Becoming Accidental Entrepreneurs

Transcript

1. Lanyrd.com Becoming accidental entrepreneurs http://www.flickr.com/photos/chuckp/ 21394313

2. Lanyrd.com

3. Lanyrd.com $1.4 million

4. Casablanca August 2010

5. Casablanca August 2010

6. Lanyrd.com People who use Twitter Professional Events Something interesting

7. Bootstrapping on Twitter

8. Lanyrd.com @lanyrd attending #HNLondon

9. Lanyrd.com

10. Lanyrd.com

11. Lanyrd.com "We'll scale it live!" http://www.flickr.com/photos/chuckp/ 21394313

12. Read only mode http://www.flickr.com/photos/chuckp/ 21394313

13. Lanyrd.com El Jadida September 2010

14. Lanyrd.com Marrakech September 2010

15. Lanyrd.com Marrakech September 2010

16. Lanyrd.com

17. Lanyrd.com Cairo September 2010

18. Lanyrd.com http://ycombinator.com/atyc.html

19. Luxor October 2010

20. Lanyrd.com YC application What substitutes do people resort to because

    what you plan to make doesn't exist yet? What do you understand about your business that other companies in it just don't get? How will you make money?

21. Mountain View, USA January 2011

22. Mountain View, USA March 2011

23. Demo Day

24. Lanyrd.com

25. Lanyrd.com 2 minutes, 10 seconds You'll be lucky if investors

    remember a single noun from your pitch... so make sure it's the right noun!

26. Lanyrd.com Investment

27. Lanyrd.com Reasons startups die 1. Not making something people want

    2. Fundraising http://www.paulgraham.com/fundraising.html

28. Lanyrd.com "Raise money or Bootstrap?" http://www.flickr.com/photos/stawarz/3526784136/

29. Lanyrd.com "How much should I raise?" Raise enough money for

    18 months You'll have to start fundraising again after 12 How much of the company are you willing to give away?

30. Lanyrd.com Finding (the right) Introductions are essential Ask investors for

    intros to more investors Look at who they have previously invested in

31. Lanyrd.com Investor meetings Good investors decide quickly - just one

    or two meetings ... but it takes a LOT of meetings to fill up your round Meet with less exciting investors first, to practice At the end of the meeting, ask for the

32. Lanyrd.com Raising money takes longer than you expect, even when

    you take that in to account

33. Lanyrd.com Runway http://www.flickr.com/photos/15545136@N06/5891705931/

34. Hiring

35. Lanyrd.com London October 2011 photo by @bfirsh

36. Lanyrd.com Lanyrd app for iPhone

37. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pattylagera/ The emotional roller-coaster

38. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pattylagera/ On top of the world! Everyone likes us! Why

    would I ever want a real job? Oh crap! The world is ending, Servers are down, Bad comments on Twitter, Maybe I can still get a real job?

39. Lanyrd.com Thank you! http://lanyrd.com/skrhq

40. Lanyrd.com http://lanyrd.com/skrhq Any questions?