Lessons learned about entrepreneurship
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A few lessons learned Oct 27, 2011 at the Department of Applied Informa;on Technology at Chalmers University of Technology and University of Gothenburg Fredrik Ljungberg
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Transcript of Lessons learned about entrepreneurship
A few lessons learned
Oct 27, 2011 at the Department of Applied Informa;on Technology at Chalmers University of Technology and University of Gothenburg
Fredrik Ljungberg
1.
What do Paul, Börje and Rohit have in common?
Paul Ahlstrom Successful investor
”If you have an idea, don’t build anything!”
”Data is not informa;on”
Börje Langefors Pioneer and first IT professor
Rohit Sharma Serial entrepreneur
Paul, Börje and Rohit know…
…there will be failure
What they know
• Paul knows his porUolio companies will release products people don’t want
• Börje knows his students++ will develop systems people don’t want
• Rohit knows his start ups will launch solu;ons people won’t like
Why?
• Technology issues? • No! • But because we…
don’t understand user needs properly
It happens as we speak
• Developing systems with no knowledge about the domain
• Wri;ng business plans for new products
Understanding user needs is key
• Compe99ve companies much needed
• Compe;;ve companies rely on innova9on
• Innova;on relies on understanding needs
• Innova;on has to happen faster and faster
• Compete in a global market
Scary today
Scary in the future?
User needs • It’s about figuring out what people don’t know they want
• People don’t know what they want
• People will say your baby is ugly
• Needs evolve
• What to do?
– Look for pain! – “Get the hell out of the building”
Vision
Henry Ford: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
There’s only one way to do it
Steve Blank:
“Get the hell out of the office!” à Go out, be open minded and learn quickly!
#1: Conclusion
• Understanding user needs has been, is and will be crucial
2.
Randy Komisar (Kleiner Perkins) ”Nobody walks in here with a new idea. I’ve seen all ideas 10 9mes.” “For every decent idea there are 30-‐40 guys working on it.”
The manager
“The last 20% of a project will take 80% of the 9me… at least” Surveys • + 75% of all projects miss deadlines • +50% exceed budget • Most start ups fail (loads of sta;s;cs)
Randy and the manager know
Execu9on is key
The idea is 1%, execu;on is 99%
Execu;on
• Management
• Sales and customer rela;ons
• Develop technology
• Hard work, long hours
User needs + execu;on
#2: Conclusion
• Execu9on—to get things done—has been, is and will be crucial
?
It is possible
It is possible
+ = True
3.
Close to bankruptcy in 1997
Steve and Steve started a company
And so did we! People with no understanding of user needs but some/weak knowledge about execu9on
Internal R&D 50%
Professional services 50%
Produktbolag Produktbolag
Spinn off
Customers
No customers and few references
No contact with users Too early Quite poor execu9on
But a crazy financial market (which we knew and could offer what they wanted)
Worked hard and, eventually, we learned
CeBIT 2000
Agreement, awards and the best product but way too early and wrong loca;on
2000-‐2001
+
-‐50 000 employees
• Sell the product business (no funding available anyway)
• Buy out investors
• Be good at something Volvo needs
• Niche
• Work, work, work
Some lessons learned • If we had considered user needs carefully and had the ability to kill our
babies, the product business would have been sold earlier
• Lack of execu9on abili;es compensated with hard work and ambi;on
• Mix of competencies was crucial
• Focus on results and margin created a common goal and mindset
• Learn how the customer thinks and their major pains
• Work harder than compe;tors pays off
• Always deliver and communicate to build confidence
Concluding remarks: Sugges;ons to students
• (User needs and execu;on)
• Try to be good at something
• Trying hard will pay off
• First employer is key
• Use technology
• Learn how to program
