…
It typically takes about 20-30 minutes for a story to slip off the "New Submissions" page. That's your window to get enough votes to appear on the front page.
The algorithm on News Sites favours new content
Can you game the system?
Timing is important
Social Media: Podcasting, Blogging and Social NetworkingDawn Yankeelov
This is an overview talk regarding the state of social media on Aug. 19, 2009 by Aspectx, delivered to guests of One Southern Indiana, and Indiana Small Business Development Centers.
6 lead generation problems and how to get solutionsSiphosith Sithole
Lead generation for MLM is always an issue unless you have made your research well.Here is a list of the problems:
1. Inconsistency
2. Failing to follow up
3 Managing Your Time
4. Getting Organized
5. Too many ideas
6. Lacking Confidence and belief in self.
Learn more at http://siphosith.com
Connect; http://facebook.com/successwithsiphosith
My preferred System: http;//workwithsiphosith.com
Based on 4 years of research with over 400 companies - there are companies that succeed and companies that fail. The biggest difference between winners and losers is smart winners make good, even mediocre, ideas great over time.
This lecture introduces the ABCs of Innovation
A = Alignment
B = Build ideas
C = Communicate and Check
S = Learning Systems
And explains why a systematic application of these stages of development can help you build ideas faster while reducing the risks of failure.
Reinventing Business: Audacity and HumilityBruce Eckel
The pitfall of traditional management is the expectation of deterministic cause and effect behavior, and this is reflected in the most popular business books. I look at the problems with these issues and how we can see the business landscape in a realistic and practical fashion, while still trying to achieve a happy workplace.
Winning your company over to modern product thinkinghopperomatic
To respond to the speed of digital change, teams need to embrace modern product development practices, but organizational change is hard. I outline specific, proven methods for bringing change to your company by using Design Sprints.
Social Media in Business - Best Practice for EntrepreneursAmar Trivedi
On Thursday 5 April, 2012, I was invited by the New Zealand Centre for Social Innovation (NZCSI) as a Social Media - Expert Witness to present to the Class of 2012 at Social Entrepreneurs School (SES) at Ko Awatea Centre, Auckland.
I had the honour of giving an introductory 90 minute session on Social Media in Business - Best Practice for Entrepreneurs. I titled it Social Media for SOLO-preneurs i.e. entrepreneurs (usually 1-2 person teams) armed with heaps of passion and a business plan to go with it.
I created this presentation mainly in the hope it inspires small businesses and professionals to get started, have a play and explore the vast possibilities (or switch up a marketing gear and take it up a notch or two) with social media.
Q - Who is a Social Entrepreneur?
A - "Social entrepreneurs act as the change agents for communities and society, developing ideas and new approaches, creating and implementing solutions to social problems that change society for the better."
Final cycles overview jan 2019 with toolkitBryan Cassady
Scaling up is hard and deadly if done wrong. We would like to help you get it right.
This presentation introduces the ABCs method of innovation and provides toolkits you could use to grow fast while reducing riks
Details
A study by Startup Genome analyzed the results of 3,200 start-ups, they found that of the majority of start-ups failed. That shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. What is more important is they found, 70% failed because of premature or faulty scaling.
In this workshop, you learn about the ABCs method. The ABCs method is a system-based approach to growing your business. It has been proven to build ideas up to 6x faster while reducing risks 30-80%.
We are excited to have the second Pau Hana in our series of "Meet the Mentors" this upcoming Tuesday, November 13th! Join us as we have a dynamic talk on innovation and failure from ex-Google and Cisco design lead - Ben Sykes! Alan Tien kicked off our first Pau Hana with a talk on Block Chain and it was a packed house! https://buff.ly/2qFamsY
Amplification is about catching bigger waves
What blogs do you read?
Most corporate blogs are • Boring • Bland • Safe What kind of blogs do you read? • Opinionated • Surprising • Have a point of view • Teach you something
What is Content Marketing?
How important is content marketing? Content wins for most effective strategy; but it’s also the hardest to implement
Amplification = content x channel
What is Amplification?
Example: Catching the wave in 2013 Original post: 2011
What is Amplification?
Section Two: Research
Start with People
People first The first question you need to ask is: “who do I want to reach?” Section Two Every good product, website, campaign, and piece of writing starts with people in mind.
How do you choose your audience?
Technique #2: draw a venn diagram
Our target audience is: __________________
Finding pain
Section Two When you understand your audience’s pain you’ll be able to better define their problem.
Example: pjrvs.com
Focus on their needs
Observe people in their habitat
Where do people hang out?
Research examples: where would you find managers?
What are you looking for? BIG problems trends pain points frustrations
Observing trends
Yesterday I saw this tweet:
He’s tweeting about this site: The Grid
He’s not happy about it
A lot of other designers don’t like it either
I go to Designer News:
Where have I seen this before?
