This presentation explores new ways of looking at failure in Startups. Specifically concept of "unfail" or "unfailure" is presented and explained. Lean Startup elements are connected with a failure scenarios and lessons learned

1. STARTUP
FAILURE
IS NOT WHAT
YOU THINK
Sergey L. Sundukovskiy, Ph.D.

2. FAILURE
“A person
who never
made a
mistake
never tried
anything
new.”
-Albert Einstein

3. FAILURE
“I’ve missed more than 9,000
shots in my career. I’ve lost
almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve
been trusted to take the game
winning shot and missed. I’ve
failed over and over and over
again in my life, and that is why I
succeed.”
-Michael Jordan

4. Sergey L. Sundukovskiy
Co-Founder, CTO & Chief Product Officer
Companies: PushPoint, Cinsay, LowerMyBills, DIRECTV,
CBW
Interests: Entrepreneur, Speaker, Mentor, Advisor
Education: BA CS, MS IT, PH.D. Business
Sergey L. Sundukovskiy, Ph.D. has over 20 years of experience
serving in capacities of Chief Technology Officer, Chief Information
Officer and Chief Product Officer. Sergey specializes in
implementation of subscription based high volume SaaS platforms,
with strong emphasis on early stage product development and
market deployment. Specific areas of expertise include A/B Testing,
Big Data, Video Management, eCommerce, RTB platforms and
Cloud Computing. Education: B.A. in Computer Science from the
University of California, San Diego, and an M.S. in Information
Technology from the University of Liverpool. Ph.D. in Information
Technology Management from the School of Business and
Technology, Capella University.
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND &

5. SERIAL
FAILURE
The Story of
One Dissertation

6. Failure Does Not Mean
You Are Finished
WHAT IS
FAILURE?

7. You Are Finished
If You Have NOT Learned
Anything
WHAT IS
FAILURE?

8. Your Failures Should Be
“Learn Alots”
WHAT IS
FAILURE?

9. Complete Failure
Lights Out
FAILURE
TYPES

10. Partial Failure
Acquihires
FAILURE
TYPES

11. Failure on the
Way to Success
Lose the Battles Win the War
FAILURE
TYPES

12. Complete Failure
Fills Ecosystem with
Experience
WHY IS
FAILURE
IMPORTANT?

13. Partial Failure
Second Lease on Life
WHY IS
FAILURE
IMPORTANT?

14. Failure of the Way
to Success
Completes Success Cycle
(Failure -> Learning ->
Success)
WHY IS
FAILURE
IMPORTANT?

15. What Happens
When Failure Is
NOT Accepted
FAILURE
DONE WRONG

16. Japan Recession of the 90’s
• Companies Would Not Downsize
• Banks Would Not Foreclose
• Government Would Bailout Banks
FAILURE
DONE WRONG

17. Failing is
SO HOT
right now!
Why is Failure
so Common?
REASONS
FOR FAILURE

18. What Does Failure Look Like?
• No Addressable Problem
• No Market
• No Effective Team
• No Customers
• No Product
• No Product Positioning
• No Money
PERFECT
FAILURE

19. Beginning of the
Startup Journey
REMARKABLE
SIMILARITY

20. End of the
Startup Journey
REMARKABLE
SIMILARITY
WOAH…
Deja Vu!

21. Building a Startup Is
An Exercise In Unfailure
BUILDING
A STARTUP

22. • Constant Failure
• Must Have the Right Tools
• Impossible to Get Lucky and Win
• All About the Team
• It Is Even More About Execution
• It Is All About Micro-Pivots
WHAT DO
STARTUPS
AND GOLF
HAVE IN
COMMON?

