This document provides lessons learned from startup experiences. Some key points include: 1) Ideas are easy but execution is difficult; partnerships and problem solving are important. 2) Funding opportunities are unpredictable and timing is critical for success. 3) Startups need to remain agile, focus on customers, and be prepared to fail and learn from mistakes. 4) Early-stage companies should keep operations lean while continually improving and marketing their product.

1. Startup Lessons Learned
The Expensive Way

2. THINGS ENTREPRENEURS LEARN
1. Ideas grow on trees
2. Solve problems
3. Partners in crime
4. Funding is a crap shoot
5. Big ships turn slowly
6. Be agile not fragile
7. Bat above your weight
8. Piggyback brands
9. Beware the Scope Creep
10. Blood on the bleeding edge
11. The market is not ready for
you
12. Timing counts
13. The market is small
14. Be ready to fail
15. Fail better
16. First mover disadvantage
17. Sell or Build
18. Incubate
19. Keep lean and mean
20. Great products sell
themselves

3. IDEAS GROW ON TREES
 It’s all in the execution
 NDAs are for amateurs
 Patents hard to enforce
 The real threat is out there
 “20 competitors by Christmas”

4. SOLVE PROBLEMS
 Needs vs Wants
 Market-led development vs Product-led
 “If I had asked people what they wanted, they
would have said faster horses.” ~ Henry T. Ford
 “It's really hard to design products by focus groups.
A lot of times, people don't know what they want
until you show it to them.” ~ Steve Jobs

5. PARTNERS IN CRIME
 Founders
 Everybody needs somebody, to lean on
 1+1=3
 Team full of Talent
 Hire entrepreneurs, not employees
 1 great developer = 4 good ones
 Academia
 Long term friends

6. FUNDING IS A CRAP SHOOT
 Three F’s
 Misadventure capitalists
 The curse of competitions
 Sucking from the EI teat
 Sales!

7. BIG SHIPS TURN SLOWLY
 Google and social networking
 Facebook and search
 Mobile operators and LBS
 The environment changes faster than large
organisations

8. BE AGILE NOT FRAGILE
 Classic “waterfall” project management is
important for capital intensive work where early
errors can be catastrophic later
 Not so valuable for small, resource-limited
works where specifications change regularly
and errors can be fixed post-launch

9. BE AGILE NOT FRAGILE
 Use rapid iteration
 Release early, release often
 Quality?

10. BAT ABOVE YOUR WEIGHT
 Multinationals do partner with small companies
 sometimes by luck
 Franchise organisations
 Channel partners
 System Integrators

11. PIGGYBACK BRANDS
 #1 Christmas app 2009
 and again Summer 2010
from TV show
 Jedward: Let Loose (Aug 24)

12. BEWARE THE SCOPE CREEP
 The Scope Creep ♥
Feature Bloat
 “Making a product
better often requires
removing features”
 Marco Arment, Instapaper

13. BLOOD ON THE BLEEDING EDGE
 Technology evolves quickly
 Window of opportunity is small
 Locle’s cell-tower positioning
system was irrelevant within 2
years

14. THE MARKET IS NOT READY FOR YOU
2000-2012

15. TIMING COUNTS
 Is all luck
 Will make or break you
 Perseverance vs Insanity
 "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again
and expecting different results.” ~ Einstein
 Media Buzz ≠ Market Signals

16. IGNORE CONSERVATIVE ESTIMATES
 Assume they will not come
 Bus Time
 Estimated 50,000
 Got 10,000
 4% of passengers

17. BE READY TO FAIL
 90% of startups fail
 It’s OK to fail
 Failing = Trying
 Two types of “failing”
 Not pleasant fail
 Iteration fail

18. FAILING BETTER
 Pivot, pirouette, exit or axe?
 Funda.ie – a 6 month affair
 Mediocre product
 Low user traction
 Lawsuits
 Price war
 Property implosion

19. KILL PROJECTS BEFORE THEY KILL YOU
 “You’re killing startups before they’ve even
made it out of nappies” ~ Shane McAllister,
Mobanode
 But don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater
 Every kill has a carcass

20. FIRST MOVER DISADVANTAGE
 Pioneers are the ones with arrows in their backs
 Learning from others is cheaper
 Easy to copycat
 2nd gen tech is cheaper
 Unless
 Deep pockets
 Patents

21. INCUBATE
 Or Accelerate
 Early cash for old rope
 Discipline of mentors
 Coworking
 End date

22. ACCELERATORS INCUBATORS
 Dogpatch Labs
 Wayra Academy
 NDRC LaunchPad
 The Digital Hub
 DBIC Guinness Enterprise Centre
 DIT Hothouse
 Tallaght IT M50 Incubator
 DCU Invent
 Ryan Academy Propellor Venture
Accelerator
 NOVA UCD
 Trinity Technology & Enterprise
Campus
 IADT MediaCube
 LINC IT Blanchardstown
 IGAP
 Launchbox

23. KEEP LEAN AND MEAN
 Small is beautiful, and cheap
 Telepathy and osmosis
 Nimble herds
 70 Employees
 $3.4 million revenue/person

24. SELL OR BUILD
 Technologists love technology
 But somebody has to sell
 Accelerator programmes teach developers to
sell first
“Lead, follow or get out of the way”~Idiocracy

25. GREAT PRODUCTS SELL THEMSELVES
 Invest in design
 Customer service obsession
 Turn customers into sales force
 The difference between PR and marketing
“Brands are built, not bought”

26. AND FINALLY…