Going Solo

Transcript

1. How (and when) to leave your job, build a business,

   and still feed the kids Ted Roden - @tedroden Going Solo

2. Introductions.

3. My name is Ted Roden.

4. Founder (fancyhands.com)

5. First...

6. Then...

7. Now.

8. Person • Live in New York City • Married •

   2 Kids

9. Employee • Network Ninja • Vimeo • The New York

   Times • News.me / bit.ly

10. etc. One-time Author Occasional Speaker

11. You?

12. What was I saying?

13. • Introduction (you are here) • Focus • Founding •

    Working • Building your business • How to take the plunge • Lessons learned

14. Focus.

15. None

16. Can you focus on the right things?

17. Can you stay focused enough to get a product out

    the door?

18. Can you stay focused in the face of competition?

19. Can you stay focused in the face of competition? (there

    will be competition)

20. Can you stay focused...

21. Founding.

22. Picking your business.

23. Identifying your product.

24. It’s all about passion, right?

25. You have the most passion. Right?

26. It needs to be easy to pitch your product

27. Use what people already know.

28. Don’t be afraid to be compared to something.

29. None

30. “It’s Die Hard on a bus.”

31. None
32. None

33. Complicated business, simple model.

34. Don’t confuse customers with products.

35. Own the product, don’t attract the product.

36. Build the product, attract the customer.

37. Product vs Customer Don’t start with:

38. Don’t give yourself two masters.

39. Owning the Product Start with

40. Customer — Product Get to

41. I♥ my relationship with your credit card

42. Revenue is a beta feature

43. Don’t get eyeballs and monetize them later.

44. If I gave out free ice cream on the corner,

    I’d have the most popular ice cream shop in town. Nick Bilton (@nickbilton)

45. Forget raising money

46. Don’t put it off until later, don’t even consider it.

47. You need to focus.

48. Raising money will take 6 months minimum.

49. 6 months of not building your product.

50. 6 months of not gaining traction.

51. And at the end of those 6 months of raising

    money,

52. And at the end of those 6 months of raising

    money,

53. And at the end of those 6 months of raising

    money, you’ve given away a big slice of your delicious pie.

54. But in the end, you probably wouldn’t have raised any

    money.

55. (Good investors say “no” more than “yes”)

56. Building a company is about reducing risks and making bets.

57. Your first act as a founder should not be to

    bet against yourself.

58. The co-founder myth

59. A cofounder needs to be a perfect match.

60. Good luck with that.

61. “You need someone there for the dark months.”

62. Working.

63. Don’t talk about it!

64. Talking about your plans makes you less motivated Some NYU

    professor (via http://sivers.org/zipit)

65. “Don’t talk about it? But, I need feedback on my

    idea!”

66. This is not the time for feedback.

67. You need 100% focus.

68. You need to rule your idea and execution with an

    iron fist.

69. Finding the time.

70. Embrace the constraint.

71. Work on something you can finish today.

72. Solve the right problems.

73. People love to tackle the low hanging fruit.

74. Your big problems don’t disappear while you work on little

    ones.

75. Building your business.

76. Taking advice.

77. Who’s giving you the advice?

78. http://some.blog.com/how-I-sold-my-company.html

79. Find trusted advisors.

80. Someone like an old boss.

81. Ignore what the big guys do.

82. “We need to have Zappos style customer service.”

83. You don’t need live chat on the website.

84. or an 800 number

85. or a [email protected] email address

86. or a branded Facebook page.

87. People don’t want to do business with a company.

88. People want to connect with people.

89. How do you know you’re onto something?

90. It’s not about getting your first paid customer.

91. Getting someone to pay is easier than you think.

92. Getting lots of people to pay is harder.

93. “Oh wow, how do you do that?”

94. How to take the plunge.

95. Come up with the number.

96. How much do you need to make to quit the

    day job?

97. How much does your company need to make to pay

    you that?

98. Get the husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend on board.

99. Keep track of the number every day.

100. That number is now the most important number in your

     life.

101. Measure your own performance.

102. Meet your new boss, worse than your old boss.

103. Lessons learned.

104. Starting a startup is not really a great way to

     make money.

105. It’s hard, it’s competitive, and it’s terrifying.

106. But it’s kinda fun.

107. Don’t become an expert.

108. None

109. You get one shot.

110. It’s not about starting, it’s about exiting.