Novice Entrepreneur's Survival Guide

8/6/2019 Novice Entrepreneur's Survival Guide

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Gevorg Sargsyan BarCamp 2011 Yerevan, Armenia


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H i this is the Novice Entrepreneur's Survival Guide" session.

My name is Gevorg Sargsyan and I am here to talk about how to survive as entrepreneur in 3 rdworld country like Armenia.

All of you realize in what kind of environment you live, and though it is beautiful and nice for youpersonally, it is called Armenia and it is a 3 rd world country.

Not only that - but we are 3rd world country citizens, and sad enough we are not doing as well aswe would like to, right?By the way I am skeptic by my nature (which is quite useful for being an entrepreneur).So if things look brighter to you than to me in this environment - what can I say - better for you.

I am also an optimist, and I do believe in step-by-step growth, which is required for entrepreneurship.You are going to water flowers that you believe will grow.


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W ho am II think I can be here talking to you as I am a 5 years entrepreneur.My 1st startup was founded in Thailand, then the next one is in Armenia, after this i am going to US.But for myself I am quite far away from where I want to be.

For start let's state some problems.What is the situation for IT companies and startups in ArmeniaThe situation is not good at all :))...To be honest it is hard to state any positive fact about Armenia regarding entrepreneurship andstartups.

We can compare some facts with Silicon Valley.

You know, Silicon Valley is like heaven for anyone who has ambitions in IT.Developer, designer, project manager or entrepreneur - it is the best place to be for you.The greatest thing about the valley is the crowd that is gathered there.


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V S

and many more


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H ere on the slides are the most successful businessmen we havehere, and just some of the successful ones from the valley.

And the thing is that those guys influence on the crowd is huge. They arelike examples. They are the role models.

Many of the guys from the right part of the drawing are teaching atStanford or other universities.Imagine being a student at Stanford - and have Eric Schmidt talking to

you personally about the next big changes in the web

I can't remember anyone from the left side businessmen to read a lectureabout entrepreneurship in Yerevan State University... andhonestly, better they don't do that.


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0

50,000,000

100,000,000

150,000,000

200,000,000

250,000,000

300,000,000

350,000,000

400,000,000

450,000,000

Armenia US China

208,200

266,244,500

420,000,000

Armenia

US

China


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This is Armenian Web users number by June 2010 compared to US and China.For me personally the most hostile factor for my businesses here, is the market size. Most of Armenians can't evenimagine how small it is.208,000 Web users. That's a joke.

People in general tend to come with ideas that are related to their local environment, and almost all Armenians do so.Just to keep it short, most of ideas you get to know about here are for businesses nobody in the world is interestedin, except some local Armenian people.Small environments influence people to think small as well. This is one of our biggest problems.

If you are going to suggest me any idea related to Armenian culture, history or market and etc., I am not interested.Again the reason is Armenia is a tiny market.

GUYS, BETTER TO FAIL IN AH UGE MARKET, TH EN TO SUCCEED IN ARMENIAN WEB MARKET.

No IT investor will invest into company targeting Armenian market. And if will - i guess it is someone with humanitarianintentions, and not business ones.

If you want to do something for Armenia just from your patriotic reasons, do it - and i will respect it.But, then you are not a businessman or entrepreneur, you are just a patriot. And that is not bad at all, just don't havefalse expectation from what you aredoing. And you could do 100x more for Armenia if you succeed internationally.


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You can have the best idea ever - but it can become a failure just because the market cap is lowhere.

As you see - there are not much examples you should take from local businessmen.

My advice will be even to stay away from local investors in case you have got some.

Investor is not just someone who gives you the money. Investor is your partner, and after heinvests - he will have some, if not many rights, towards yourbusiness.

So be very careful about raising money from someone you don't know. It is like a

marriage, divorce will be very painful.You should chose investor more thoroughly, then investor chooses you.

So are there any advantages in Armenia to be used in your favor? Not much - but there are some.

To me, the most valuable one is the following.


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T his is the reason I am still in Armenia.Armenians are VERY talented.

T hey are great as developers, designers and just as creative people.

T here is a huge not used intellectual potential here.T hat's is our only advantage! T hat is our treasure!

Believe me - it is very hard to build a team!But in Silicon Valley it is even harder as demand for developers there is extremely high.

A young startup in San Francisco have almost no chances for getting agreat senior developer.

Here you can build a great team much easier then anywhere else!


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Now I would like to talk to people who areentrepreneurs or are planning to become in nearfuture.

The ones that want to build big companies, not in thescale of Armenia, but in scale of the whole world.Are there any of you here?

Tell me what is your biggest problem?

