Starting Up @ MX

So you really want to start a startup?

Startups in real life – Ideas – Founders - Product & Marketing – Environment - Funding

Startups in Real Life

Startups are big companies (they just start out small)

Startups in Real Life

“Real entrepreneurship is boring” – Eric Ries

Startups in Real Life

You have be willing to fail (statistically, you will fail) (and it’s ok)

Ideas

Look outside of tech

Ideas

Mexico is full of interesting problems to solve

Founders

“The best founders are obsessed with the problem they are trying to solve”

Fred Wilson

Founders

“The problem isn’t that too many people are starting companies; it’s that too many people aren’t sticking with it.”

– Steve Jobs (circa 2000)

Founders

“You have to look at the guy next to you and see a guy who’s going to go that inch

with you” - Tony D'Amato

Product & Marketing

“Nail it, then Scale it” – Paul Ahlstrom

Product & Marketing

No product* sells itself *except the cure for cancer, etc.

Product & Marketing

Marketing is (mostly) a process

Product & Marketing

“We have a strategic plan – it’s called doing things” – Herb Kelleher

Product & Marketing

“Your product is NOT the product” – Ash Maurya

Product & Marketing

Runway = # of experiments left

Environment

Startups are a team sport – surround yourself with crazies

Environment

Today anyone* can start a startup in Mexico

*(who is willing to try, fail, learn, and try again and so on)

Funding

Money is not enough – Would you still want your investors on your team (even

if no $)?

Funding

“A scalable startup ecosystem takes equal parts of risk, greed, vision and obscene financial returns.

Governments can help, but then they need to get out of the way.” – Steve Blank

Final Words

“Would you rather sell sugared water or a chance to change the world?”

Steve Jobs @hugostevens StartupFactory.mx hugostevens.net