What’s the trend we’re observing? Designers are feeling threatened.
This takes time. Collect and organize your research.
Sample research I’m using an app called keeeb.com to track trends.
Listen
Focus on your audience’s biggest problems
Organize your research • Record your findings • Organize them into groupings • Identify a big pain / issue / topic you could focus on You grow an audience by targeting a topic people care about!
Section Three: Writing & Promotion 3
Write for your audience
Writing viral content is hard.
Great, shareable content…
Why do people share content?
Types of content
Amplify your content
Which train are you going to hitch your content to? Your own small network Someone else’s big network
Effects of amplification
Two types of amplifiers: 1
How do you build relationships with influencers?
How do you earn the right to on online communities? Add value Hacker News Designer News Product Hunt
Target the right networks
Coordinate your efforts
Example 1: Groovehq
Coordinate your launch
The game plan
A note on Hacker News, Designer News, Product Hunt, Reddit…
It typically takes about 20-30 minutes for a story to slip off the "New Submissions" page. That's your window to get enough votes to appear on the front page.
The algorithm on News Sites favours new content
Can you game the system?
Timing is important
Social Media: Podcasting, Blogging and Social NetworkingDawn Yankeelov
This is an overview talk regarding the state of social media on Aug. 19, 2009 by Aspectx, delivered to guests of One Southern Indiana, and Indiana Small Business Development Centers.
6 lead generation problems and how to get solutionsSiphosith Sithole
Lead generation for MLM is always an issue unless you have made your research well.Here is a list of the problems:
1. Inconsistency
2. Failing to follow up
3 Managing Your Time
4. Getting Organized
5. Too many ideas
6. Lacking Confidence and belief in self.
Learn more at http://siphosith.com
Connect; http://facebook.com/successwithsiphosith
My preferred System: http;//workwithsiphosith.com
Similar to Mark Fletcher's Startup2Startup Talk (20)
6 lead generation problems and how to get solutions
Mark Fletcher's Startup2Startup Talk
1. Try This For Lean Startup!
Mark Fletcher
Startup 2 Startup
Feb 25, 2010
2. Me, Myself and Me Again
Launched: January 1998
Acquired: Yahoo, June, 2000
Launched: June 2003
Acquired: Ask Jeeves, February, 2005
Launched: Just Now!
3. The Idea
Your idea isn’t new. Get over
your stunning brilliance; at least
50 other people have thought of
it.
4. The Idea
A startup will require your
complete attention and devotion.
Thought your first love in High
School was clingy? You can’t take
out a restraining order on your
startup.
5. The Idea
Focus on what bugs you:
• ONElist - Mailing lists were hard
• Bloglines - Reading blogs was hard
• Snap Groups - Groups haven’t evolved
6. Business Model
The size of your startup is not a
reflection of your manhood (or
womanhood as the case may be).
7. Business Model
• ONElist - Get big fast, then do ads, IPO
• Bloglines - Run cheap, get users, then ads, flip
• Snap Groups - Run cheap, get users, freemium, no exit in mind
8. Funding
The best way to get outside
funding is to be successful
already. But you, cheapskate, don’t
need money, right?
9. Funding
• ONElist - $55k initially, then $46M over 2+ rounds, big burn rate,
hell bent on an IPO.
• Bloglines - $200k start to finish, built to flip.
• Snap Groups - $6k, built to last.
12. Tech
If you don’t have scaling
problems, you’re not growing or
launching fast enough.
13. Tech
• ONElist - Oracle, owned the machines
• Bloglines - Sleepycat, owned the machines
• Snap Groups - Mongodb, github, Google Apps, rent the machines
(Softlayer)
14. Hiring
• ONElist - 150 people, hired as many as possible as quickly as
possible.
• Bloglines - One full-time, others stock, Elance.
• Snap Groups - Me, 99Designs, psd2html, Odesk.
15. Getting The Word Out
• ONElist - Seriously considered spending millions on TV ads,
stumbled upon extreme viralness of groups
• Bloglines - PR, relationships with the press
• Snap Groups - Rely on previously experienced viralness of
groups, Twitter, Facebook, individual blogs
17. Market Will Define You
• ONElist - Surprised about viralness, never anticipated how it
would be used. Users pushed us to create a moderator group.
• Bloglines - Focus group of power users
• Snap Groups - Small power user group, larger moderator group
18. This Is Important
It’s a startup, not Alaskan crab
fishing. Being an entrepreneur is
about minimizing risk.
19. Finally
You have to be wrong in the head
to start a company. But we have
all the fun.
Editor's Notes
Thanks Dave for inviting me and thank you for coming out. I’m thanking you because you gave me a hard deadline to launch my new startup, which I’ll talk about in a minute. So much of a startup is getting attention. Tell Diba resume story.
