First Steps for Startup Founders

Poornima Vijayashankerpoornima@femgineer.com

@poornima

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Background

• R&D Engineer @ Synopsys

• Founding Engineer @ Mint.com

• Founder & CEO @ BizeeBee

• Founder of Femgineer.com

• Instructor @ Duke University

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Agenda

• First 3 Steps

• Financing

• Time

• Success

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Got ideas?

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Idea

Money Team

Product

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Overwhelmed.

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Stuck.

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Business vs. Technical?

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Step 1?

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Idea Market

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Idea

Outside Help Customers

Domain Expertise

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Step 2?

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starting small vs.

BIG VISION

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Step 3?

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Know what you know.

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Take stock of your skills and expertise.

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Recruit for the rest.

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Alone vs. Team

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MONEY INTELLIGENCE vs. mint

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• Identify your skills and look for complementary skills.

• Don’t do a sales pitch. Instead get people involved in the process e.g. brainstorming.

• Be wary of those who come after you!

Co-Founders

Supplemental Reading: Conversations Potential Co-Founders Should Have

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Co-Founder Conversations

• Conversation topics to cover:

• Bad experiences you both might have had in the past.

• Setup a clear standard for communicating both the positive and negative.

• Make sure there is alignment when it comes to values and the direction of the company and product.

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Co-Founder Conversations

• Gauge the following:

• Level of interest

• Quality of contributions

• Chemistry and camaraderie

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Advisors

• Areas of Expertise

• Setup expectations

• Make contribution clear

• Fluid relationship

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Right time to recruit.

Supplemental Reading: How to Keep Your Startup Engineer Sane, Recruiting for a Startup? First Figure Out Who & What You Want.

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Vision vs. Implementation

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Communicate your vision clearly.

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People follow those who show passion.

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• Abilities vs. Capabilities

• What skill set do you absolutely need?

• Allocation time to train and understand direction

• Micromanaging vs. Delegating

• Polling vs. check-ins

• Test: can focus on just your role and contributions?

Team Building

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• Outsourced or Part-Time Team

• Set a budget

• Set clear deliverables

• Hire those that demonstrate self-leadership

• Start with sample projects

Part Time or Outsourced Team

Supplemental Reading: How to Make Progress with Part Timers, Optimizing Outsourcing

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Dissolve a Partnership

• What is the stake they leave with?

• Who controls the assets?

• Bringing someone new in.

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Keep going!

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Time to build...

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Product

Customers Financing

Company

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£ OR €

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Financing

• Bootstrapping: savings, full time job, or pre-sales

• Crowdfunding: friends & family, campaigns

• Private Capital: angels, VCS

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Timing.

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Timing

Employees Understanding

Credibility withCustomers

Mistakes

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Tough.

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Temptations to quit.

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Success vs. FAILURE

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Many ingredients.

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Your definition.

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What’s your goal?

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Review

• First 3 Steps

• Financing

• Time

• Success

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Additional Resources

• Office Hours

• Online Mentoring

• Courses

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Q&A

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