The document provides advice and perspectives on embracing startup life and thinking like a startup. It emphasizes the importance of solving real problems, getting early customers to pay for products to validate ideas, and releasing minimum viable products quickly through a process of building, testing, and iterating based on customer feedback. While the startup journey is challenging and uncertain, the document encourages persevering through inevitable struggles and setbacks to eventually achieve success, as illustrated by the example of Elon Musk's experiences in 2008.

1. Embracing “Startup Life” and learning
to think “The Startup Way”
@Ben_Hall
Ben@BenHall.me.uk
Blog.BenHall.me.uk
Ocelot Uproar

2. Build It!
Think It!
Ship It!
Sell It!

3. Love Startups
2 Wins. 2 Loses. 1 Draw.
Ocelot Uproar - TBD

4. LANAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
... He remembers me!!!!!

5. A startup is a company that is confused about
1) What it’s product is
2) Who it’s customers are
3) How it makes money

6. Startup life?

7. Different to the Enterprise?

8. Value Creation at 80 / 20

10. Rollercoaster

13. Developers are in the best
position to do this as we think
about problems differently
Or at least the good ones do

14. Think it!

17. Solve a real pain

20. Solve Your Own Problem

21. Vision

22. Disney – To make people happy
Ikea – To create a better every day life for the many
people
Wal-Mart – Become a $125 billion company by the year
2000
Honda – in 1970: We will destroy Yamaha.
Nike – in 1960s: Crush Adidas.
Stanford University – To become the Harvard of the
West

23. Telsa - To accelerate the advent of sustainable
transport by bringing compelling mass market
electric cars to market as soon as possible
SpaceX - To accelerate development of rocket
technology, all for the goal of establishing a
self-sustaining, permanent base on Mars

24. People don't buy what you do;
they buy why you do it.

26. Ideas to avoid / be aware of?
• Market places / two sided markets
– They do lead to digital transaction businesses ==
most likely to hit $1b
– Winning once is hard. Here you need to win twice.
• Viral
– Generally all about luck
• Photo Sharing etc
– Yawn!!! Be original.

28. Just start
Easier to go from shit to great
than from nothing

29. Talk to everyone! Listen to a
few

30. Ask yourself tough questions

31. DON’T SAY YOU’RE
DISRUPTION OR INNOVATING
LAME!!! Only others can say that
http://insideintercom.io/what-everyone-
needs-to-know-about-disruption/

34. Product Market Fit

35. Got an idea?
Get someone to pay for it

37. Build it!

38. “An MVP is an experiment that tests a
critical, falsifiable hypothesis of your
business”
“MVPs are just a tool to conduct fast,
measurable customer learnings”
Devin Hunt - http://dex.io/hailpixel/mvps-in-practice/

39. Landing Page / Pitch Test

41. Fake it until you make it

43. Product Hunt
Naughty… smart… but naughty

44. Product Solution Fit

45. Anything can be an MVP
Even if it only lasts 33 seconds

46. User journey is the most
important aspect to figure out

47. New found love for
Prototyping

48. 30 Day Launch
Medium – 31 Days
Google Wave – 300 Days

49. Design is key
http://firstround.com/article/Simple-Design-is-What-You-Need-Not-What-You-Want-1

50. Typography

52. Colour Theory

54. Be Careful Of Stock Photography

55. Don’t turn into a
developer/designer!

56. Screw Perfection!
• Done is better than prefect

57. WHO CARES ABOUT CLEAN
CODE IF THERE ARE NO
SALES!

58. Build on the shoulders of
giants

59. This Guy!

60. Ship it!

61. If you release something and no-
one is around to use it, did the
release happen?

62. Find the people who believe in
what you believe

63. Content Marketing

64. Paypal => eBay

65. AirBnB => Craigslist

66. Twitter Mentions / Search /
Auto Follow

67. Empty Community Problem -
Daatch
Solve the empty community problem

68. Habit Forming Product
Keep them coming back

69. Friend of Friend
Get them to bring more people

70. Teams
Don’t let them leave

71. Dropbox Wins t’Internet

72. Sell it!

73. If it offers value, people will
pay

74. Charge from day zero

75. Price for the customer you
want
$9
$99
$999

76. Stay away from Free Trails
http://derickbailey.com/2014/05/14/saas-builders-beware-the-free-trial/

77. Stay away from Unlimited
Price based on value. It’s a
balance, you’ll find it
https://baremetrics.io/blog/never-offer-unlimited

78. Love the enterprise
https://baremetrics.io/blog/idea-to-5000-in-5-months

79. Zombies are more likely

80. Lifestyle is fine!

82. Elon Musk - 2008
SpaceX Falcon 1 launches was 0 for 3.
Telsa was hemorrhaging money
Getting divorced
“man, I never thought I was someone who
could ever be capable of a nervous breakdown”
~Iron Man Elon Musk
http://spacenews.com/article/civil-space/40066why-elon-musk-says-2008-was-his-worst-year-ever

83. Elon Musk - 2008
Sept. 28, 2008 - Falcon 1 – Successful
launch on fourth attempt
Dec. 23, 2008 - SpaceX awarded $1.6billion
NASA contract
Dec. 25, 2008 – Telsa investors pour more
money in

84. Summary

85. Thank you
@Ben_Hall
Ben@BenHall.me.uk
Blog.BenHall.me.uk
Your Thoughts…
MissingUnicorns.com
DevSignerApp.com