“Lessons From the Start-up Trenches,” a Presentation by and Interview with Oliver Gunasekara
For the full video of this presentation, please visit: https://www.edge-ai-vision.com/2021/01/lessons-from-the-start-up-trenches-a-presentation-by-and-interview-with-oliver-gunasekara/ Independent consultant Oliver Gunasekara and Shweta Shrivastava, chief product officer at Nauto, present the “Lessons From the Start-up Trenches” tutorial at the September 2020 Embedded Vision Summit. This interview with Oliver Gunasekara, founder and CEO of NGCodec, explores lessons learned during the journey of NGCodec—a video codec developer—from its founding in 2012 to its successful acquisition in 2019 by Xilinx. Gunasekara begins with a brief presentation summarizing NGCodec’s path. Then he delves deeper into key lessons learned in an interview conducted by Shweta Srivastava. NGcodec was founded on the heels of the H.265/HEVC video codec standard and initially focused on a semiconductor IP licensing model. Unfortunately, this business failed to get traction with investors. Subsequently, the company pivoted to the cloud, and succeeded in winning Amazon/Twitch with a SaaS business model. Gunasekara shares some of the key lessons learned during this journey. These include the reality that ideas are easy but execution is hard, which means that sharing your idea is important. Gunasekara also explains why he believes that perseverance and grit are critical leadership skills. He shares why he has come to believe that ultimately, it’s all about the team—and that, given the competitive market in Silicon Valley, leveraging a remote team can really pay off. Finally, he touches on structuring the company foundation and stock options for optimum tax efficiency.
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“Lessons From the Start-up Trenches,” a Presentation by and Interview with Oliver Gunasekara
- 1. © 2020 NGcompute Inc. NGcodec: A Start-up’s Journey from Launch to Acquisition Oliver.Gunasekara@NGcompute.com CEO & Co-Founder Ngcodec & NGcompute
- 2. © 2020 NGcompute Inc. NGcodec Background • Summer 2012 co-founded NGcodec Inc. to focus on H.265/HEVC • Two years of VC rejections, No salary, followed by pivot to datacenter • Chance meeting with super angel, $3M Seed funding Nov 2014 • Opened office in Waterloo, Canada, amazing talent, SR&ED tax credit • Xilinx invested $11M in a convertible note and SoW, Won FPGA customers • Gave worlds first AWS F1 demo at AWS Re: Invent 2016 launch + PR • In 2018 Twitch select NGcodec video encoder for its popular streams • Acquired by Xilinx in 2019, 5x return for early investors 2
- 3. © 2020 NGcompute Inc. Takeaway #1 — Vision & Entrepreneurial Skills 8 • Have a huge vision — “Own Video encoding” • Don’t worry about not sharing ideas • Ideas are easy, execution is hard • Sharing helps get support • Perseverance and resilience — “Churchill” • Curiosity — allowed me to pivot • BusDev / networking — funding, hiring, customers • Celebrate every success — “Champagne” • Network of mentors
- 4. © 2020 NGcompute Inc. Takeaway #2 — Funding • For DeepTech consider NSF SBIR grant • Be strategic with investors to target • Practice pitching at different venues • Expect to receive plenty of rejection • Clear Milestones and $ for next round • Give shares not options with buy back • Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) 9
- 5. © 2020 NGcompute Inc. Takeaway #3 — Hiring, Culture & Wellness • Define your core values — MICC • “Work hard and have fun” • Manage work life balance • Open communication • Regular all hands meetings / AMA • Present boards slides to the team • Wellness board & monthly lectures • Hire outside of Silicon valley 10
- 6. © 2020 NGcompute Inc. Takeaway #4 — Some of the Tools We Used 11 App or Service Name Area URL HR, Payroll, PTO, Benefits, Stock Zenefits Finance http://www.zenefits.com Book Keeping Xero Finance https://www.xero.com/us/ Expenses Expensify Finance https://www.expensify.com/ Equity management / Board meetings Carta Finance https://carta.com Account Payable Bill.com Finance https://www.bill.com 401(k) Retirement Savings Plan Guideline Finance https://www.guideline.com Business insurance embroker Finance https://www.embroker.com Email, Office, Calendar, Drive, Video calls G Suite Productivity https://gsuite.google.com Project Management / Tasks / Goals / OKRs Asana Productivity https://asana.com/ In company communication Slack Productivity https://slack.com Web site (Design, Hosting & Domain) SquareSpace Marketing https://www.squarespace.com Logo Design 99 Designs Marketing https://99designs.com Email newsletter MailChimp Marketing https://mailchimp.com Recognition and rewards gifting Gifted Employee https://gifted.co Anonymous surveys and frequent feedback OfficeVibe Employee https://officevibe.com
- 7. © 2020 NGcompute Inc. Thank you NGcodec Inc. board of directors at party post sale 12