Most of you are saying "money" is the biggest one! Thebig insolvable problem.In reality - it can be a problem, but it is far not thebiggest problem.


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Imagine entrepreneurship is like cooking a pie.You have ingredients and the recipe.T hen you put ingredients in some proportions and order, then youturn on the fire, and put the pie into the oven and then the pie isready.

But this is the ideal case.In reality almost no-one of you knows how to cook, doesn't have therecipe and doesn't have at least half of the ingredients.

And then we go and ask investors for some fire (which is themoney).

Now tell me, if you get any amount of fire you want, how you will beable to cook a pie - if you don't know what you are doing at all.

Result will be disgusting, and usually that's how it happens.

Fire is needed only when you have everything ready, and need toaccelerate the process.

Too much fire can be deathly dangerous for your creature - yourcompany, and sometimes for yourself as well.


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In reality your biggest problem is the lack of businessknowledge.

You might be a great developer, or designer or anyone else.All what you know is secondary in business andentrepreneurship.Business is an intellectual sport, you need to have businessskills, and you should know how to use business tools.

T his is the biggest problem Armenian I T entrepreneur have.T he culture of business education here is absent.People in general are less business minded, and actuallyhave quite wrong and poor understanding how international

markets are working.To solve this i recommend you to travel as much as possible.About getting business skills and tools I can say you onething you live in wonderful times. Every kind of informationis accessible for anyone.


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http://www.keystothevault.com/

I would recommend ALL of you to listen KeithCunningham's audios and videos.I personally learnt a lot from him. He like mypersonal virtual mentor.

He is an outstanding entrepreneur and businessspeaker.

Having a mentor while building a company is VERYimportant.How you should choose a mentor?It should be someone not related to your business.

Someone who did what you are doing severaltimes, and knows much more than you about that.

Sadly you hardly will find a mentor in Armenia.But I hope you are lucky, or you get someone fromelsewhere.


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Remember, building a company is a marathon, not a sprint. Sowhat you got to do is - learn to run a marathon!Business skills and tools is the most important part in this foryou.Mostly startups are being started by developers, and developersare the ones who have ideas for startups.

Sad enough they are doing very bad about improving theirbusiness skills and tools.

Building a company and achieving a success - will take MANY YEARS.Usually people hear about success of someone in I T, like Marc Zuckerberg, or Angry Birds (Rovio). But onlyfew people know that it took Marc Zuckerberg 7 years to achieve what he have now, and Rovio wasdeveloping games for 8 years before they made Angry Birds.

Entrepreneurship is not a quick way to become reach. It is a way of life. If you choose it, you have to stick toit.

Another thing I want to mention is the obsession with ideas, which is typical for entrepreneurs.Everyone likes his own idea, as idea is their baby.But, the reality is that your idea worth nothing.T here are millions of great ideas in the world. And almost all of them will stay ideas, and will not berealized except few ones.Don't focus on your ideas that irrationally.


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Business models.Think in business models - and not ideas. That's how you should talk to an investor.How your startup is going to make money!What are the channels? What additional ways will you have?

Gettho testingAlways do a Gettho tests of your ideas before building it. Learn how to do it better every time.

A/B TestsHow many of you are doing User Test via Split tests or A/B tests?This is the critical skill you should have.

Know all metricsYou should know all the metrics for modern Apps.DAU, MAU, DAU/MAU, ARPU, ARPPU, UPS, retention, churn and many more.Learn to talk on entrepreneurial language!


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H iringHiring people is a skill! Learn how to do it better. This is critical for building a company.

N egotiationsHow many of you are training your negotiation skills?

P itchingTake your time to improve your pitching and presenting skills.

R aising moneyRaising money - is a skill as well.You need to know the basic principles and using them will increase your chances dramatically.

AccountancyBelieve me - if you are going to build a company, you should get to know your localaccountancy.This is necessary. Never ignore this topic.


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To win the game being in Armenia or in any other 3 rd world country - there is onlyone choice to have. It is to improve every single day.

You have to be outstanding - not just good or excellent.

T hat's how it is. No one will help you. Government will not supportyou, local businessmen will not invest in you (and better they don't).

If you want to make it big, start your journey today. It is really worth it,even in case of failure.

I see that there is a chance for Armenia to become a strong I T country.Will that chance be realized - depends only on us!


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Eric Ries s Lean Startuphttp://theleanstartup.com

Make Maple s speech at Founder Showcasehttp://vimeo.com/16098382

Marc Pincus and Bing Gordon talk at Stanfordhttp://bit.ly/ahbUie


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Write me at:

[email protected]

My blog Singular Choice:http: // spy.tumblr.com

Novice Entrepreneur's Survival Guide

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