Building a High Growth Startup in Buffalo

Survivalist Entrepreneurship

What do you need?

Money, Power, Respect.

Money

OPM

Grants

Savings

Other People’s Money

Friends and Family

• Bank of Mom & Dad

• Part-Time Contracting

Incubators

• Z80 Labs

• STOR (UB)

• D!G (BNMC)

Other People’s Money

Angels

• Western New York Venture Assoc.

• Buffalo Angels (part of WNYVA)

• Rochester Angel Network

Venture Capital & Banks

• You’re probably not ready -- yet.

Other People’s Money

Vocabulary

• Equity

• Liabilities (Debt)

• Assets

• Pro Forma Financial Statements

• Common stock

• Preferred stock

• Break Even Point

Other People’s Money

Vocabulary

• Convertible Promissory Note

• Seed Round

• A-Round

• Term Sheet

• Exit

• Acquisition (M&A)

• Initial Public Offering (IPO)

• Out of Cash (OOC)

Grants

New York State

• Startup-NY

• UB Center for Advance Technology

• National Grid

• 43North (Not really a Grant)

Federal

• SBIR

• STTR

Savings

Pros:

• Maintain Equity

• Skin in the game

• You’ve already done the work

Cons:

• 100% of nothing is less than 30% of something

• 3 out of 4 - Startups Fail

Power

People

Place

Planning

Promotion

Monopoly on Violence

People

Founders:

• Friends

• Family

Partnerships are likely to fail.

People

Contractors:

• Lawyer

• Book Keeper

• Developers

• Designers

• Product/Project Managers

If it’s not your core competency and you have cash, outsource it.

Trade with people.

Place

Co-working

• Co-Work Buffalo

• The Loft

• D!G

Incubators

• Z80

• STOR

• D!G

Planning

Internal Documents

• Strategic Plan• Mission

• Vision

• Values

• Whatever people with money ask you for.

External Documents

• Business Plan Summary (6 Pages)

• Pitch Deck (10 Slides)

• Executive Summary (1 Page)

• Elevator Pitch (30 Seconds)

PromotionPublic Relations

• Buffalo News

• Business First

• Art Voice

• Block Club

• Spree

• Networking Events

Marketing

• Social Media

• Trade Shows

Advertising

• SEM

Monopoly on Violence

Taxes

• Federal

• State

• Estimated Quarterly

• Self-Employment (15.3%)

• Sales

Get a Tax Lawyer – “There’s no such thing as accountant-client privilege”

Monopoly on Violence

Types of Entities

• S-Corp • Taxes Pass-through & <100 shareholders

• C-Corp • Possible Double Taxation & >100 shareholders

• Benefit Corporation• Maximize Social Good not necessarily Shareholder

Value

• Limited Liability Company(LLC)

• Doing-Business-As (dba)

Get a Lawyer. All of these have assorted fees, requirements, benefits, and drawbacks.

Respect

Mentors

Advisors

Customers

Other Companies

Additional Reading

Me

Respect

Mentors:

• Tell you what to expect

• Review your work

• Connect you with their networks

Advisors:

• All of the above

• Invest in your company

Customers

Customers:

• Tell you why you suck

• Break your products in new and

interesting ways

• Are your Boss/Gods

• Pay you money

• Allow you to exist

Other Companies

Startups:

• Commiserate with you

• Allow you to learn vicariously

• Give you hope

Strategic Partners:

• Are bigger than you

• Use your product or resell it (OEM)

• Are better than you at building a part of the solution you’re selling

• May acquire you

Additional ReadingBooks:

• Finance for Non-Financial Managers

• Dead on Arrival: How to avoid the legal mistakes that could kill your start-up

• The Lean Startup

• Four-Hour Work Week

• Crush It

Blogs:

• TechCrunch

• StartupBuffalo.org

• Seth Godin

• Kevin Kelly’s “1,000 True Fans”

Education:

• UB’s Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership

Slides available:

slideshare.net/clarkdever