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Tytus Michalski
November 22, 2013
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Build and Fly (You and Entrepreneurship)
Tytus Michalski
November 22, 2013
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Transcript
Build and Fly You and Entrepreneurship Mike Hopkins / NASA
via Twitter
This presentation is not a formal endorsement of taking off,
flying or landing. DISCLAIMER
Agenda You Like Flying? Fuel to Fly Do Angels Fly?
Flying Higher Together Fasten Your Seatbelts
You Like Flying?
You Like Flying? Should you be an entrepreneur?
Co-founders: Complementary skills Shared culture You Like Flying?
Team vs. Who’s the boss? You Like Flying?
Customers/users Who loves you? You Like Flying?
Product/service Maker time You Like Flying?
Design Beyond product You Like Flying?
Distribution Unsung hero You Like Flying?
Sales and/or marketing Talk the walk You Like Flying?
Mission Where you going? You Like Flying?
Culture Hire/fire values You Like Flying?
People What’s your process? You Like Flying?
Ecosystem/partnerships Who got your back? You Like Flying?
Regulation The matrix You Like Flying?
Service providers Making the sausage You Like Flying?
Global/cross-border Lost in translation You Like Flying?
Communication Writing, groups, 1x1 You Like Flying?
How to fill these gaps? You Like Flying?
Founder market fit You Like Flying?
People Timing Money You Like Flying?
Each company is unique You Like Flying?
Fuel to Fly
Casinos Not great odds Worked before Fuel to Fly
Savings Scalable? Entrepreneur friendly Fuel to Fly
Credit cards Not great odds Worked before Fuel to Fly
Friends, family & fools Great with right family Most families
not right Fuel to Fly
Contests & prizes Great for super early Limited size, timing
issues Fuel to Fly
Government grants Great for super early Typically with strings Fuel
to Fly
Accelerators Great for new founders Geography, timing Fuel to Fly
Customers Love & money Hard but worth the effort Fuel
to Fly
Vendors Great if you can get it Hard to start
& sustain Fuel to Fly
Angels Great for lean startups Not great for fat startups
Fuel to Fly
Seed funds Great for lean startups Not great for fat
startups Fuel to Fly
Family offices Very flexible Hard to access Fuel to Fly
VCs Great for scaling Go big or go home risk
Fuel to Fly
Corporates Massive resources Hands on, culture gap Fuel to Fly
Equity crowdfunding Complementary Complicated, still early Fuel to Fly
Banks No equity dilution Highly unlikely Fuel to Fly
Revenue / product share No equity dilution Hard to find
and execute Fuel to Fly
Exit via IPO Sounds glamorous Good luck with that Fuel
to Fly
Exit via M&A Practical outcome Post M&A life Fuel to
Fly
Partial exit via secondary Likely to grow over time Still
early days Fuel to Fly
Fuel is everywhere and nowhere Fuel to Fly
Do Angels Fly?
Some people make (a lot of) money Do Angels Fly?
Studies of long term average returns: 18-38% per annum Do
Angels Fly?
Do Angels Fly? But nobody really knows
And some of people lose (a lot of) money Do
Angels Fly?
The economics of startups have changed Do Angels Fly?
50x cheaper vs. 1999 Do Angels Fly?
3x faster to market vs. 1999 Do Angels Fly?
10x bigger markets vs. 1999 Do Angels Fly?
1,500x better economics vs. 1999 Do Angels Fly?
Contribute back to society Do Angels Fly?
Have an impact on the system Do Angels Fly?
Think of it as education Do Angels Fly?
Meet interesting people Do Angels Fly?
Startups ain’t boring Do Angels Fly?
If you don’t have time consider a fund Do Angels
Fly?
Logic and emotion Do Angels Fly?
Flying Higher Together
Money is the same Flying Higher Together
Investors ain’t the same Flying Higher Together
Know your gaps and needs Flying Higher Together
Start with milestones and work backwards Flying Higher Together
2x the time 2x the cost Flying Higher Together
Investors can help with strategic issues Flying Higher Together
Investors can help with people issues Flying Higher Together
Investors can help with front end issues Flying Higher Together
Investors can help with back end issues Flying Higher Together
Investors can help with negotiations Flying Higher Together
Biggest value added at key inflection points Flying Higher Together
Not all deals are worth taking Flying Higher Together
The honeymoon is a preview of marriage Flying Higher Together
Fasten Your Seatbelts
What are your gaps? Fasten Your Seatbelts
What do your investors bring to the table besides money?
Fasten Your Seatbelts
Communication Frequency Style Fasten Your Seatbelts
If you like lean startups try lean boards Fasten Your
Seatbelts
Sophisticated tools vs. Google docs Fasten Your Seatbelts
Metrics What’s really going on? What’s your core score? Fasten
Your Seatbelts
The dip hits every company and it ain’t fun Fasten
Your Seatbelts
Post fundraising ain’t the time to party and relax Fasten
Your Seatbelts
Post fundraising is when the clock starts ticking Fasten Your
Seatbelts
Fundraising is the warm up to building a business Fasten
Your Seatbelts
“The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at
the ground and miss.” - Douglas Adams
[email protected]