ucsd akpsi presentation

Entrepreneurship

Joey ShurtleffCo-Founder - Veechi Corp.

Entrepreneurship1. What Do You What to Know?2. A Bit About Me3. A Bit About Veechi4. How Startups Really Work5. Why You?6. The Downside7. The Upside8. Ten Things You Must Know About Your Business9. Three Things I Would Have Done The Same10. Three Things I Would Have Done Differently11. My Advice12. Any Questions?

What do you want to know?

A Bit About Me

• Stanford (Social) Class of ’09 – Studied Economics and Mathematical and Computational Sciences

• Worked for Overstock.com and Aggregate Knowledge, doing analytics, “science”, and development– Overstock – large retail site– Aggregate Knowledge – plug-and-play “discovery” engine

turned ad-optimizer• I’m passionate about

– Startups (duh)– Statistics/Machine Learning– Poker

A Bit About Veechi

• Started working on “ReviewU” in Summer ’07 with Abraham Shafi

• Founded company in March ’08• Recruited veteran CEO, Peter Levy, in June ‘08• Abe and I stopped out of college in June ’08• Veechi Classes launched October ’08• Series A raised December ’09• Job Genius launched March ’10• Exciting products coming soon!

How Startups Really Work

How You Think It Works How It Really Works


You have an awesome idea


You have an awesome idea You have a good idea that grows and evolves based on what you learn, from advisors,

investors, and the market




You get money from some rich guy who falls in love with the idea and wants to help you





Unless you already have great connections (and even if you do), your first money will

probably come from yourself, and friends and family. It will probably take you way longer

than you think to get any money whatsoever.








You build a great product, people start using it, and it “goes viral”









You build a great product, and work like hell to market it. You do whatever it takes to get

people in the door.










people in the door.

You build a great business in a few years, sell it or go public, and get rich.










people in the door.

You build a great business in a few years, sell it or go public, and get rich.

You hope you get enough traction to raise a Series A, then hope you use that money well

enough to raise a Series B, then maybe a Series C. If you’re lucky enough to get this far (< 10% of companies will), this could still take

many years.

Why You?

You Think Big

• Big markets• Big problems• Big solutions• Big ideas• Big bucks

You Like Excitement and Risk

• 9 out of 10 startups fail• Nothing ever comes easy

You Think You’re Special

• Why hasn’t someone else done what you want to do? It’s hard!

The Downside

It’s Hard!

• The devil is in the details• Expect to fail a lot more than you succeed• Blood, sweat, and tears

It’s Stressful

• You are the reason why your company will succeed or fail

• Expect late nights, sacrifices, and frustration

It’s Risky

• Can you live for 1-2 years with no paycheck?• What will your friends and family think if

things aren’t going well?• Go big or go home

The Upside

You Learn a Lot

• Drinking from a firehose• You do things that no big company would ever

let you do• Succeed or fail, you’ll have an experience and

a skill-set that few others have

You Could Make a Lot of Money

• “Live like others won’t, so that you can live like others can’t”

It’s Fun

• IF:– You like hard work– You like stress– You like risk

Ten Things You Must Know About Your Business

Know Your Market

• Q: What’s the need, what’s the market with the need, and how do I let the market know that I’m solving the need?

• Know market size, demographics, early adopters

• Learn from competitors, similar past efforts, market research

Know Your Competition

• Q: Who else is solving the same problem and why is my solution better?

• Know your competitors, what they do well, and your competitive advantage over them

• Know any similar businesses that failed, and what you will do to overcome the obstacles they faced

Know Your Strengths

• Q: Why is this the right team to solve this problem?

• Put each person on your team in the best role for him/her

• Know why each team member’s unique abilities and experience makes him/her the best for his/her role

Know Your Revenue Model

• Q: How are we going to make money, when are we going to make money, and how much money can we make?

• Know how you plan to make money, how much money you plan to make, when and how

• Use spreadsheets and graphs to model revenue and costs – do research, make reasonable assumptions, and be precise!

