1 / 18

‘Entrepreneur’ is Not a Noun. It’s a Verb.

#GHC13. ‘Entrepreneur’ is Not a Noun. It’s a Verb. . Presenters: Joanne Kossuth, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering Paula Long, DataGravity Wendy Rannenberg , Independent Margit Wennmachers , Andreessen Horowitz October 4, 2013. 2013. Margit Wennmachers : What does she know? .

emiko
Télécharger la présentation

‘Entrepreneur’ is Not a Noun. It’s a Verb.

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. #GHC13 ‘Entrepreneur’ is Not a Noun. It’s a Verb. Presenters: Joanne Kossuth, Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering Paula Long, DataGravity Wendy Rannenberg, Independent Margit Wennmachers, Andreessen Horowitz October 4, 2013 2013

  2. Margit Wennmachers: What does she know? • Immigrant (Grew up on a pig farm in Germany) • No Ivy League education • Founded The OutCast Agency (top tech PR agency) • Rated #1 person in tech PR (Business Insider) • Helped build iconic brands including Facebook, VMware, Airbnb • Nicknamed "the mother of Silicon Valley"

  3. Wendy Rannenberg: What does she know? • Naval Underwater Systems Center (NUSC) • 27 years in software development (real-time systems, operating systems, application development and performance, application migration methodologies, software testing techniques...) • Led large international engineering teams • Sanders Associates, Lockheed, Digital Equipment Corporation, Compaq, and Hewlett Packard

  4. Joanne Kossuth: What does she know? • VP of Ops/CIO of Franklin Olin College of Engineering • Computerworld's Premiere 100 CIOs • Dean of Leading Change Institute; EducauseBoard of Directors • Published in leading industry and education journals on IT best practices (HR, dining and facilities as well ) • Consumer retail operations • How to Build a College from scratch; collaboration

  5. Paula Long: What does she know? • Leadership role in 5 startups • Founder in 2 • A-Round or Pre-A in 4 of them • Bought, Sold, Failed to Start, almost IPO’d, Participated in Acquisitions • Startup Career spanning 2007 to present

  6. Reasons People Start a Company No Yes

  7. Successful Startups… Ingredients: • Large, addressable market • Focus on building a company. Not a product/feature. • Radically change an existing market or create a new market • Change the business model • Make sure other people can share in the success • Happy customers • Great team • Leadership that is self-aware and cares more about the company than themselves

  8. Danger Signs • Starting with an Exit Strategy, instead of a Growth Strategy • Not understanding the end user and the ecosystem around them • Not understanding that the buyer and the end user may be different • Forgetting that engineering is at best 1/3 responsible for a companies success • Building a feature or product but not a company

  9. More Danger Signs… • Very cool idea, but So What… • “Nice to have” versus “Must have” technology • …Or markets that are just hype and have not really materialized • Believing for some reason that it’s harder for you than everyone else • Getting caught in the Drama, and there likely will be Drama

  10. Measuring Success • Happy users/customers • Sustainable growth strategy • Dedicated team with low turnover • People vote with their feet • Meeting a realistic set of objectives • Building a profitable company for the long haul • Are you having fun?

  11. Things to think about before you start • Join a startup before you start one • Think carefully about the people on your board • As soon as you hire a person you are responsible for their livelihood • Have the people close to you bought in? • Hours can be intense • Compensation is low

  12. How do you know you are ready to launch? • Can the idea you have be built? • Should it be built? • Will customers care? • Can you build a strong team? Once you can honestly say yes to all 4 You are cleared for take off!!!

  13. #GHC13 Are you an Entrepreneur? Our take on how to tell… 2013

  14. Margit’s Top 5(ish) • You just know • You're frustrated, and instead of complaining you take action • You have a secret… • you know the technology better than anyone else • you had a personal experience • you believe something nobody else believes • your idea upsets the norm and challenges convention

  15. Joanne’s Top 10 • Brimming in confidence • Loves to be “out of the box” • Passionate • Risk taker • Perpetually interested in “everything” • A people-oriented problem solver • A great storyteller • Leads by example • Knows when to get expert assistance • Tolerates failure well

  16. Paula’s Top 5 • You get as much joy out of the idea as you do in bringing it to life • The thought of other people using the things you create makes you smile • You cannot imagine sitting on a good idea and not taking action • You reserve the right to get smarter and learn • You cannot stop yourself thinking about how things could be better, and then working on making them better

  17. Questions…

  18. Got Feedback? Rate and Review the session using the GHC Mobile App To download visit www.gracehopper.org

More Related