23. Micro-Pivots After
Many Failures In…
ROAD TO
SUCCESS

24. We’ll hit
something,
eventually.
Unfail Startup
Founding Team
ROAD TO
SUCCESS

25. Unfail Minimal
Viable Product
ROAD TO
SUCCESS

26. Unfail Product
Development
ROAD TO
SUCCESS

27. Unfail Product
Marketing
ROAD TO
SUCCESS

28. Unfail Customer
Acquisition
ROAD TO
SUCCESS

29. Unfail Business
Model
ROAD TO
SUCCESS

30. Wrong Way To Unfail
(Tail of Two Extremes)
• Too Many Steps to Get There
• Hole in One Win Strategy
• Giving Up Too Soon
• Listening to Too Many People at
Once
UNFAILURE
STRATEGIES

31. Diving Lesson
GIVING UP
TOO SOON
KEEP
GOING!

32. Right Way To Unfail
• Have Big Targets To Hit
• Unfail Most Important Things First
• Change Strategy at the Right Time
• Good Return on Luck
• Nearest Danger Strategy
UNFAILURE
STRATEGIES

33. Malcolm Gladwell
Big Targets
BULLETS
BEFOR
E
CANNONBALLS

34. Difficult Failure Recovery
• Team
• Operational MO aka Process
• Conflict Resolution
• Product Focus
FIRST THINGS
FIRST
st

35. Change of Direction
(Tripwires)
• High Churn
• High Acquisition Cost
• Low Viral Score
GOLDEN
RUL
E

36. Jim Collins
Return on Luck
GET
LUKY

37. Do NOT Need to Outrun a
Shark, Just Your Buddy
SECOND
LAST

38. First Who, Then
What, Then How
UNFAIL
TEAM

39. Get the Right People
on the Bus
UNFAIL
TEAM

40. • Complementary Skillset
• Worked Together Before
• Similar Work Ethic
• Similar Commitment Level
• Similar Conflict Resolution Style
• Can Disagree and Commit
• Ideal Number of Co-Founders is 3
CO-FOUNDER
UNFAIL
CRITERIA

41. CO-FOUNDER
UNFAIL
CRITERIA
(cont.)
BAD
NOT GOOD
GOOD

42. Rat + Cactus
IDEAL
CO-FOUNDER

43. WHERE TO
FIND ONE?

44. Plan For Failures
UNFAIL
PRODUCT

45. UNFAIL
PRODUCT
LIFECYCLE • Wireframing
TESTING
• Mocking
• Clickable Prototype
• Dynamic Prototype
• MTP
• MVP
TESTING
TESTING
TESTING
TESTING

46. Highest Paid Person’s Opinion
46
UNFAIL
HiPPO

47. “I Find Your Lack of Testing
Disturbing”
47
UNFAIL
TESTING

48. HISTORY OF FAILURE
Testing (Failed) Testing (Failed) Testing (Success)
Aliens Did NOT Build Pyramids

49. Unfail Usability Testing
What vs. Why

50. Unfail Usability Testing (cont.)

51. Unfail Usability Testing (cont.)
Eye Tracking

52. • Attention
• Emotion
• Task Completion Time
• Hovering
• Clicks
• Hotspotting
• Path
WHAT
ARE THEY
TRYING TO
UNFAIL?

53. Unfail User Testing
Rise of the Crowds
Rise of the Crowds

54. Mechanical Turk
Microtasking Crowdsourcing Platform

55. Usability Study Setup

56. Usability Study Setup (cont.)

57. Usability Study Setup (cont.)

58. Usability Study Setup (cont.)

59. Usability Study Setup (cont.)

60. Usability Study Results (cont.)

61. Usability Study Results (cont.)

62. Unfail User Feedback
It Is All About Uncensored Feedback

63. Unfail User Feedback (cont.)

64. Unfail User Feedback (cont.)

65. Usability Testing Tools

66. A/B Multifactorial Split Testing
Very Different

67. A/B Singlevariate Split Testing
Slightly Different

68. Multivariate Testing
That’s a Lot of Combinations

69. Unfail Experimentation
Google Website
Optimizer
Omniture Test & Target

70. Unfail Experiment Chaining