Building a nation of shopkeepers

"L'Angleterre est une nation de boutiquiers." —Napoleon I

Slides for my talk in www.hive53.com (http://www.hive53.com/1/post/2013/04/girls-swarm-awesome-update.html) about creating sustainable business and avoiding toxic startup-ish language.

You can see a very dark and incomplete video of the talk here: http://youtu.be/mW7165GwcEc Better than nothing :).

Transcript

1. Shopkeepers B U I L D I N G A N A T I O N O F
2. “L'Angleterre est une nation de boutiquiers.” Napoleon I
3. Business
4. Business Business
5. Startup!
6. Startup!
7. • Buzzwords centered • Users • Growth as a goal • In a constant sprint to “exit” • Success is a 1 billion $$$ valuation
8. (1) Build something (2) Get investment (3) ?????????? (4) Profit!!
9. “Investors don’t care if it’s a one in 500 shot of hitting $1 billion in revenue, because their return will be 10,000 fold when you do. Investing is about hitting a moon shot like Facebook, Google, Yammer or Dropbox.” Jason Calacanis
10. “Almost every investor I’ve met is driven by ego, and if they’re not, you don’t want them as an investor. If you don’t have an ego about winning, then you’re not going to fight like a tiger when the chips are down. You want crazy [investors] on your side when things get real.” Jason Calacanis
11. JavaScript Ninjas Ruby on Rails Rockstars HTML Wizards
12. Business
13. “I think there are too few people trying to make just a nice Italian restaurant in the web space.” David Heinemeier Hansson
14. • Problem solving centered • Customers • Growth as a consequence • In a marathon to sustainability • Success is sustainable (profitable) business
15. It’s NOT rocket science
16. Revenue – Expenses = Profit
17. Amy Hoy, 30×500 Recommended reading: http://unicornfree.com/ 500 customers × 30$/month × 12 months = $180,000
18. Investment is NOT essential
19. stagehq.com Ticketing platform for event organizers Launched Aug 2009 6,8M $ in ticket sales Team: 2 devs Bootstrapped
20. Bootstrapping IS possible
21. verkami.com Crowfunding Platform Launched 2011 4,7M € collected Team: Family business + 1 dev 1.000 cultural projects funded
22. Failing is NOT a goal
23. qstion.com Multichannel platform for interviews Developed 2011 Team: 2 devs Sold for 20.000€ before launching
24. Side-businesses ARE great
25. jositajosi.com Handcrafted cases for Apple Devices Founded 2009 1.000 customers Team: 1 designer/maker 37 countries
26. Anyone CAN start a business. But it IS hard work.
27. So DO it because it matters.
28. “I should have bought more crap”
29. Thanks