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BOB DORFallegedly retired serial entrepreneur

bob@kandsranch.com

www.steveblank.com

An Introduction and WELCOME!

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WELCOME to our journey…

• To help you try to build strong, profitable new businesses• NOT to guarantee success, but to minimize risk of failure• …to teach you how to use “startup tools” on YOUR startup• …get YOU “out of the building” to gain/use customer

feedback• …and to do all we can to help you WIN!

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This isDamn Hard…

• Long term success rate in startups is very, very low• It’s all about “traction…”- very hard to achieve• Competition, investment both extremely challenging• You will be outspent, out-engineered, outrun• YOUR TEAM AND I will do all we can to help…• But most of the success is on your shoulders

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Why are we here??

• The odds are very much against your success• We want to reduce the risk of failure• And provide support to help you and your team

build a strong, enduring company!

…What really matters most: • GREAT companies with long-term potential• Excited CUSTOMERS who tell their friends

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This is NOT a test…

• Customer Development is in use worldwide• Thousands of startups use all or part of the process• Adopted by 50+ leading Universities• …but this is NOT a class…• …the ONLY grade is how successful YOU are!

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More startups fail from a lack of customers than from a failure of product development

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Our focus is finding customersfor your product even beforeyou have built the product!

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Very simple business math:0 customers= 0 business!

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A bit about me…• “Unemployable” since age 22, 4 decades ago(!!)• 7 startups: 2 homeruns, 2 base hits, 3 tax losses

• >20x startups Investor/coach: 7 IPO’s, 6 disasters

• 3 years almost living with Steve, writing, teaching• Adjunct Professor, Columbia Business School• 1 great kid, PhD, mom, proudest startup of all!

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The best “tuition” of all…

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500 startup misteaks in 608 pages….

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A bit about you…

• First-time entrepreneurs?• Engineers?• Marketeers?• Third startup?• Cloners?• “Keeping my Day Job” for now• Ready to work 80 hours a week?• ..for the glory?• …for the $?

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Questions?

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We’ve learned a lot about entrepreneurship

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Part 1

What We Used to BelieveWhat We Now Know

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What We Used to Believe

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There is one type of startup and one type of entrepreneur

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What We Now Know:There are many types of startups

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ScalableStartup

Large Company

Scalable StartupWhy most of you are here today!

Goal is to solve for: unknown customer and

unknown features

Search Execute

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ScalableStartup

Large Company

Scalable Startup

Goal is to solve for: unknown customer and

unknown features

Search Execute

Exit Criteria- Business model found- Total Available Market > $500m- Can grow to >$100m/year- Can be Venture capital funded

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But startups may be…

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Startup

Lifestyle Startups Work to Live your Passion

• Serve known customer with known product • Work for their passion• NOT “Mark Zuckerberg”• YET can employ many in a very profitable

long-term enterprise

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Small BusinessStartup

Small Business StartupsWork to Feed the Family

• Serve known customer with known product

• Feed the family

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Small BusinessStartup

Exit Criteria- Business Model found- Profitable business- Existing team< $500K in revenue- Not venture-backable

Small Business StartupsWork to Feed the Family

• known customer known product

• Feed the family

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Large Non-Profit

Social Startup

Social Entrepreneurship Startups

• Solve pressing social problems• Social Enterprise: Profitable• Social Innovation: New Strategies

• Not venture-backable

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ScalableStartup

$2 to $50M Acquisition

Buyable Startup

Goal is to solve for: Internet, Mobile, Gaming Apps

Search Sell

- Sell to larger company- Angel or early stage VC

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what matters most:KNOW your GOAL at the startSHARE it with coaches, team, investors (it’s always easier to make it bigger later)

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Teaching Entrepreneurs:What We Used to Believe

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What a Startup Really Looks Like

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Startups are About Vision & Ideas, sweat and luck

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What We Now Know

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Most visions are very blurry at best

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What We Used to Believe

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Startups are a Smaller Version of a Large Company

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What We Now Know

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Startups Search Companies Execute

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What We Used to Believe

Strategy

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Start With a Business Plan and a Financial Model

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All You Need to Do is Execute the Plan

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And You Need to Make the Forecast

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All You Need to Do: Execute the Plan

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What We Now Know

Strategy

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No Business Plan survives first contact with customers

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Planning comes before the plan

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Some Ground Rules

• Interrupt me ANYTIME• This is HARD

– Unpredictable– Accept and learn from failure– All must agree we’re on a “search”

• YOU will customize our agenda as we go…using the “Customer Development” process

• Try to generalize your issues/questions• Please say “go faster,” “go slower,” or “wait a minute!”

• …and feel free to throw things if I don’t hear you!

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ScalableStartup

Large Compan

y

- Business Model found- i.e. Product/Market fit- Repeatable sales model- Managers hired

What’s A Startup?

A Startup is a temporary organization used to search for a repeatable and scalable

business model

Search Execute

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ScalableStartup

Large Compan

y

Scalable Startup

Goal is to solve for: unknown customer and unknown features…New customers unknown in many

markets…Desired features unknown in many

markets

Search

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ScalableStartup

Large Compan

y

Exit Criteria- Business model found- Total Available Market > $500m -$1B- Can grow to $100m/yearCriteria: can it get BIG??…not quite today…but is it on the path?

Scalable StartupSearch Execute

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Why 95+% of startups die?

• All product, no customers• No problem• The “lock step”• Premature scaling• No product/market fit• No more dough• …some of us will fail. Certainly it’s not YOU!

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Questions?