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From Idea to Exit

Natalie Downe
September 10, 2013

From Idea to Exit

Natalie launched the first version of Lanyrd.com with a co-founder and her husband Simon, while on honeymoon in Casablanca. As the site took off, they realised their side project was destined to become something much bigger.

This talk will tell the story of Lanyrd from a two-week proof of concept to a fully-fledged startup, the lessons learned along the way about building and launching a product, running a company, raising investment and the entrepreneurship journey. This is the talk she wished she heard before getting started! In September 2013, just a week before the SmashingConf 2013, Lanyrd was acquired by Eventbrite.

Natalie Downe

September 10, 2013
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Transcript

  1. If you are not embarrassed by the first version of

    your product, you’ve launched too late. Reid Hoffman
  2. OH "if we fix all the bugs before launch, we

    won't have any fun left" @nataliedowne, 11:36 PM, 30th August 2010
  3. "We launched lanyrd.com ! Go easy on it, the log

    files are going a bit nuts, who knew Twitter was viral?" @simonw, 10:52 AM, 31st August 2010
  4. "and we have internet again! at a nearby hotel bar

    now, our internet here in Casablanca reboots every day but normally comes back in an hour" @natbat, 6:54 PM, 31st August 2010
  5. "Had no idea how much work there would be _after_

    launch, naively thought would be able to relax a bit, this thing has gone through the roof!" @nataliedowne, 7:54 PM, 1st September 2010
  6. "Internet at the 'Business Man Hotel' died, hot footed it

    in a taxi to Rick's Cafe again, waiters amused by us!" @nataliedowne, 3:43 PM, 4th September 2010
  7. "Being kicked out of Ricks, have to take a taxi

    to our hotel down the coast in time to finish scaling before the USA east coast wakes up" @nataliedowne, 4:21 PM, 4th September 2010
  8. "So there is no Internet in the room and they

    have turned all the restaurant lights off around us #sysadminingInTheDark" @nataliedowne, 12:01 AM, 5th September 2010
  9. What's new about what you're doing? 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? How will you get users? How do you know people need what you're making? https://news.ycombinator.com/apply
  10. Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas

    are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats. Howard H. Aiken
  11. Investor checklist Elevator pitch Executive summary Pitch deck Answers to

    common questions Introductions The phone number of a really good lawyer!
  12. Investor checklist Elevator pitch Executive summary Pitch deck Answers to

    common questions Introductions The phone number of a really good lawyer!
  13. Investor checklist Elevator pitch Executive summary Pitch deck Answers to

    common questions Introductions The phone number of a really good lawyer!
  14. Investor checklist Elevator pitch Executive summary Pitch deck Answers to

    common questions Introductions The phone number of a really good lawyer!
  15. Investor checklist Elevator pitch Executive summary Pitch deck Answers to

    common questions Introductions The phone number of a really good lawyer!
  16. Investor checklist Elevator pitch Executive summary Pitch deck Answers to

    common questions Introductions The phone number of a really good lawyer!
  17. The way to seem most formidable as an inexperienced founder

    is to stick to the truth. Paul Graham
  18. Press packs. Embargo time and timezone. Story summary and context.

    Numbers. Quotes. Contact details. Selection of screenshots. Link to your primary press pack. Background product info. Logos Links and spelling of links.
  19. Press packs. Embargo time and timezone. Story summary and context.

    Numbers. Quotes. Contact details. Selection of screenshots. Link to your primary press pack. Background product info. Logos Links and spelling of links.
  20. Press packs. Embargo time and timezone. Story summary and context.

    Numbers. Quotes. Contact details. Selection of screenshots. Link to your primary press pack. Background product info. Logos Links and spelling of links.
  21. Lanyrd integrates with LinkedIn For background information on Lanyrd, see

