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Small Business Administration Office of Investment and Innovation. SBIR June Webinar Cofounders : Why the Whole is Greater than the Sum of Its Parts. June 25, 2013 – Washington, D.C. . Agenda. Updates Introduction to Jessica Alter
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Small Business Administration Office of Investment and Innovation SBIR June WebinarCofounders: Why the Whole is Greater than the Sum of Its Parts June 25, 2013 – Washington, D.C.
Agenda Updates Introduction to Jessica Alter “Cofounders: Why the Whole is Greater than the Sum of Its Parts” Q&A
Updates • Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) • http://www.sbir.gov/faq/general • Previous webinars • http://www.sbir.gov/content/sbir-webinars-posted-online • Technical concerns • http://www.sbir.gov/feedback
Featured Speaker Jessica Alter • Cofounder& Chief Connector, FounderDating • 500 Startups mentor • Former CEO, Formative Labs • Former GM of Platforms, Bebo(Acquired by AOL). • BBA from University of Michigan and an MBA from Harvard
3 The BIGGEST MISTAKES PEOPLE MAKE with COFOUNDERS
THREE MISTAKES NEED TIMING APPROACH Starting a startup is too hard for one person. Even if you could do all the work yourself, you need colleagues to brainstorm with, to talk you out of stupid decisions, and to cheer you up when things go wrong. – Paul Graham, Y-Combinator
NEED • Complementary skill sets • You don’t know what you don’t know • Emotional/Mental partner and sounding board Day-to-day < fulfilling Idea Inkling Hans Solo
TIMING • Don’t wait until you’re ready to have a baby… • Start “dating” 6-12 months before you’re ready to take the full leap! • ALWAYS have a side-project
Approach • Hard selling an idea never works • Fall in love with the person…not the idea –the idea will change “ When I get an email pitching me an idea, I hear ‘I need someone to build my idea. I can't pay you in cash, so have some equity.’ That's not attractive to me. I have a LinkedIn account full of spam from recruiters, developer groups I belong to get spammed by people like this as well. This is why FounderDating exists. I don't want to work on a wine app. I want to work with awesome people, and if the idea we pick is a wine app, so be it.” -Jimmy, FD Member
ABOUT FOUNDERDATING PREMIEREONLINE NETWORK FOR ENTREPRENEURS TO CONNECT & FIND COFOUNDERS 0001000111000010001001010001001 • 50% ENGINEERS • HIGH QUALITY • NO IDEA NECESSARY • REACH
Questions? Ask OUR MEMBERS @founderdatingor @jalter info@founderdating.com http://www.facebook.com/FounderDating APPLY to JOIN “The network you have may be great. But finding someone that is great in your network, and is ready to start something serious right now is much tougher than it seems. FD links you with people that you know are amazing, and gives you an instant bond and connection with them, allowing a lot of other time-wasting steps in the process of finding a cofounder or a meaningful project fall by the wayside.” – Adam A. (NYC) “There's no way I would have met my co-founder without FD. Sometimes 6 degrees of separation is too many and non-competes cut off a lot of your natural co-founder market.” – Tom Leung, Yabbly (Seattle)