I was recently asked to be a guest speaker at UNSW's Centre for Innovation & Entrepreneurship. If you're interested in finding out more or have any questions, feel free to contact me via @mishymash
2. POLLENIZER STORY SO FAR...
•4 years old
• 2000 ideas pitched to
us
• Involved in over 200
companies
• Biggest success? Sold
Spreets to Yahoo!7 for
$40m
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4. WHAT WE LOOK FOR IN A
FOUNDER...
• What can they investment (time and money)?
• Do they have domain experience or what else do they bring
to the table?
• Do they have the right temperament, leadership and
motivation for start-ups?
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5. WHAT WE LOOK FOR IN AN
IDEA...
• Can we easily test it?
• Is it a disruptor and is it solving a customer need?
• Is there an easy starting point AND a big vision?
• Is it really interesting?
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6. THE TEAM
The team is made up of product, customer development,
engineering, design, ops and finance, and we are all creative
problem solvers!
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8. THE ANSWER IS SIMPLE...
THROUGH THOUSANDS OF
TINY CONVERSATIONS.
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9. TIPS FOR...
STARTING A BUSINESS
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10. #1 FAIL FAST
• Can you run manual tests before you build?
• How can you learn from your mistakes?
• Are you embarrassed by your first release? If the answer is
‘no’ you probably waited too long to go live!
• Remember... If you’re not failing somewhere, you’re not
trying hard enough!
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11. EXAMPLE OF A MANUAL TEST FOR
WWW.RYUUAPP.COM
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12. #2 GET ADVICE
• Who is your ideal advisory
panel?
• Are there other ways you
can access mentors?
• Are you being honest? Don’t
pretend to be the expert.
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13. #3 PASSION
• Are you focusing on what
you love?
• Can you find a way to make
things more interesting for
yourself?
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14. TIPS FOR...
POSITIONING A BUSINESS
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15. #1 NARROW FOCUS
• What’s the smallest niche
you can target?
• Can you start small, then
scale?
• Could you capture 20% of
the market?
Image via http://www.sprixi.com/i/2119943442?link=html
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16. #2 LOOK FOR GAPS
Opportunity!
Very social
• Where are your
competitors positioned?
• Where are customer needs Small $ Big $
not being met?
• Where’s the gap? Banks
Unsocial
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21. USE IDEATION TECHNIQUES LIKE BRAINWRITING
HTTP://WWW.POLLENIZER.COM/BRAIN-WRITING/
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22. FURTHER READING
• ‘Disrupt’ by Luke Williams
• ‘The Lean Startup’ by Eric Ries
• Agile manifesto
• www.leancanvas.com
• Follow interesting people and discussions on Twitter: Jeremiah
Owyang @jowyang, @mashable, @techcrunch,
@ReadWriteWeb @startupsmart
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23. TO RECAP...
• Starting... • Positioning...
• Can you fail fast and learn • Can you narrow your
from your mistakes? target market?
• Do you have advisors? • Where do you fit in the
marketplace?
• Are you passionate about
what you’re doing?
Wednesday, 7 March 12