Customer Comes First - Lesson and Observation from an Entrepreneur's Journey

Our Rock star speaker Mr.Raju Dodhiawala has 30+ years of software development, product management, marketing, sales and corporate strategy.
Mr.Raju is based in the US, and has worked at Fortune 50 companies and founded or run startups, always developing new ideas and building and delivering new products for new enterprise markets

- In software much like in any business, customers are the ones that decide how good your idea is and how well you execute in delivering value to them
- Market timing does matter: the best idea seldom wins
- Selecting the right partners and team members can make or break a startup
- Money, Sweat Equity and Financing: Incubating your idea to success

Transcript

1. CUSTOMER COMES FIRST: LESSONS AND OBSERVATIONS FROM AN ENTREPRENEUR'S JOURNEY RAJU DODHIAWALA TECHNOPHILE SURAT | DECEMBER 22, 2018 (C) RAJU DODHIAWALA 1
2. AGENDA ¡ Introduction ¡ The fine line between Success and Failure ¡ The Best idea seldom wins ¡ The Start-Up: idea → implementation → selling → managing → success → growing → exiting (→ restarting) ¡ Summary (C) RAJU DODHIAWALA 2
3. WHAT I WILL NOT BE TALKING ABOUT ¡ I am not going to do a deep-dive in a particular technology ¡ I am not going to present a design pattern, algorithm or development technique ¡ I am not going to walk thru any code (C) RAJU DODHIAWALA 3
4. A FINE LINE BETWEEN SUCCESS AND FAILURE Drive Motivation Perseverance Delivery Team Finance SUCCESS FAILURE Customer Timing (C) RAJU DODHIAWALA 4 The only thing you control is the Product
5. CASE STUDY: LUMINA TECHNOLOGIES ¡ A Print-Scan-Fax machine: Complexity ¡ Scanning required image processing ¡ Fax required modem ¡ Reason for failure: ¡ Selling on features (“check a box”) ¡ Printer manufacturers already had a strong market presence (C) RAJU DODHIAWALA 5
6. THE BEST IDEA WINS ^ S Se el ld do om m Time to Market Operational Friction Sales Friction Video Sharing: Dialup vs Broadband Kodak Digital Camera Amazon App Store (C) RAJU DODHIAWALA 6
7. KAUN BANEGA KARODPATI 200 million units 25 million units 400 million units (stopped counting) Portability Digital Online Music Store 1979 2001 1997 (C) RAJU DODHIAWALA 7
8. DISRUPTION ”Now that we can see inside the body*, we can cure ANY disease.” -- Sometime in 1895 - 1900 *X-Rays were discovered in 1895 (C) RAJU DODHIAWALA 8
9. LATEST MAJOR DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY T H E I N T E R N E T (C) RAJU DODHIAWALA 9
10. UNDERSTANDING YOUR BARRIERS Barriers to Success • Poor execution • Unfortunate timing • Short on operating funds • Internal conflicts • … Barriers to Entry • Point solution • Easy to replicate • Idea not protected • Investment of time • Complexity (C) RAJU DODHIAWALA 10
11. CASE STUDY: CONNECTSOFT ¡ Developed concept of online airline reservation app, TravelPort, circa 1994 - 1995 ¡ Entrenched players like Sabre were too rigid ¡ We proposed the Consolidators’ model ¡ Internally, we had 2 other portals that would have same architecture: injected complexity ¡ Word got out that other large players were interested ¡ Microsoft initiated a project in 1996 – later spun out as Expedia in about 1998 - 1999 (C) RAJU DODHIAWALA 11
12. PARTNER, BUT DO IT WISELY Gates & Allen Moore & Noyce Jobs & Wozniak Binny & Sachin Bansal Page & Brin Families: Tata, Birla, Rockefeller, … Tesla Edison Ambani Bezos (C) RAJU DODHIAWALA 12
13. CASE STUDY: EXTRAORDINARY NETWORKS ¡ 2 founders ”in a garage” – left everything to pursue a vision ¡ Developed concept, implemented prototype ¡ Recognized it was a BIG IDEA ¡ Recognized the need to accelerate ¡ ”Hired” a CEO, started raising funds ¡ Added 2 more members to the team, one was our manager at a previous company ¡ Founder A felt insecure, filed a lawsuit that he owns IP ¡ The Company had to dissolve (C) RAJU DODHIAWALA 13
14. GO TO MARKET: LINES ARE BLURRING To Consumers To Enterprises Channel: Resellers, Distributors System Integrators Cloud App Store (C) RAJU DODHIAWALA 14
15. CASE STUDY: CROWDSTRIKE ¡ Changed the security defense game from on-premise to Cloud ¡ Aggressively raised money: just under $500 million ¡ Currently valued at $3 billion, expected to IPO in 2019 (C) RAJU DODHIAWALA 15
16. CUSTOMER COMES FIRST ¡ Customer Need: You need a Buyer for your product (or service) ¡ Customer Accessible You need to make it Easy to acquire and use your product ¡ Customer Satisfaction: You need to provide a great user experience and a great customer service Demand Accessible Experience (C) RAJU DODHIAWALA 16
17. SPIN (SELLING) 0 Salespersons are geographically dispersed and spends a lot of time in the field, meeting prospective customers Situation 0 Sales people do not access on-premise system without a lot of hassles Problem 0 As a VP of Sales, I don't get timely status or insight into Sales opportunities Implication 0 My planning is improved and I can measure readily salesperson performance Need-payoff (C) RAJU DODHIAWALA 17
18. SWEAT EQUITY, FINANCING & USE OF FUNDS ¡ Capitalization ¡ Founders: Initial funds, investment in-kind, sweat equity ¡ Angel money: easiest but never enough ¡ Venture Capitalists: preferences, time horizons, … ¡ Private Equity: large checks, rollups / consolidation ¡ IPO: Public markets ¡ Funding Stages ¡ Seed: Gets you started, very first round usually during early development stage ¡ Series A, B, …: rounds of funding, usually from VCs ¡ Debt: Short term / long term loan ¡ Revolver: factoring, for ongoing operations There is such a thing as • Raising money too early • Raising money under duress • Waiting too long or too early to liquidate • Not spending wisely Incubate your Idea TO SUCCESS (C) RAJU DODHIAWALA 18
19. RECAP ¡ Ideas are important but Execution wins the game (you still need Timing on your side) ¡ You need a Partner, and you need to build Trust early with your initial team ¡ Understand selling: design your product to make it Saleable` ¡ Financing your way to success: revenue, costs, margins, expenses, profit ¡ You must have a relentless focus on the Customer & the Customer’s Need (C) RAJU DODHIAWALA 19
20. Q & A / THANK YOU © RAJU DODHIAWALA (C) RAJU DODHIAWALA 20