*8 Things to consider when launching a startup"
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Yelena Kadeykina's presentation outlines critical themes to consider when launching a business, such as understanding customers, defining business models, and building a strong team culture. It emphasizes the importance of market segmentation and customer profiling to effectively target audiences, as well as the value of networking and personal branding in entrepreneurial success. Additionally, the document highlights the advantages of the MIT entrepreneurial ecosystem and the Boston area for startups.
*8 Things to consider when launching a startup"
- 1. “Building a company: 8 themes & 3 “must”” Yelena Kadeykina GITA, Tbilisi September 2, 2015 ©Yelena Kadeykina
- 2. Personal Intro Serial entrepreneur Specialty: entrepreneurial marketing, online and video marketing; business development MIT Sloan Alum Community work: MIT Enterprise Forum & MassChallenge, etc ©Yelena Kadeykina
- 3. 8 Themes to Consider When Launching a Company Who is your customer How do you make money = business model Your team and company’s culture How does your customer acquire your product What can you do for your customer How do you design and build your product How do your scale your business Quality of ecosystem ©Yelena Kadeykina
- 4. ©Yelena Kadeykina What’s is the only minimum required condition for any business to exist?
- 5. 5 Steps to Define Your Customer Market and market segmentation Select a beachhead market Build an end-user profile Calculate TAM size for beachhead market Profile persona for your market ©Yelena Kadeykina
- 6. Market segmentation ©Yelena Kadeykina Characteristics: Characteristics: End User Application Benefits Partners/Players Market Characteristics Competition Size of Market Needs
- 7. 6 “yes” to pick beachhead market Is your customer a paying customer Is your sales force can access your customer Is it hard for your competitor to block you Are your ready to deliver a whole solution/product Can you leverage this segment to enter additional segments Is this market consistent with values and passion of your team ©Yelena Kadeykina
- 8. End User and DMU Customer = End User + Decision Making Unit (DMU) Decision making unit: Advocate (often an end user) Primary Economic Buyer Influencers ©Yelena Kadeykina
- 9. End user profile characteristics Gender, age, education Income range Geographic location What motivates them Their fears &inspirations Early adopters vs. main stream Where they go on vacations Where do they dine What newspapers they read, websites, etc Main reason to buy product: image, peer pressure, saving? ©Yelena Kadeykina
- 10. Persona: Michael, Facility Manager at Cisco Personal Information: American, family (1 kid), 40 years old, college degree Career context: Mid-career (same place for 10 years), technical savvy, hopes for promotion, makes $65K/year Informational Sources: Websites to make decisions, tried competitor product and is not impressed for A/B/C reasons Purchasing Criteria: Reliability (high), Costs (mid) Others: Listens to country, drives Ford, used to volunteer as a fireman ©Yelena Kadeykina
- 11. Calculate TAM (total addressable market) Top-down analysis – use market analysis reports, etc Bottom-up analysis=“counting noses” (use customer, lists, trade associations, groups) TAM = number of customers x Price of product $5M>TAM - No $5M<TAM<$100M – Yes $1B<TAM - No ©Yelena Kadeykina
- 12. ©Yelena Kadeykina What is more important then a good idea?
- 13. B = f(P,E) Building team and culture: 4P framework People ProcessPatterns Purpose Purpose – your values and company’s values Patterns – accepted behavior People – whom do you hire Process – operational processes in your company
- 14. Hard to build, easy to break You will be challenged constantly It is hard to find right people Tough fires Manage offshore team Personal problems Maintain processes Celebrate small victories
- 16. Strong entrepreneurial ecosystem. Solving real world problems 25,000+ companies founded by MIT alums (i.e., Akamai, Intel, HP, iRobot, Gillette, Dropbox) 3.3+ million jobs $2 trillion in annual world sales (source: Kaufman Foundation 2009) MIT Intellectual and Technology Powerhouse 72 MIT-related Nobel Prize winners (including 9 current faculty members) 5 schools, 33 departments/divisions/sections/other programs (57 interdisciplinary research units) ©YelenaKadeykina Why MIT
- 17. Cambridge innovation and intellectual capital: 74 colleges & universities, $1.5 billions spent on R&D annually $2.4 Billions of VC investment second after Silicon Valley, highest investment/capita: $457/capital (source: Flybridge 2010) Innovation clusters: Cambridge, 128/495 clusters –benefits of high concentration Boston startup incubators&accelerators: CIC, Dogpatch, MassChallenge, TechStars Future IPO candidates: HubSpot, Brightcove, Kayak and Tech giants: Microsoft, Google Every night there is an entrepreneurial event! ©YelenaKadeykina Why Boston
- 18. Motivation Desire to help and to give How to choose a mentor Experience Few mentors Right match Advisors / Mentors
- 20. Give before you ask. Always be open to help people in your network Develop relationships, don’t just acquire a bunch of contacts Listen to people’s stories. Make it about them, not about you Follow up with people once you meet them Be genuine Be passionate about your ventures Be realistic about what you should expect and follow up on promises Stay professional and relevant (i.e. , no gossips) Do you homework Do’s of networking
- 21. Prepare and practice your elevator pitch Prepare your presentation materials (i.e., business cards) Research the list of attendees Make a list of top 7-10 contacts Research their bios Do you homework
- 22. Don’t’ brag about yourself Don’t exaggerate the truth Don’t try to discuss everything. Value other people’ time. Don’t ask personal questions (i.e., questions about salary) Don’ts of networking
- 23. Follow up on the night you met Make it personal: include 2-3 points from the conversation Be brief and to the point For VIPs, handwritten notes are preferable Schedule another on-one-one conversation with the people you found some immediate common interests Stay in touch via events/social media (i.e., LinkedIn) ©YelenaKadeykina Follow up/Stay in touch
- 24. Personal brand – timeless. It is how we market ourselves to others. We sell something every day. What is your personal brand Idea to your investor Vacation trip to your spouse
- 25. Strong personal brand = VISIBILITY Speaking engagements Investors Clients The opportunity to make a difference! ©YelenaKadeykina Why your personal brand is important
- 26. Thank you! Contact information: E-mail: yelena@sloan.mit.edu Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/yelenakadeykina Facebook: www.facebook/yelena.kadeykina Twitter: @ykadeykina ©Yelena Kadeykina