startup failure is not what you think

STARTUP FAILURE IS NOT WHAT YOU THINK

Sergey L. Sundukovskiy, Ph.D.

Sergey L. SundukovskiyCo-Founder, CTO & Chief Product OfficerCompanies: PushPoint, Cinsay, LowerMyBills, DIRECTV, CBWInterests: Entrepreneur, Speaker, Mentor, AdvisorEducation: BA CS, MS IT, PH.D. Business

Sergey L. Sundukovskiy, Ph.D. has over 20 years of experience serving in capacities of Chief Technology Officer, Chief Information Officer and Chief Product Officer. Sergey specializes in implementation of subscription based high volume SaaS platforms, with strong emphasis on early stage product development and market deployment. Specific areas of expertise include A/B Testing, Big Data, Video Management, eCommerce, RTB platforms and Cloud Computing. Education: B.A. in Computer Science from the University of California, San Diego, and an M.S. in Information Technology from the University of Liverpool. Ph.D. in Information Technology Management from the School of Business and Technology, Capella University.

INTRODUCTIONBACKGROUND &

SERIALFAILURE

The Story of One Dissertation

FAILURE

“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”

-Albert Einstein

WHAT ISFAILURE?

Failing Does Not Equal Losing?

Faili

ng

Does

Not

Equal Lo

sin

g

You Did Not Lose Unless You

Learned Nothing

WHAT ISFAILURE?

You

Did

Not

Lose

U

nle

ss Y

ou

Le

arn

ed N

oth

ing

We Do Not Have Failures We Have “Learn a Lots”

WHAT ISFAILURE?

FAILURETYPES

Complete FailureCompany Folded

Com

ple

te F

ailu

reC

om

pany F

old

ed

Partial FailureCompany Acquired,

Merged, etc.

FAILURETYPES

Part

ial Fa

ilure

Com

pany A

cquir

ed,

Inco

rpora

ted, etc

.

Failure on the Way to Success

Lose the Battles Win the War

FAILURETYPES

WHY ISFAILURE IMPORTANT?

Complete FailureFills Ecosystem with Experience ?

Partial FailureAllows for Second Life

Com

ple

te F

ailu

reFi

lls E

cosy

stem

w

ith E

xperi

ence

WHY ISFAILURE IMPORTANT?

Failure of the Way to Success

Completes Success Cycle (Failure -> Learning -> Success)Pa

rtia

l Fa

ilure

Allo

ws

for

Seco

nd L

ife

WHY ISFAILURE IMPORTANT?

FAILUREDONE WRONG

What Happens When Failure is Not Accepted

Japan Recession of the 90’s

Companies Would Not DownsizeBanks Would Not Foreclose

Government Would Bailout Banks

Wh

at

Happ

en

s W

hen F

ailu

re is

Not

Acc

ep

ted

FAILUREDONE WRONG

WHAT DO STARTUPS AND GOLF HAVE IN COMMON?

• Constant Failure

• Must Have Right Tools

• Impossible To Get Lucky

• All About The Team

• All About Execution

• It Is All About Micro-

Pivots

Micro-Pivots After Many Failures In…

ROAD TOSUCCESS

ROAD TOSUCCESS

Product Development

Pro

du

ct

Develo

pm

en

t

Product Marketing

ROAD TOSUCCESS

CustomerAcquisition

Pro

du

ct

Mark

eti

ng

ROAD TOSUCCESS

BusinessModel

Cu

stom

er

Acq

uis

itio

n

ROAD TOSUCCESS

PERFECTFAILURE

What Does Failure Look Like?• No Addressable Problem

• No Market

• No Effective Team

• No Customers

• No Product

• No Product Positioning

• No Money

REASONS FOR FAILURE

Why is FailureSo Common?

Failing isSO HOT right now!

REMARKABLESIMILARITY

Beginning of theStartup Journey

End of theStartup JourneyB

eg

innin

g o

f th

eSta

rtup

Journ

ey

WOAH…Deja Vu!

REMARKABLESIMILARITY

BUILDING A STARTUP

Building a Startup Is An Exercise In Un-Failure

UN-FAILURESTRATEGIES

• Too Many Steps To Get

There

Wrong Way To Fail (Tail of Two Extremes)

• Hole in One

• Give Up Too Early

GIVING UPTOO SOON

Diving Lesson

KEEP GOING!

• Have Big Targets To Hit

(Tracers)

Right Way To Fail

• Un-Fail Most Important Things

First• Change Strategy at the Right

Time• Good Return on Luck

• Do Not Need to Outrun the Shark, Just Your Buddy

UN-FAILURESTRATEGIES