Random Presentation #1

@StanfordChris McCann

Why is this the Random Presentation?

· How to prepare for entrepreneurship in university (what really matters, e.g. doing stuff, meeting cool people, or what not)· Team-building for startups from a college perspective· Practical startup advice: what you need to do concretely to get started with an idea, e.g. start going out to talk to people· Along a similar note, easy pitfalls to avoid when first starting, e.g. stealth :P (up to you whether you think that’s bad)· How to build a great product· Or the one that always works: your life story and lessons learned J

Team Building in College

Work with others in a limited “startup environment”

• Hackatons• User Groups• BASES & SSE Labs• Startup Weekend• Weekend Projects

How to get an idea?

How do you get your first (good) startup idea?

• Copy Others (Groupon, Twitter, etc)

• Real problem of yours• Real problem of others • Keep a journal and take lots of

showers/naps

First Investor, Mentor?

How do you find and really connect with your first investor/mentor?

• Ask for advice = money• Participate & lead lots of outside

activities • General get involved • Ride on a larger brand

Should you be a Stealth Startup?

• No > http://www.humbledmba.com/startups-in-stealth-mode-need-one-piece-of-ad

• Unless, if and only if, you are working on a heavy science oriented/patentable technology

Startup vs. Large Company?

• Steve Blank & Mark Suster > If you consider a big company, you are not an entreprenuer

• Marc Andreeseen & Russel Bik > need experience in a big co, to build a big co.

• No right answer. It’s all a highly personal decision.

Startup vs. Large Company?

Startup• No personal

liabilities• Faster learning curve• More contribution • Less salary• More independence • No hand holding

Large Company• Training programs• Resume• Bigger community• Less stress• Less contribution• Lower upward

velocity

Great Product

• No enough slides to cover this. Sorry.

What really matters?

Meat of this presentation. Tactical vs. Inspirational.

What really matters?

• Inspirational – get you started• Tactical – solves real problems • Very small number people who get in the

pool, very small number of those know how to actually swim.

• People swimming don’t have time to teach you how to swim.

Archiving the worlds startup knowledge

Topics: Fundraising, Hiring, Ideation/Co-Founders

Upcoming: Design, iPhone Dev, Viral Acq, Gameification, Lean Startup, etc.

Questions?

Chris McCann@Mccannatron

Chris@startupdigest.com