Gist CEO TA McCann did a really nice presentation at Friday morning's NWEN venture breakfast in Bellevue about launching a start up and going from "0-25mph." Some really great advice and nuggets in here. Here's his blog post on it.
It was a great crowd and I made some new friends which is always a benefit of these types of gatherings.
Also, if you haven't signed up for the Gist beta, you can do so here.
http://docs.google.com/EmbedSlideshow?docid=dccqkkbj_67qd78rcc
This is audio that will accompany the deck embedded below and is a must listen for anybody working for a start up/early stage company. If you don't do it this way, it gets exponentially harder to "course correct" as the business ages and the expectations of employees and investors are set.
Many of the blogs I read and other sources of information I tap on a daily basis have been consumed with the "tough love" coming from several established venture capital firms like Sequoia and Benchmark. I'm not going to rehash it here as it has been beaten to death at this point. I am, however, going to weigh in on the fact that the message is not new but rather overdue.
Here's a few hard truths that apply to start-up/early stage companies no matter what the broader economy looks like:
We do have a few shreds of capitalism left here in the US and this is one – not
all companies succeed. Quite frankly, venture-backed companies are
even riskier as you are betting on a market that may or may not materialize or has
materialized and there are now loads of competitors vying to dominate
it.
Regardless of the stage of company where you work, your job is always on the bubble (that's for you Dad). That does not mean that you are teetering on the fire list every day but it does mean that a job is not an entitlement, it is an opportunity. If you squander that opportunity, you will no longer have a job. Losing that job can be based on your own performance, management performance, or macro-economic factors beyond your control. Maybe not fair, but reality.
Basic business principles endure and always rule the day whether you are running 30x leverage in a hedge fund or building the next "it" product or service. Brad Feld has some good thoughts on his blog including this post. I am also embedding the much ballyhooed Sequoia Capital presentation below:
I'm very excited about the launch of Gist here in Seattle. I have known CEO TA McCann for many years dating back to some time spent working together at MessageGate. I have also been providing some advice and feedback as the company has gotten closer to formally launching so I am biased in my enthusiasm for what they are doing. The company has gotten some great initial local buzz:
Xconomy Seattle: Getting the Gist of Gist, from Entrepreneur T.A. McCann
Northwest Innovation: Interview with T.A. McCann, Gist
John Cook Venture Blog (formerly of the Seattle PI)
I have seen the side of trying to track, monitor, and control email during time spent at MessageGate and Orchestria from a security and compliance perspective and at the core of it all were people just trying to do their jobs. Gist is about the individual and helping them combine email and web-based content to be better at doing their jobs. It does this by combining the best of messaging, search, and personal feeds to help build relationships. There are lots of companies focusing on rethinking the inbox like Xobni and I have stated previously that this is valuable but doesn't address the entire problem.
I encourage you to register for the private beta and take it for a spin. I know they are working to process all the requests they have received as well as to improve the product based on the feedback they are getting. I'll post some additional thoughts as I use it more on a daily basis.
An early example of how I used it was when a friend's company acquired a company and I was alerted to it not by a keyword alert email or actually receiving the press release but by that bit of news being brought to my attention because we trade emails (that's how I knew Jim). Pretty cool, huh?
Thought this was cool and falls into the 'make lemonade out of lemons' category (via Redeye VC):
www.leavewallstreetjoinastartup.com
Some of the best technical folks I have ever had the privilege of selling to and working with work at these firms and they are, to make an understatement, in turmoil.
If any of you guys or gals are interested in ditching Manhattan for Seattle, let me know and I'll help you make some connections. We could use the addition to the brainpower out here.
An enterprise Twitter takes top honors at Techcrunch 50. Go figure. Not the first time that a new idea has been taken, improved upon, and launched. Does this ensure wild success for Yammer? Nope. It is a decent bit of coverage but not the keys to the kingdom as big launch events like this generally only benefit those hosting them.
The true test is when someone actually pays for what you are selling.
What this does mean is that micro-blogging (140 characters at at time) seems to be a for real opportunity and there could be a legitimate business reason for it at some point.
Congrats to the team at Tableau Software on their recent $10MM round. I think this company and product are really cool and had the chance to meet CEO Christian Chabot a while ago. Not only was I very impressed with him but the product is very slick and way easy to get up and running. Check it out.
Those of you that know me know that I use the this phrase quite a bit as it relates to getting the right people in the right positions to take a new/innovative product or service to market. There are many very capable sales and marketing types who can launch products, support go-to-market activities, and usher prospects through a sales cycle once product/market fit has been achieved and the patterns become repeatable, predictable and dependable. If this is your company, congratulations as you have now moved beyond early stage and you are on the path to success.
Getting there is a whole different matter and takes a unique set of attributes for those on the team. Intellectual investment means wanting to figure out how your product/service solves a problem for someone and going through the process of finding the problem(s), learning about it, adjusting features and messaging to fix that problem, and serving yourself up as a true adviser with subject matter expertise.
Bear in mind, people like this are hard to find and many (most) start-ups decide to ramp a large and expensive national direct sales team long before this process is complete. Without achieving product/market fit prior to this scaling (assuming it is the right thing for your business) you need to surround yourself with folks that are curious and driven to "figure it out."
Large companies generally do not breed these types unless they are the cream of the crop, short timers, or have been part of something truly innovative and revolutionary. Former management consultants (like yours truly) make good targets but make sure they have some operational perspective versus being pure spreadsheet or powerpoint jockeys. There is no substitute for live fire exercises to firmly ground your assumptions and activities. Anybody who has done it before or "already seen the movie" are prime targets as well. Be cautious of those that were there as it happened versus truly involved. There is definitely truth in the phrase "rising tides lift all boats."
This list was making the rounds today proving once again that ideas are cheap and execution is all that matters.
The folks over at Y Combinator put out 30 “Startup Ideas We’d Like to Fund” Some interesting ones here but nothing really earth shattering. I will say the point on email (#28) is well taken:
28. Fixing email overload. A lot of people, including me, feel they get too much email. A solution would find a ready market. But the best solution may not be anything as obvious as a new mail reader.
Related problem: Using your inbox as a to-do list. The solution is probably to acknowledge this rather than prevent it.
For more on the point above about execution, check out David Thomson’s Blueprint to a Billion that took an empirical look at those companies that really made it and the common characteristics among them yielding the “Seven Essentials for Exponential Growth.”
Print it out and put it on your wall.
More goodness from Stephen Gary Blank's great book Four Steps to the Epiphany. Key to finding an adopter for a new or early stage product is what Blank terms an "earlyvangelist." Here is how to spot this rare but important species in your target customer organizations:
1. Has a problem
2. Is aware of having a problem
3. Has been actively looking for a solution
4. Has put together a solution of piece parts
5. Has or can acquire a budget
As the five points above reflect, it is more than just about having the problem. It is having it, wanting to solve it, already trying something less than ideal, and having the political will and organizational authority to garner the resources to do something more about it.
Piece of cake, right?
Venture Vice 