Guidelines for Cal Poly Entrepreneurs members to get started. Entrepreneurship basics.

1. Get off your ass and start your business!

2. Topics we will cover
How to:
– Find your idea.
– Validate the idea.
– Recruit a team

3. Question: Who the fuck am I and
why should you listen to me?

4. Answer: You shouldn’t.
*Most of this content is stolen from Dr.
York, Steve Blank, Eric Reis, Noah
Kagan, Ryan Holiday, and other
entrepreneurial heroes of mine.

5. For those that are interested…
• 2013 Cal Poly Grad
– Econ (not for me, but interesting)
– Entrepreneurship (more please)
• Former President of Cal Poly Entrepreneurs
• Avid reader and writer
• Co-founder and CEO of StrengthPortal

6. More importantly…
• Passions
– Entrepreneurship
– Strength and Fitness
– Helping others
• Needs
– Self-improvement
– Knowledge
– Freedom

7. Why did I tell you that?

8. How to find your idea
• Step 1 – Get rid of your fear of looking stupid.

9. Get started right now
• If you really care, you should be writing
down new ideas every day.
• Focus on finding problems in areas that
interest you.
• Carry a notebook everywhere!

10. Q: To validate your idea what is
the only thing you have to know?

11. A: That someone will pay for it!

12. Quick and Dirty Validation
• Appsumo Validation Kit Bookmark

13. Use Google Trends

14. Get out and talk to the customer
• Create ghetto mockups and products
– Use Balsamiq or Lucidchart for tech products
• Ask questions!
– Is this a problem you have?
– Would you pay for this solution?
• If yes, think about the quickest and easiest
solution to provide them.

15. Important!
• Is your idea worth your time?
• Basic Math I did for SP
– Trainer paying around $50/month for competitors
– I could immediately find communities with
thousands of trainers
– $50 x 100 customers = $5000 a month
– 50 x 1000 customers = $50,000 a month
– 50 x 5000 customers = $250,000 a month

16. When you find that idea…

17. Get a team together
• Very few people can do this on their own.
– Plus it’s a lot more fun with a team!
• Be honest about your skillset.
– What are you missing? Can it be learned or is it
better to find someone who you can partner with?
• My skills – Biz Dev, Sales, Leader
• Missing – Dev, Design

18. How to recruit
• Appeal to people’s interests
– Ex. Are they passionate about startups and/or the
industry?
– Do they have similar goals as you?
• Sell the dream, but follow it up with a solid plan.
• Provide long-term value for them.
• Recruit through friends.

19. My reputation
• Biz dev dude who understands some code
and the dev process.
• This means that I am the guy that
developers actually want to work with.
• I earned this reputation and still have to work
for it everyday!

20. In reality, here’s what I can actually do
• Listen to developers and understand that
software development takes time.
• Understand the difference between coding
languages.
• Do some basic HTML and CSS thanks to
Codeacademy.

21. This is all bullshit…
You’re wrong. It can work!
Here’s some proof.

22. Mockups

23. Where is StrengthPortal right now?

24. Beta coming soon!

25. Action Items

26. Follow up
• Feel free to reach out to me anytime
– 707-490-8181
– mattmcgunagle45@gmail.com
• Check out my personal blog to watch
StrengthPortal and I as we continue to
grow!
– www.strengthportal.com
– www.mattmcgunagle.com