Know Your Timeline

• Q: How quickly can we expect success?• Have a precise strategy for creating,

marketing, and iterating your product• Set clear benchmarks that you can be held

accountable for

Have Strong Advisors

• Q: Who can help us?• Recruit advisors whose experience and

expertise will enable your business to excel• Leverage the wisdom of those you know:

formal advisors, friends, family, etc.

Know Your Expenditures

• Q: What’s the minimum amount of money we need to get this off the ground?

• Know how much money you are asking for• Know exactly what it will be spent on, and why

Know Your Contingency Plans

• Q: What can, and probably will, go wrong?• Know your company’s greatest potential

pitfalls, and how you will address these hurdles

• Take these plans into account when evaluating revenue and expenditures

Know Your Growth Strategy

• Q: How do we become the next big thing?• Know how you will expand your business,

address market expansion and scalability• Know your exit strategies – acquisition (by

who?) or IPO (when?)

Know Your Audience

• Q: How do I get my audience to put down their iPhones and Blackberrys?

• Research the backgrounds of the people you are presenting to

• Cater your presentation to the knowledge and familiarity of your audience

Three Things I Would Have Done The Same

Just Do It

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZKZSiCmXLQ

• “You want to know how I did it? This is how I did it, Anton. I never saved anything for the swim back.” – Vincent in Gattaca

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZKZSiCmXLQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZKZSiCmXLQ

Just Do It

• If you’re passionate about an idea or about entrepreneurship, start working on something now

• Trial by fire, learn by doing, don’t be afraid to fail

Talk to Everyone

• Ideas are worthless• Ask questions, get feedback, iterate and refine

until you have a great vision or you realize that you need start over

• Network, network, network

Pivot

• Common problems:– Right product/technology, wrong market– Great product, no money– Great team, wrong product

Pivot

• The solution: Pivot– Leverage what you’ve already done and learned to

do something else

Three Things I Would Have Done Differently

MVP

• MVP => Minimum Viable Product– Build the simplest product that will allow you to

test your hypotheses– Test and iterate until you’ve got something

awesome– THEN scale

• Features are worthless– Take the number of features you think you need

and cut that list in half

Revenue on Day 1

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7YaVVpK1G4&feature=player_embedded

• “I knew I needed revenues right f***ing now… I did every horrible thing in the book to just get revenues right away… We did anything possible to just get revenues so that we could grow and be a real business… Control your destiny… I control my company today.” – Mark Pincus, CEO - Zynga

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7YaVVpK1G4&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7YaVVpK1G4&feature=player_embedded

Revenue on Day 1

• Without Revenue– Company valued arbitrarily– You ask investors for meetings– You’re desperate to raise funds to stay alive

• With Revenue– Company valued based on real metrics that you control– VCs want to talk to you– You don’t need investor money, and that makes you

much more attractive to investors

It’s a Grind

• Be ready to live with little to no income for 1-2 years

• Be ready to invest most of your energy and emotional bandwidth

• “Don’t get too high from the highs, or too low from the lows.”

• Your startup is your baby, and no one else cares if it succeeds or fails

My Advice

Find a Great Partner

• You want to work with someone who:– Shares your vision, your excitement, and your

work ethic– You get along with really well– Can do all the stuff that you can’t do

Get Started Now

• You’re young, you’re naïve, and you’re full of energy – there’s no better time to get going

• So, start brainstorming1. What’s a problem that needs to be solved? Whose problem is it?

(What’s the market?)2. How do you solve that problem, and how do you make money

doing it?3. What’s the minimum viable product to address 1) and 2)?4. Why am I the right person to solve this problem?

• Keep brainstorming until you have an idea with great answers to all four questions

• MAKE IT HAPPEN!

Have Fun!

• Always remember that, while you’re working on the next big thing, everyone else is stuck doing something less interesting, with less impact, and less potential for great rewards.

• It’s a long and wild ride, so don’t forget to smell the roses, see the sights, and have fun!

Any Questions?

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