startupfest 2016: jevon macdonald (startupindex.ca) - how to
TRANSCRIPT
Taste it again, for the first
time.
Or more accurately…
The first time,all over again
ABOUT ME● Have always been trying to be an
entrepreneur● Generally a bad student and
unemployable● Recently: Just spent 3 years at an
acquirer. ● Left in Nov and now starting a new
company● Very enterprise. Very platform.
It’s good to learn…
Back at the beginning...
Holy shit it has been 20 years??
Things first-timers do...
WHAT WE DID WRONG
7 ‘co-founders’
Unclear roles
Nobody had any actual experience
No vesting
Evenly split cap table w/ no vesting
Weak outside support/advisory
ADVANTAGES
We were early
No distractions(other than Counterstrike and Starcraft)
Raw talent
Clear implicit leadership(meritocracy, I was at the bottom…)
Unconstrained sense of potential (ego?)
It’s good to learn…
but things change and sometimes
you forget things too
“Facebook for the Enterprise, before Facebook was really a thing... so you have no idea what it is…”
– should have been our slogan
Team
Product
Market
Shitty
Not committed
Didn’t exist yet
Things I did all over again
WHAT WE DID WRONG
We moved really really really slowly
We didn’t release often
Didn’t listen to customers
Told people they were doing things wrong
Didn’t know a thing about the enterprise
Didn’t invest enough in making early customers “wildly successful”
… and more...
ADVANTAGES
We saw the future
We made something people could see
Built amazing relationships with analysts in our space
can’t think of any more...
$50m, superstar co-founders, and a market that is exploding
So then...
What can
change?
Team
Product
Market
Still Shitty
Kind of amazing
Got really massive
I didn’t want to do any of that again.
Not even close.
So, then . . .
Team
Product
Market
People loved
Really special
Grows every.Single.Year.
Being early
Being smart
Being reassured
Social proof
Reducing risk
Sexy product
Something to talk about
...
Use to care about Now caring about
TEAM
Clarity of roleValue = Equity
PRODUCT
Clarity of purposeValue = $
MARKET
Growth rate = Opportunity
Role of buyer
Speed, speed, speed
Start company Jan 1 2011
Raise Seed Round – 1.7mApril 1 2011
Launch @ Techcrunch
DisruptSept 2011
From:[email protected]
Subject: AlohaDefinitive AgreementJuly 4 2012
~18 months
Holy shit that was fast
15 years distilled into 18 months of execution
It was still a whole lot of luckBut luck is easy to screw up
So you better be ready for it when it comes around
And now... 18 years of execution
Team
Product
Market
Not just tech
Have been there before Mind
boggling.