Bitergia: Starting Up a Start-up in Times of Crisis (at URJC 2012)

Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
Madrid, on the 5th of July 2012

Transcript

1. Bitergia: Starting Up a Start-up in Times of Crisis Jesus M. Gonzalez-Barahona jgb@gsyc.es http://identi.ca/jgbarah http://twitter.com/jgbarah Bitergia, GSyC/LibreSoft, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos Presentation for GSyC/LibreSoft URJC, Fuenlabrada, July 5th 2012 Jesus Gonzalez-Barahona (Bitergia) Bitergia: Starting Up a Start-up GSyC/LibreSoft URJC 1 / 1
2. c 2012 Bitergia Some rights reserved. This presentation is distributed under the “Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0” license, by Creative Commons, available at http: //creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ Jesus Gonzalez-Barahona (Bitergia) Bitergia: Starting Up a Start-up GSyC/LibreSoft URJC 2 / 1
3. GSyC/LibreSoft Research group at Universidad Rey Juan Carlos About 20 persons, including students Focus on FLOSS (free, libre, open source software) One of the main research lines: Understanding FLOSS development Quantitative, empirical approach Based on data retrieved from FLOSS development repositories Participating in several R&D projects http://libresoft.es Jesus Gonzalez-Barahona (Bitergia) Bitergia: Starting Up a Start-up GSyC/LibreSoft URJC 3 / 1
4. Bitergia: an spin-off Company starting operations in June 2012 Building on the experience of LibreSoft Offering professional products and services Focused on: Metrics about software development (including community metrics) Specialized support for development forges (including metrics for projects) Working with free software, producing free software http://bitergia.com Jesus Gonzalez-Barahona (Bitergia) Bitergia: Starting Up a Start-up GSyC/LibreSoft URJC 4 / 1
5. Quick & dirty SWOT analysis (1) Strengths: Strong (academic) knowledge Experience with tools, with customers’ needs Some international recognition & contacts Focus, passion & will Push from the University, relationship with LibreSoft Already some likely customers Weaknesses: Fuenlabrada is not really like Silicon Valley Little experience in business Limited resources Too much “academic oriented” in the past Jesus Gonzalez-Barahona (Bitergia) Bitergia: Starting Up a Start-up GSyC/LibreSoft URJC 5 / 1
6. Quick & dirty SWOT analysis (2) Opportunities: Some market niches identified Just a few companies exploring similar markets Free software is exploding (lots of corporate interest) Complementary to many other business models Most of the work can be done from any place Free software has its own dissemination channels Threats: Competition by already established companies A certain level of sophistication needed to appreciate our services Immature market niches Jesus Gonzalez-Barahona (Bitergia) Bitergia: Starting Up a Start-up GSyC/LibreSoft URJC 6 / 1
7. The master plan Being agile and lean Build on previous work (by us, by others) Build a community, and ecosystem (tools, services) Be complementary, find partner opportunities Use the Internet to our advantage Bridge the academic-corporate gap Focus on specific customer needs Invest in knowledge, technology Reevaluate early, reevaluate often Learn from the rich experience out there Jesus Gonzalez-Barahona (Bitergia) Bitergia: Starting Up a Start-up GSyC/LibreSoft URJC 7 / 1
8. Strategic plan (2 years) #1 M1-M6: Definition of products and services Market research Working with real and potential customers Presenting the idea as much as possible Identifying advisers, partners Detailed human resources and financial plan Securing funds Engineering technological platform Main outcome: first version of technological platform Jesus Gonzalez-Barahona (Bitergia) Bitergia: Starting Up a Start-up GSyC/LibreSoft URJC 8 / 1
9. Strategic plan (2 years) #2 M6-M18: Testing the market Detailed business plan Refine and improve technological platform Spread the word Deal with real customers Strategic alliances Main outcomes: solid and real business plan solid technological platform first customers portfolio Jesus Gonzalez-Barahona (Bitergia) Bitergia: Starting Up a Start-up GSyC/LibreSoft URJC 9 / 1
10. Strategic plan (2 years) #3 M19-on: Consolidation Regular work for customers & continuous operation Continuous improvement of technological platform Secure next round of funding Build joint ecosystem with partners Main outcomes: solid and real business plan solid technological platform first customers portfolio Jesus Gonzalez-Barahona (Bitergia) Bitergia: Starting Up a Start-up GSyC/LibreSoft URJC 10 / 1
11. Funding First round: friends, family & fools fools being ourselves ;-) Second round: still deciding, probably investors close to us Meanwhile: public funding, if available CDTI, competitive R&D projects, etc. Meanwhile: some strategic customers feedback is more important, but income as well Two year current (minimum) estimation: 200 Keuros year 1; 300 Keuros year 2 most of it staff (about 80 %) Jesus Gonzalez-Barahona (Bitergia) Bitergia: Starting Up a Start-up GSyC/LibreSoft URJC 11 / 1
12. Human resources Starting: Three people full-time (engineering, management) One people half time (link with University, technical guidance) Two people part time (administrative, financial, etc.) Positions to fill soon: Marketing & public relations Probably some more engineers Jesus Gonzalez-Barahona (Bitergia) Bitergia: Starting Up a Start-up GSyC/LibreSoft URJC 12 / 1
13. Summarizing Just starting, piled with ideas, but begging for more (and feedback) Jesus Gonzalez-Barahona (Bitergia) Bitergia: Starting Up a Start-up GSyC/LibreSoft URJC 13 / 1