I’ve started 3 companies over the past 12 years. Want to talk about how things have changed for lean startups over the past 12 years, and some of the things I’ve done to keep things lean with Snap Groups.
Talk about my background, ‘nerd by birth’.
How I started each company
- ONElist: launched it and moonlighted first year with 4 friends
- Bloglines: self-funded it the entire way
- At 39, launching third company, second about group communication
A couple years ago, in a redbull-fueled fit of inspiration, I wrote a bunch of startup commandments, illustrating various aspects of startups. I’ll reference a few of them throughout this talk.
As we all know, a startup begins with the idea. But that’s only the start. Everybody has had the same idea, it’s the execution that makes the difference.
One more startup commandment before we continue. Solve problem that is hard and is personal. You won’t succeed unless you have passion for the idea, so therefore you should solve a problem that you yourself have.
Solve something you have a passion for. I’ve apparently developed a theme for communications, specifically group communications. Started in BBSs. Easy to go back to it, when groups hasn’t evolved in 10 years.
Why do ONElist?
Loved mailing lists in university, couldn’t find any and knew starting one would be a pain
Why do Snap Groups?
Merc news Sharks twitter experience during the playoffs
Also, groups has stagnated over the past 10 years
We’re talking lean startups here. My first startup had 150 employees. Snap Groups has me.
1) You must think about biz model up front
2) Biz model will depend on time in marketplace you launch (environment)
3) What was I trying to achieve for each
Important to think about business model before you launch. They often reflect the environment of the time. ONElist - expected IPO, Bloglines we were thinking about ads, Snap Groups driving towards revenue. Biz model begins where you think you’re pointing the car. With SG, learned running cheap is great, ONElist viral is the way to go, but now focus is on generating revenue on a stand-alone basis.
I think this is self-evident
ONElist started like all my startups, first year run really cheap, because I didn’t know how to raise any money. But converted to a big VC-backed going for IPO startup because at the time that’s what you did. Money is power/control, you lose it when you take VC. ONElist (raise a lot, spend a lot). What I learned with Bloglines was that if you only use your own money, you’ll be cheap. I’m doing the same with Snap Groups, even though I don’t have to.
Doing a startup is like riding a roller coaster, or maybe it’s like being manic depressive. Huge highs and deep lows.
Rapid iteration
Once you’ve got your idea and decided to do a startup, there are several steps involved, and I’ll talk about how things have changed with each of these over the years.
Don’t worry about making a completely scalable system right now. Just get something out there.
Technology has obviously improved greatly over the past 12 years. The database is the heart of your service. With ONElist, we had to go with Oracle for our db. These days, there are so many great free databases that it doesn’t make sense to use Oracle. With ONElist, we had to own our own machines. No way does that make sense now, and actually owning the machines with Bloglines was a big mistake.
Why mongodb.
12 years ago, needed a team with an office. With Bloglines, there was Elance and the start of a virtual company (for logos and some design work). Now, virtual office, outsourcing. 99designs, odesk. Does everyone know what 99Designs is?
Tips for using 99designs effectively (spring for extra promotion)
Odesk tip - better to seek out a specific contractor instead of asking for bids
With Bloglines, the press still existed. But now, the tech press doesn’t really exist. The rise of the bloggers and social nature of word of mouth. Traditional PR doesn’t work any more. Press releases have no targets now. Journalists gone.
What was interesting with Bloglines was the oversized amount of press coverage we got. There was a stretch where we had an article in the WSJ every month for 4 months. And yet, our user base was relatively small. We benefited from a lot of reporters using Bloglines on a regular basis. Because of all the changes in the press over the past couple years, however, you can’t count on that. You must now spread the word using Twitter & Facebook and also through talking with individual bloggers.
And once you do ship, it takes on a life of its own. You must listen to the market place. Your great ideas don’t matter any more. Rapidly iterate!
The best thing you can do is launch and get your service into the hands of your users. They will tell you what to do to improve your service. By listening to them and improving the service, your users will take on a sense of ownership of the service that ties them even more closely to it. You don’t have to launch with every feature; it’s better if you don’t.
With ONElist, we were constantly surprised by how people used the service. Our users pushed us to create a group where moderators could ask us questions and give us feedback. It was tremendously useful.
With Bloglines, I created a group of power users. I would ask them about potential new features and they'd provide feedback and suggestions.
I plan on doing the same with Snap Groups.
I had to google to find the most dangerous job in America. I consider myself to be very risk adverse. Starting a company is often the riskiest thing a person does in their professional life. Once you’ve decided to take that huge risk, do what you can to mitigate it. Being cheap is a big part of mitigating risk. That’s why I ran ONElist on the side the first year, because I had a mortgage and car payment and couldn’t risk leaving my job.
Being an entrepreneur is stressful. Being an entrepreneur requires an amazing amount of work. But it’s also the most fun I’ve ever had in my professional life.