startupdigest in colombia

“Life is too short to work at a boring company”

Colombia | October 6, 2011

1. What Startup Life is like2. Game3. MVP’s4. Multidisciplinary learning5. What University gives you– Not what you expect

6. Questions7. Short explanation of Silicon Valley– Past / History– Present / Culture

Words of Caution

• Yo no hablo Español• This is about high growth tech startups• I am not university trained in all the

topics I bring up• Some of this might be challenging to the

current education model

Background

Events by city in 67 citiesArticles by skill and markets

StartupDigest

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StartupDigest

Frank Denbow > NYC

Dan Rosen > Payments

Herman Ng > Product Manager

Curators

What is “curating”

Picking the best stuff

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NYCDesi

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Gaming

Retail

London

Health

Educati

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Paris

IndiaBizd

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Beijing

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Montreal

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Indianap

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Fun part of Startup Life

Learn

Normal Path

Entrepreneurship

Game

Minimal Viable Product

Absolute simplest & efficient way to test a hypothesis.

while Traction is not True:Idea = HypothesisExperiment = MarketTraction = True or FalseIdea + Experiment = Traction

Caution

MVP is not a startup, it’s step 0

Entrepreneurship is a game about learning

Multidisciplinary

Math student, Math graduate, Math post-doc.

Everything will look like a math problem to you.

This is not true.

Multidisciplinary

1. Engineering• Computer science, Thermodynamics,

2. Design• Contrast, alignment,

3. Psychology• Social proof, reciprocity

4. Mathematics• Statistics, power law,

5. Business• Accounting, economics

Engineering*

Easier: Engineering > BusinessHarder: Business > Engineering

Absolute must if you are starting an internet

company

Best way to learn new skills

• Khanacademy.com

University – Doesn’t do what you think

1. Not skills2. Not funding3. Not a path

What it does:4. Team5. Situation (Debt, Marital, Risk)6. Time (Curiosity, Serendipity)

Action Items

1. Take 1 class not related to your major or watch Khan Academy

2. Try one Minimal Viable Product

3. Work at something you are excited about this summer, think about what that is now.

“Life is too short to work at a boring company”

www.startupdigest.com

Questions?chris@startupdigest.com

Do I need to move to Silicon Valley?

What is traction?

Do I need to raise money? What’s next after the MVP?

How do I learn about new subjects?

How do I learn programming?

Who taught you the multidisciplinary learning?

What if my advisors won’t let me take other classes?

How else can I get started now?

How does SD make money?

History

Leland Stanford1824-1983 “Robber Barron”Founder of Stanford

• Bell Telephone Laboratories • Hewlett-Packard• Shockley Semiconductor > Farchild

Semiconductor > Intel

• PayPal, Google, Facebook

Silicon Valley Culture

• “Pay it forward”• Non-Materialism• Founders investing in Founders• Sharing (Hippy)• Variation• Most Important:– Very high “social pressure”