My biggest takeaway: Get a team of advisors (They had 25 advisors for a 4 person startup) who are people you want to have associated with your product. “Who’s your entourage?”
A problem worth solving boils down to three questions: 1. Is it something customers want? (must-have) 2. Can it be solved? (feasible) 3. Will they pay for it? If not, who will? (viable)
“
| — | Ash Maurya in “Running Lean” |
Yes, it turns out he became one of Foursquare’s earliest employees by cold-emailing Dennis and Naveen and selling them on what value he could add.
I think it’s interesting that he sent 8 emails before Dennis finally consented to talking more about possibly bringing Tristan on. I don’t know if Dennis at least replied with “no, thanks” or “not right now” before that 8th email, but I’m not sure I would have cold emailed someone that many times, without receiving a response, before I decided that they really weren’t interested.
One of my resolutions in 2011 is to be more bold. I think cold emailing someone past my comfort zone of “I’m really annoying this person” is a good example of boldness.
At the end of the day one must ask “What’s the worse that could happen if I send this 8th email?”
Right. Just like Microsoft stopped AOL from winning the early online wars. And AOL stopped Yahoo! from winning the Internet portal wars. And Yahoo! in turn killed Google when it came to search. While Google stopped Facebook in their tracks when they built a social networking company. And Facebook stomped out Twitter from building an open social network. And we know how Facebook stomped out FourSquare.
And on and on. eBay / StubHub. Amazon / Zappos. Twitter / Instagram.
Focus wins.
“
| — | Mark Suster |
If you think of management as a systems problem where your task is to design and maintain a system where it’s a) easy to get meaningful work done and b) is fun to work in and c) you will be recognized for your good work, then the relevant experiences for management are to a) work in a company and find out why it’s hard to get things done or b) run a company and carefully observe how you are screwing it up.
“
| — | Ben Horowitz |
My favorites:
2. If you can’t be first in a category, set up a new category you can be first in.
3. It is better to be first in the mind than to be first in the marketplace.
4. Marketing is not a battle of products, it’s a battle of perceptions.
5. The most powerful concept in marketing is owning a word in the prospect’s mind.
6. Two companies cannot own the same word in the prospect’s mind.
Where to See Indy’s Startup Scene
This post originally appeared in Indy Spectator’s new endeavor Startup Spectator, an email newsletter for people following Indianapolis Startups. If you’re reading this, then you’d probably find some great things to do in Indianapolis by signing up for it.
Founders can hide their startup from the boss at their day job, but they can’t hide it from me. Until Google fulfills its promise of one day putting a tracking chip in every one of us, here’s your best guide to finding Indianapolis’ Mark Zuckerberg…
Broad Ripple Avenue
Hubbard & Cravens is the adopted co-working space for those who can’t afford offices and a hot meeting place for those who can. H&C is the best place to overhear investor pitches, first hire interviews, and other startup gossip. Friday after lunch is the best time to spot a founder. If you get there after 4pm, you missed them. They’re grabbing a drink at Barley Island, Brugge Brasserie, or the Broad Ripple Brew Pub.
(Expert tip: If your startup is in stealth mode or you don’t want to be interrupted, head to “Perk Up” which also has free wifi and is off the main drag.)
Monument Circle
Downtown has its startup aura, too, for many reasons, not the least of which are its being home to start up success Exact Target, The Venture Club, and the 21st Century Fund. For startups trying to attract out-of-town hires, there are few better venues than an office overlooking Monument Circle for selling the virtues of both Indianapolis and an equity-based salary.
The Mira Awards
An event not a place, the Mira Awards are the Oscars for Indiana’s tech industry. Although the companies winning the awards are easily found in yesterday’s news, the attendees are usually working on the next big thing you’ve never heard of. Collect extra drink tickets for an easy conversation starter.
Indianapolis International Airport
“Crossroads of America” or “Fly-over State,” whichever motto you choose to adopt, doing business in Indiana often means getting out of Indiana. Here’s where cyber-stalking can help you identify your next angel investor since everyone likes to look like a jetsetter with their Foursquare checkin - although, all the early adopters have already switched to Planely.
IUPUI
It’s a good time for startups that merge the art of design and the science of computer programming, and IUPUI’s Media Arts & Science Program in the Informatics school does just that. Look for a class called “I590 - Entrepreneurship in Informatics” taught by Mark Hill and usually offered in the Fall. Its weekly guest lectures are an Indy entrepreneur hall of fame. Don’t worry if you’re not a student. Founders learn it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.
Earth House
Home to the 400 member strong Hackers and Founders Meetup, the Earth House is a proxy for Meetup.com which is where you can find every niche of Indianapolis’ startup community. Even Indianapolis Ruby Brigade and IndyPy agreed on Meetup for organizing their groups’ activities, but don’t expect the same when you ask them what language to build your coupon app in.
Some of the highlights:
“Pre-dodgeball I went thru 3-4 years thinking I was going to meet some magical engineer who would build all the stuff I was thinking about. But I never met that person, so I taught myself ASP and MS Access (yikes! eventually PHP an MySQL) out of a book and got to work just hacking stuff together. I’m still a really shitty programmer”
“Don’t let people tell you your ideas won’t work…If you’re passionate about an idea that’s stuck in your head, find a way to build it so you can prove to yourself that it doesn’t work.”
