Since 1995, I've started six companies (so far). The last one is highGearMedia.com In this talk, I will share some of the best practices that I learned (the hard way). We will talk about technology, design and following your dreams with the best tools you can harness at a certain point of time. For more events please checkout ILTechTalks meetup group - http://www.meetup.com/ILTechTalks/events/125115382/

1. Startups
Tips
7th July 2013

2. Ido Green
Developer Advocate
Google
http://plus.google.com/+greenido
greenido.wordpress.com

3. Agenda
●Tips from my experience
●A Failed Story
●BS To Avoid
●Q&A

4. Entrepreneur
A person who organizes and
operates a business or businesses,
taking on greater than normal
financial risks in order to do so.

5. Mark Cuban
"Don't start a company unless it's
an obsession and something you
love. If you have an exit strategy,
it's not an obsession."
Companies should be planning a legacy not exit strategy

6. Keep In Mind
● Companies are efficient
● Technology is becoming
commodity
● Aim for real need
● Avoid a 'little feature'
startup

7. Freemium, Premium and BlaBla
● Great product - you should/cloud
give free samples.
● Agile & Organization &
OPs are CSF.
● If you not sure about returning
users - improve your product.

8. Hiring The Right People
● Do it yourself
(Hire only when you must)
● Don't pass on great people
● CV are full of 'years of irrelevance'
(Try before you hire)
● Empower your team - Level 5 Leader

9. Good Is Fine
● MVP - When good enough get the job.
● Agile as you move
○ Many small decisions are
better then a huge one.
○ Small wins to keep
momentum.
● It's a speed boat
○ Pivots quickly to
increase the success rate
○ Money/Air/Time - you have a limited amount of it.

10. Start A Business Not a Startup
● Is it la-la land?
○ "We will use some ads here and there"
○ First we wish to gain users...
● Build to 'exit' --> Build to flop.

11. Belief And Reality
● We know what 'they' want.
● We can predict the future because...
● Progress is execution against our plans.
● We are the only one who do X.

12. How To Move The Needle?
● Focus - Focus and more focus
● Passion
● Execution (Everyone got wonderful ideas)
● Plan / have a clear strategy but be agile
● Find good advisors and be willing to listen

13. What to do fast?
Build --> Ship --> Measure --> Improve -->

14. A Failed Story

15. Background (2003-2004)
● Classified Ads are one of the Internet's best cash cows
with $1.4bn in 2001, 20% of all Internet advertising.
● Market may grow to replace the $20bn printed
newspapers classified sales.
● The company operates a successful classifieds search
tool in Israel as a joint venture with a leading portal, and
prepares to implement the concept in the USA.

16. The Need
● There are thousands of classifieds websites
across the web with diverse specialties and
geographic focus.
● Consumers don't know all relevant websites.
● Searching takes too long.

17. The Product
● A dedicated portal for classified
● Offers added value services:
○ Ad history
○ Geo/local
○ Price predictor
○ Trends

18. Penetration / Revenue Models
● The service is sticky,
and characterized by
repeat users and
multiple impressions.
● Thus, ROI on buying
traffic and running
campaigns is high.
● A click in means several
clicks out.
● Per-click referral fee
● Expect ~30 cents per
click, 10s of millions
clicks per month.
● Display advertising
● eCPMs in verticals like
'cars' are high.

19. What Went Wrong?
● Listen to users
("We need a faster horse")
● Fail often fail quickly
(try to avoid 'known' mistakes)
● Follow people advice
(Ignore some and try to
understand it)
● Distribution / Market
penetration
(Harder - you think)

20. WTF?
● Strategic partners
○ "Win-Win" situation
(or not)
○ Don't put all your eggs in
one basket
(Even if you must)

21. Lessons Learned
● Focus: solve one main
pain-point.
● Founding Team
Budget: You will need
more than you think.
● Partners
The “management
team” is not the
“decision making”
team. It’s a support
function.

22. What To Avoid

23. Entrepreneurs and BS
● “No one else can do what we're doing.”
● “Our product will go viral.”
● “Our projections are conservative.”
● “The large companies in our market are too big /
slow to compete with us.”
● “Fortune 500 companies are set to do X with us.”
● “Hurry up because other investors are about to do
our deal.”
● “We filed patents so our intellectual property is
protected.”
● “All we have to do is get 1% of the market.”

24. Investors and BS
● “Show us some traction, and we will invest.”
● “This is a plain, vanilla term sheet.”
● “We love to co-invest with other firms.”
● “I liked your company, but my partners didn’t.”
● “We have lots of bandwidth to dedicate to your
company.”
● “We are patient investors who want to help you
build a great company.”
● “There are no companies in our portfolio that
conflict with what you're doing.”

25. Resources
● avc.com
● paulgraham.com
● Entrepreneurship Corner @ Stanford
● feld.com
● onstartups.com
● venturehacks.com

26. Q & A
Thank you!
http://plus.google.com/+greenido
greenido.wordpress.com