introduction to the sf startup community ahmed siddiqui director of hacks at signalfire and former...

INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP

COMMUNITYAhmed Siddiqui

Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area

Leader

[email protected]

Twitter: @siddiquiahmed

The Dream: Move West and Find Your

Riches

Pack your Bags go to Silicon Valley!


Turn over stones and find money


Yay you are funded!


Apple just bought you! Time to Parrrrtaaayyyy!


The Reality

Customers Don’t Like your Product

Ramen Noodles


Your product still sucks!


Ramen Noodles


Co-Founder Disagreements

Ramen Noodles


Your BIG idea really isn’t that big

GOLD AND RICHES IN SF!


Ramen Noodles


Call your mommy for some money


Ramen Noodles


It’s okay we got your back

Meetups

Hackathons

Mentors

Classes

Co-Working

Incubators

Angels

VC’s


Bootstrapping

Meetups

Meetups+ Plus

Wide variety Inexpensive Mostly in the

evenings

- Minus You will meet too

many people It is more social

and not very action based

Hackathons

Hackathons+ Plus

Action based Potentially find a

cofounder Prizes!

- Minus MVP will likely be

scrapped after weekend

Requires a whole weekend’s time

Mentors

+ Plus•You choose your mentor•Could lead to funding

- Minus•Wrong mentor could lead you down the wrong path

Incubators/Accelerators

Incubators/Accelerators+ Plus

Seed funding Structure for your

startup Peer network

- Minus Tough to get into Too many

incubators, which one to choose?

Classes/Talks


Classes+ Plus

Structured learning

Many times in the evening

Great networking

-Minus Some can be

pricey Time commitment

required Twitter: @siddiquiahmed

Co-Working

Co-Working+ Plus

Work with other startups

Build Network Attend events

- Minus Pricey – Average

Desk is $500/mo Some require you

have seed funding

Bootstrapping


Bootstrapping+ Plus

Make a little money while working on your startup

Meet interesting people

- Minus Not for everyone Could be a

distraction to your startup

BootstrappingBootstrapping links:Zaarly: http://zaar.ly/p0OtLyft: http://driveforlyft.com/2HYAirbnb: http://bit.ly/airasOdesk: https://www.odesk.com/TaskRabbit: https://taskrabbit.com/PAL/518662GetAround: http://www.getaround.com/RelayRides: https://relayrides.com/Venturebeat Article: http://venturebeat.com/2013/01/21/will-you-leave-your-job-to-join-the-sharing-economy/


Angels


Angels+ Plus

Many do convertible notes

Great advisors Help with further rounds

- Minus Smaller increments of

funding If you don’t get a

seasoned investor, things could get ugly Twitter:

@siddiquiahmed

VC’s

VC’s+ Plus

Funding! Great Advice Will help with

further rounds

- Minus You have funding,

but now you have more accountability

Lose large ownership stake

Keep reaching for the stars!


You will trip and fall, get back up!


Welcome to the SF Tech Community – Get ready for the ride of your life!


• NDAs / “people will steal my idea”• “Just need a coder to build my product”• Write a business plan —> get funding• The loudest people are the smartest• Too hard to get “in” or catch up• Silicon Valley is all that matters• Entrepreneurship is too risky of a career path• Founding a company is the best way to get involved• Only developers can get good jobs at startups

Common Misconceptions

• Front-End Developer (CSS, HTML)• Back-End Developer (Ruby, Python, Java)• UX/UI Designer (inDesign, Photoshop)• Product Manager (Light frontend dev, design)• Business Development (Sales, Partnerships)• Marketing/User Acquisition (Email marketing, social media, SEO, data analytics)• Data Scientist (Hadoop, Matlab, SQL)• Sales (willingness to find and follow leads)• Community Management (Social Media)• Operations (Customer service, Office management)• Other roles depending on vertical (education, fashion)

Common Roles

APPENDIX: BLOGS TO READ

•Chris Dixon — http://cdixon.org•Fred Wilson (A VC) — http://avc.com•BetaBeat — http://betabeat.com•SAI — http://businessinsider.com/sai•Paul Graham’s Essays — http://paulgraham.com•Hacker News — http://news.ycombinator.com•TechCrunch — http://techcrunch.com•General Assembly — http://generalassemb.ly/blog•Venture Hacks – http://venturehacks.com

APPENDIX: NEWSLETTERS

•Startup Digest — http://startupdigest.com•General Assembly — http://generalassemb.ly

introduction to the sf startup community ahmed siddiqui director of hacks at signalfire and former...

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