Interesting session with Ron Conway and Mike Maples.
Key thoughts:
Silicon Valley has an angel ecosystem like nowhere else
The components of a good startup: The People = 80%, The Idea = 20%
What is the job of a business angel? –> generating value – REAL value! BUT: it’s not the job of an angel to be the CEO! The angel has to make sure that all lights are green – the CEO still has to drive the car! If you’re an angel and your contribution is ZERO, why should an entrepreneur work with you again? That’s the reason why people like Ron Conway have been able to invest in 500 companies – they generate tangible value! Values like: helping recruit good people; introductions to VCs; introductions to exit-partners etc.
A business idea without a prototype or proof of concept is no business idea.
If you want to raise money, be aware of a major conflict of interest. What Angels/VCs are looking for are the billion-dollar-hits. That’s the only way they make money. But thats not necessarily in the best interest of entrepreneurs (see the posting below).
One of the best talks about entrepreneurship and business models i’ve ever heard.
Key thoughts:
Charge money (WHO would have thought of that!!!)
Provide great service (if you order shoes at 10pm and they are delivered the next morning, you’ll use this service again –> Zappos)
Be a decent italian restaurant. You don’t need to be the best freaking restaurant on the planet! –> it’s enough to attract a few thousand customers; you don’t neet to attract 7 billion!
Forget the billion dollar bullshit. The startup community is being brainwashed through repeated broadcasting of the stories of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter etc. It’s better to have 1m than -10k on your bank account. Going for the billion is pretty much suicide for first time entrepreneurs. You can worry about the billion once you have the million (and maybe you’ll realize that the million is all you need).
The B2B market is easier than the B2C market –> Adress Fortune 5.000.000 instead of Fortune 500
Use the ideas of the 4 Hour Work Week. Forget 14 hour days. It’s impossible to be productive for 14 hours straight. Most people aren’t even really productive for 3 hours a day. Why not only work 4 days a week for 8 hours a day?
Take it easy! Stop hurrying! You can’t build a company over night. It takes years – and that’s completely okay, because there is ENOUGH time – stop thinking the window of opportunities is open for only a few months! There are ALWAYS enough opportunities, even if you sell SHOES!
Our project Parlaris (it’s a partner project between calac GmbH and Small-n-Tall GmbH that was started in Feb 2004) is for sale (more information). Special deal: Introduce us to a potential buyer and earn 5% commission on the sale!
