1. Rashmi Sinha,
CEO & Cofounder,
SlideShare
How to run a scrappy startupHow to run a scrappy startup

2. Who am I?Who am I?

3. SlideShare...SlideShare...
best place in the world to share
presentations

4. Taking over the worldTaking over the world
(one PowerPoint at a(one PowerPoint at a
time!)time!)
Start: May 06 > Beta > Launch Oct
06 > Grow > Grow more > Angel
funding Dec 07 > Series A Apr 08

6. How to run aHow to run a
scrappy startupscrappy startup
•OR how to make the most of the
money you have
•OR How to build the best product
with little money

7. 1. Keep your day1. Keep your day
job till your ideajob till your idea
has legshas legs
•MindCanvas to SlideShare

8. Start from top inStart from top in
being scrappybeing scrappy

9. The lower the CEO salary, theThe lower the CEO salary, the
more likely it is to succeedmore likely it is to succeed …it goes…it goes
to whether the mission of the company is to buildto whether the mission of the company is to build
something new or just collect paychecks.something new or just collect paychecks.
Peter Thiel, FoundersFund

10. Cash is importantCash is important
•Know your burn rate & fume date
(when you will run out of money)
at any moment

11. 2. Have a remote2. Have a remote
teamteam
•Offshore not outsource
•Everyone should feel ownership
(& have stock options)
•Hire smart people, give them
ownership

12. ChallengesChallenges
Getting to know each other
(developing informal rapport)
Body clock
Benefits: 24 hour cycle

13. SynchronousSynchronous is mustis must
Need to look at same screen
Skype
GoToMeeting

14. SCRUM
End of day reports

15. 3. Bring expertise3. Bring expertise
into company without hiringinto company without hiring
•Advisory roles – SEO, Sales,
Metrics, Marketing

16. How to structure advisoryHow to structure advisory
relationshipsrelationships
•How much stock?
•Setup monthly meetings
•Create action items at each meeting,
complete them, report back

17. Accountants & HRAccountants & HR
•Rent a CFO

18. RecruitingRecruiting
is hardis hard
•Recruiters or not?

19. 4. Get a good4. Get a good
lawyerlawyer

20. 5.5. OutsourceOutsource what youwhat you
cancan
Amazon S3, EC2
Dedicated servers instead of colocation
Google Ads, custom search
Different widgets (Gigya, AddThis)

21. 6. Don’t let biz-6. Don’t let biz-
dev get ahead ofdev get ahead of
productproduct

22. Dealswith big companiescan be a mirage

23. 7. Marketing:7. Marketing: Do youDo you
really need that schwag?really need that schwag?

24. User acquisitionUser acquisition
is a scienceis a science
Be metrics based

25. SEO not SEMSEO not SEM
•Have an organic SEO story
•How to incorporate seo from
ground up

26. 8. Don’t skimp on8. Don’t skimp on
teamteam
•Hire the best designers &
developers you can

27. Create fun workCreate fun work
cultureculture
•celebrate every victory, have
meals together

28. Have food aroundHave food around
officeoffice (even if not Google(even if not Google
gourmet)gourmet)

29. 9. Speed is9. Speed is
imperativeimperative

30. Small & agile

31. Set the tone forSet the tone for
speedspeed
In hiring, development, design,
releases, biz dev

32. Be agileBe agile
(worry about scaling later)

33. 10. Build a great10. Build a great
productproduct

34. a. Solve one problema. Solve one problem
really wellreally well

35. b. Make appb. Make app
socialsocial
SlideShare as non social app
PowerPoint plugin?
No virality

36. c. Social networksc. Social networks
or open web?or open web?

37. d. Understandd. Understand
markets you buildmarkets you build
forfor
MindCanvas: Could sell into market
SlideShare: Understood market

38. e. To build ae. To build a
feature or not tofeature or not to
Listen to loudest?
Watch behavioral metrics?
Read blog posts?

39. Always think: How should weAlways think: How should we
double trafficdouble traffic??

40. f. Everyone onf. Everyone on
team should useteam should use
productproduct
•Let engineers directly get
customer feedback

41. 11. How to11. How to LaunchLaunch

42. The AlphaThe Alpha
Feedback to the embed
No publicity
Browser compatibility issues

43. HowHow developeddeveloped shouldshould
a Beta be?a Beta be?
SlideShare beta
Enough to get point across
Little of social layer
Not buggy

44. SlideShare launchSlideShare launch
Invite only: Before or after launch?
Alpha
Stealth mode
Open to allLaunch
Invite only

45. Initial MomentumInitial Momentum

46. FinallyFinally
find me at
www.slideshare.net/rashmi
http://twitter.com/rashmi