    our main press pack For embargo until Saturday 14th September 2013 at 4:00pm London (11:00am Eastern / 8:00am Pacific) Powered by WORLD TIME BUDDY 24 AM/PM STARTS IN 4 days 7 hours, 23 minutes London United Kingdom, England 4:00 pm Sat, Sep 14 2013 - 4:00 pm Sat, Sep 14 2013 Your Time On this Computer / Device 5:00 pm Sat, Sep 14 2013 - 5:00 pm Sat, Sep 14 2013 +1 +1 Lanyrd now helps LinkedIn users discover conferences and professional events based on their LinkedIn connections and profile information. This fills a gap left by the shutdown of LinkedIn's events application and allows event organizers to continue to take advantage of LinkedIn to promote their events. LinkedIn users can also use Lanyrd to build their own speaker profiles, get event information on their mobile phones and network more effectively with others at events. Lanyrd is launching the ability to sign in with your LinkedIn account and get event recommendations based on your LinkedIn contacts and profile information. LinkedIn users can now benefit from Lanyrd's directory of more than 25,000 events entered by our community in 100+ countries around the world. LinkedIn announced that they will be shutting down their events app on the 26th of November in a help page on their site. Speakers and attendees can build a profile of the events they have attended and the talks they have given. Where LinkedIn acts as your online resumé, Lanyrd can act as your online speaking portfolio. Users can subscribe to weekly emails recommending events based on their LinkedIn profile. As they grow their network on LinkedIn, these emails will get increasingly more relevant. Event organizers can use Lanyrd to promote their events, publish their event schedule both online and through our mobile apps, and gather together slides, notes and videos once the event has ended. This also marks the first time Lanyrd have made their service available to people who do not use Twitter. New Lanyrd users can also now create an account using an email address and password. Lanyrd helps people get more out of conferences and professional events, by discovering the right events to attend, meeting the right people while there and catching up on slides, notes and video afterwards. We have prepared a preview site for members of the press to try out the new functionality in advance of our public release on Monday at 4pm GMT. The preview is available here: http://preview.lanyrd.com/ Use username beta and password hamster to access the preview. You can then sign in with LinkedIn using the Sign Up link on the homepage. Lanyrd - http://lanyrd.com/ Lanyrd iPhone app - http://lanyrd.com/iphone/ Lanyrd's HTML5 Mobile web app (Compatible with Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone, Kindle etc) - - http://lanyrd.com/mobile/ Summary Key points About Lanyrd Press preview site Useful links Screenshots
  22. Lanyrd integrates with LinkedIn For background information on Lanyrd, see

    our main press pack For embargo until Saturday 14th September 2013 at 4:00pm London (11:00am Eastern / 8:00am Pacific) Powered by WORLD TIME BUDDY 24 AM/PM STARTS IN 4 days 7 hours, 23 minutes London United Kingdom, England 4:00 pm Sat, Sep 14 2013 - 4:00 pm Sat, Sep 14 2013 Your Time On this Computer / Device 5:00 pm Sat, Sep 14 2013 - 5:00 pm Sat, Sep 14 2013 +1 +1 Lanyrd now helps LinkedIn users discover conferences and professional events based on their LinkedIn connections and profile information. This fills a gap left by the shutdown of LinkedIn's events application and allows event organizers to continue to take advantage of LinkedIn to promote their events. LinkedIn users can also use Lanyrd to build their own speaker profiles, get event information on their mobile phones and network more effectively with others at events. Lanyrd is launching the ability to sign in with your LinkedIn account and get event recommendations based on your LinkedIn contacts and profile information. LinkedIn users can now benefit from Lanyrd's directory of more than 25,000 events entered by our community in 100+ countries around the world. LinkedIn announced that they will be shutting down their events app on the 26th of November in a help page on their site. Speakers and attendees can build a profile of the events they have attended and the talks they have given. Where LinkedIn acts as your online resumé, Lanyrd can act as your online speaking portfolio. Users can subscribe to weekly emails recommending events based on their LinkedIn profile. As they grow their network on LinkedIn, these emails will get increasingly more relevant. Event organizers can use Lanyrd to promote their events, publish their event schedule both online and through our mobile apps, and gather together slides, notes and videos once the event has ended. This also marks the first time Lanyrd have made their service available to people who do not use Twitter. New Lanyrd users can also now create an account using an email address and password. Lanyrd helps people get more out of conferences and professional events, by discovering the right events to attend, meeting the right people while there and catching up on slides, notes and video afterwards. We have prepared a preview site for members of the press to try out the new functionality in advance of our public release on Monday at 4pm GMT. The preview is available here: http://preview.lanyrd.com/ Use username beta and password hamster to access the preview. You can then sign in with LinkedIn using the Sign Up link on the homepage. Lanyrd - http://lanyrd.com/ Lanyrd iPhone app - http://lanyrd.com/iphone/ Lanyrd's HTML5 Mobile web app (Compatible with Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone, Kindle etc) - - http://lanyrd.com/mobile/ Summary Key points About Lanyrd Press preview site Useful links Screenshots