Why Now is a great time tostart a company!

Sean Ammirati

First a Story …

2 Meanings of Now …

A Recent Graduate 2008

Disclosure … My Story

A Recent Graduate

What are your options?

Graduate School Corporate Job

Start a Company Live Off Mom & Dad

?

Best first job …

‘Employability’

Income

Best Case: XX

Worst Case:‘Employability’

Income

X

\\

What about security?

Security?

In Search of Remarkable

“Remarkable people with remarkablecareers seem to switch jobs with far lesseffort … The secret doesn’t lie in the job-seeking technique. It has to do with whatthese people do when they’re not looking fora job ... They work on high-profile projects.These people take risks, often resulting inbig failures. These failures rarely lead to adead end, though. They’re not really risks,after all. Instead, they just increase thechances that these people will get aneven better project next time.”

Find Good Partners

"I not only use all of thebrains I have, but all I

can borrow."- Woodrow Wilson

Disclosure … Talking about Web

2008

Web is Ripe for Innovation“After an initial phase of the Web as a medium, in

which lots of people attempted to make the Weblook like a newspaper, or a magazine, or a TVchannel, we as an industry have recently beencollectively developing a much clearer idea ofwhat the Web is really like as a medium in andof itself.”

- Mark Andreessen

Less Capital to Test Ideas

Source: Fred Wilson, “Web 2.0 Is A Gift, Not A Threat, To VCs”http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2006/12/web_20_is_a_gif.html

Local Example: AlphaLab

• 6 Month Program (next starts June 1)• Groups of 6 Companies• $25k investment• Deadline to apply is 3/31• Talk to me afterward if interested

368 connections / 18 responses in 1 week– 11: focused on importance of networking– 3: do interesting work, not what pays the most– 2: being financial responsible– 2: delaying graduate school (MBA)

Easier to get advice

What advice do you wish you received before graduation?

Easier to Tell Your Story(Marketing)

VS.

To Review:

• Web is ripe for innovation• Less capital to test ideas• Easier to get advice• Easier to tell your story (marketing)

Conclusion

“Winning a Nobel Prize is easy …Just have to focus on the right

problem to solve.”

Herb Simon

Thank you!

Image Attribution

Diploma - http://www.flickr.com/photos/twonickels/513996896/2008 - http://www.flickr.com/photos/adkap/2156922395/Student http://www.flickr.com/photos/u_of_m/2158095451/in/set-

72157603501145653/Corporate - http://www.flickr.com/photos/u_of_m/2123108952/in/set-

72157603501145653/Startup - http://www.flickr.com/photos/purecaffeine/1275447918/Live off Mom & Dad - http://www.flickr.com/photos/oldtasty/21349955/Handshake - http://www.flickr.com/photos/u_of_m/2122333317/in/set-

72157603501145653/Television - http://www.flickr.com/photos/videocrab/116136642/Herb Simon - Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herb_Simon