Entrepreneurshit. The Truth About Building Starutps
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Entrepreneurshit The Real Story Mark Suster Seedcon – November 2012 @msuster
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Transcript of Entrepreneurshit. The Truth About Building Starutps
Entrepreneurshit
The Real Story
Mark Suster
Seedcon – November 2012
@msuster
Software Developer (Accenture)
University of Chicago alum (MBA)
2x Startup CEO / Founder
VP Products, Salesforce.com
VC at GRP Partners in LA
BothSidesoftheTable
Me
So What It’s Really Like
What You Imagine When You Read TechCrunch
What It Really Feels Like
How You Imagine You Might Spend Your Days
How You Will Actually Spend Your Days
Raising Money After Y Combinator
You Raising Money
Founders You Know
Most Founders
Entrepreneurshit: All Joking Aside, It’s a Grind
We’re All Naked in the Mirror. Don’t Think Everybody Else is
“Killing It”
So What Does it Take to Succeed?
Tenacity
Resiliency
Street Smarts
Decisiveness
Ability to pivot (with a small “p”)
Inspiration
Perspiration
Risk Tolerance
Attention to Detail
Competitiveness
Domain Experience
Technical DNA
Some Suggestions to Make it Easier
Take 50 Coffee Meetings
Create a Sense of Urgency in Your Business
Ship Product
Manage What you Measure
Triangulate. Ask Lots of Opinions.
But In the End You Must Trust Your Own Judgment
Solve Real Problems
On Fund Raising
You Need to Meet Investors Early
Otherwise They’re Just Judging Your Presentation Skills
When I First Meet you, You’re a Dot
Over Time I Start to See a Patterns
And It’s OK if it’s Not Always Moving Up. I Get to See Your Resiliency
ABR
It’s Part of the CEO’s Fulltime Job. Get Used to It
Customer
BizDev
ProductMgmtRecruiting
Mktg
Raising Capital
Tech
HR
Acctng
If Raising Angel / Seed, You Need an Anchor
If you show proof the rest usually follow
You Need to Create a Sense of Urgency
Cuz We All Still Act Like We Did in High School
All Too Often FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) Drives Deals
Too Many Entrepreneurs Try to Over Optimize
Time
$
Company Progress / Valuation
Dilution
When Markets Turn, Progress Might Not = Valuation
Time
$
Company Progress
Valuation
And Some Good Companies Simply Don’t Get Funded
Time
$
Company Progress
Valuation
So Get As Long of a Runway as You Can (within Reason)
And Finally
Startups Really Are Roller Coasters
It’s Not All Glamour But If you Love the Game – Have Fun With It
There Will Never Be a Better / Easier Time to Go For It. If Not Now, When?
Q & A
