My talk at Startup Live Vienna

1. Lessons
Learned
#sulvienna13 – @andreasklinger

2. The hype of
“Startups”
[ ] Do magic landing page
[ ] Build your thing
[ ] Go to shit-loads of conferences
[ ] Get Investment
[ ] Get on Techcrunch
[ ] Get viral
[ ] Get rich
[ ] … or fail and start an accelerator
There is too much noise…
We tend to believe the “rockstar” sh*t
Some lessons from someone been
there.

3. INVESTORS
Carmen Busquets
Dave McClure
Eden Ventures
Sherry Coutu
Tom Hulme
Seedcamp
500 Startups
LOOKK
Social Discovery &
Shopping of emerging
Fashion Designers.

5. OK June 2008
GO
June 2010
Sept. 2011
May 2012
2.0
ext
QUIT Oct 2012
@andreasklinger

6. No time for
War-stories.
Read: www.klinger.io
or: http://www.thegap.at/autoren/autor/redakteur/
andreas-klinger/
@andreasklinger
#sulvienna13
slides: http://slideshare.net/
andreasklinger

7. Lessons
Learned
#sulvienna13 – @andreasklinger

8. Don’t rush
#sulvienna13 – @andreasklinger

9. Don’t rush ahead.
Typical patterns something is wrong:
“We need more customers”
“We just need an investment”
“We are looking for a VC”
“How do i scale”
… but no market proof
flickr: good_day #howtoweb – @andreasklinger

10. Startups have phases.
Scale into
Find Find
Get efficient similar
problem/ product/
in Cust-acq. markets and
solution market
products
Always be aware - Which phase are you?
Act accordingly
foto: LEAN LA #howtoweb – @andreasklinger

11. E.g. Marketing Stunts, PR Campaigns
Without a proven product you get thousands
people on your product. They will not stick. Just
slide off.
Teflon Marketing
Usually biggest reason your product doesn’t sell:
It’s not solving the customers problem.
Focus on customer retention not acquiring more.
flickr: neilarmstrong2 #howtoweb – @andreasklinger

12. Scale into
Find Find
Get efficient similar
problem/ product/
in Cust-acq. markets and
solution market
products
Qualitative Quantitative
Validation Approaches
There is nothing you learn from 1000 or 10.000
potential customers, you wouldn’t learn from 10 or 100.
#howtoweb – @andreasklinger

13. Focus
#sulvienna13 – @andreasklinger

14. Focus your product.
Don't confuse long-term
vision with short-term
strategy.
What is really the core
of what you do?
Start with that and nothing
else.
Plan outcomes not tasks

15. What’s your product’s job.
Do guys get racing cars just
to drive to work?
Read about Jobs to be done
framework by Clayton
Christensen
Understanding the real job:
- better value description
- better focus
- better product differentiation

16. Marry a problem, not a solution
Space
Problem
,- current
| solution
flickr: bombeador #sulvienna13 – @andreasklinger

17. When we speak with
customers…
We bias them…
Please watch Rob’s Talk:
http://bit.ly/rf-custdev

18. Niche,
but globally
#sulvienna13 – @andreasklinger

19. Find your global niche
We are trained to niche
regionally.
Find your global’s best…
Customers, Partners, Advisors
Get traction in your niche before you
extend.
flickr: jdhancock #sulvienna13 – @andreasklinger

20. Investment
#sulvienna13 – @andreasklinger

21. Money is either…
For proofing
- you need surprisingly little
For growing
- did you proof?
Try not to mix them up.
flickr: bombeador #sulvienna13 – @andreasklinger

22. “We are talking to VCs”
It’s easy to get a meeting.
VCs have “Radar” people. “Associates.”
Nothing but a time-sink.
Don’t think of investments as a
milestone
flickr: bombeador #sulvienna13 – @andreasklinger

23. How to approach
investment:
Draft your company’s topics
community hotels
marketplaces global scale
Find the best possible advisors for each topic.
Global people. Try to get them commit in time
first, then in investment.
flickr: nasamarshall #howtoweb – @andreasklinger

24. B-level people
give C-level advice
Work with the best accelerators and
incubators to get network to advisors.
Risk-takers need guidance.
Best incubators:
YCombinator
500 Startups
Tech Stars
Seedcamp
Angelpad

25. Avoid the typical mistakes… “There is no
* NO GMBH Heimvorteil in
* NO STATEFUND investment…”
* DO VESTING
* FUNDRAISE GLOBALLY
flickr: eole #sulvienna13 – @andreasklinger

26. Summary:
Don’t rush, be aware of your phase
Focus.
Get traction by global niching
Be strategic about investment
flickr: good_day #sulvienna13 – @andreasklinger

27. Thanks!
Feedback &
Questions please.
#sulvienna13 – @andreasklinger
flickr: pictureperfectpose