Startup Lessons J M 1
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This document outlines the stages and key lessons learned from a startup company's journey from initial idea to product launch and beyond. It discusses what worked and didn't work at each stage, including the honeymoon stage, reality setting in, and eventual crash or success. Key successes included strong beta testing, website functionality, and analyst reviews. Key challenges included divided founder attention, lack of sales experience, underestimating project timelines and resources, and inability to attract significant funding. The conclusion emphasizes how many factors must align for startup success.
Startup Lessons J M 1
- 1. Lessons of a Startup Javed Mohammed Javed Mohammed Writer-Producer Writer- k2film@live.com
- 2. Stages of a Start Up Success Honeymoon Stage +Energy Accommodation Stage (We can work it out) Time Transformation -Energy Crash and Burn Reality Kicks in (What did I get myself into?)
- 3. Timeline (Approx) Project idea kicked off by CEO Jan 2001 Started with Program Manager and then team of 3-4 engineers in Hyderabad India MarCom Dir joined spring 2002 VP of Ops and VP Mktng joined Nov 2002
- 4. Timeline Continued Architect joined Summer 2003 Lead Engineer joined Fall 2003 Software 1.0 launched Feb 2004 Software 2.0 launched Jan 2005 Left full-time position Feb-end 2005
- 5. How project started Founder was running parent consulting company. Served SMB customers They identified a need Rather than charge customers $1000+ for taking Linux freeware and customizing it for clients Develop an off the shelf, easy to use Windows software
- 6. What worked @ start Had an infrastructure and cash and courage to incubate startup PM had a couple of focus groups with IT managers, administrators MarCom Dir created a GUI for the prototype and bounced the idea of some large customers like Netscape, Sony, Adaptec To reduce costs used a team in India PM documented the project well
- 7. What didn’t work @ start Marketing and Sales were to be outsourced with another party Unfortunately not experienced in marketing, sales, IT, or the software industry Issues arose between founders and party, and they split PM was a Unix hack, but no experience in developing software projects Founders had experience in consulting s/w projects but not complete product delivery
- 8. What worked @ stage2 Formed a company with management team and board of advisors (BOA) BOA helped to reach one strategic OEM evaluation feedback on VC presentation A couple of VC connections
- 9. What didn’t work @ stage2 VP Eng left and VP Operations took over Experienced management, but difficult to oversee India team Communication & trust issues Software code not architected well (not modular) or documented Installation & Configuration were key feature sells, but in-practice after-thoughts
- 10. What did work @ stage3 Excellent Beta Sites, across different industries, including UCB Good test lab setup Product eventually launched Website and E-commerce, downloads all worked Analyst meetings and reviews of product and company, including SJ Mercury News
- 11. What didn’t work @ stage3 With exception of one local engineer, engineering talent either remote or not very skilled Project delays lead to frustration Project underestimated Supposed to be 6 months, actual 2 years+ Poorly defined, you only get one chance, lacked important features eg network monitoring
- 12. What worked@ stage4 Had VC and Angel meetings 6-10+ Continued to get Beta site feedback and improve product Improved Installation and added Configuration Wizard, dropped price Brought two more talented BOAs CEO by in large good cheer-leader Director of MarCom talented and did 3 peoples work CEO Invested Approx $500K of seed money Tried all types of sales and promotion efforts Contacted all potential Tier One S/W Business alliances
- 13. What didn’t work @ stage4 Founders attention divided to parent company. Startups cannot work with divided attention CEO main source of ideas, no one to counter-balance VP of Marketing & Sales, a marketing & biz dev guy, not a Salesman Other marketing folks also lacked experience, motivation, or other issues eg startup environment VP of Eng, senior management experience but not hands on Eng Director experienced but not with this type of software Opportunity to start project again, appeared but lost
- 14. What didn’t work @ stage4 contd Getting VCs to get their checkbooks out isn’t easy Contractor signed up to sign up VARs & End-Users. Promised 50+50, after 3 months zero No lead OEM or Channel partner who can penetrate SMBs Signing up many $500 customers much harder than signing up one $5,000 or $50,000 customer (same concern as VCs) The idea of a simple easy to use software caught on by competitors, now little product differentiation Large and smaller OEMs provided software for free bundled with hardware
- 15. In Conclusion A successful startup needs many things to be aligned at the same time. Great idea Super-star CEO and management team Great BOA and Funding or deep pockets Team that can execute Perfect market timing, luck, and prayers The Perfect storm
- 16. In Conclusion Was it worth it? Absolutely, it was an awesome experience