Background at http://rrwhite.com/an-entrepreneurship-tale

1. Richard White
Founder, CEO
An Entrepreneurship Tale

2. Richard White
Founder, CEO
An Entrepreneurship Tale
If I Can Do It You Can Do It

3. Limited Life Experience
+
Overgeneralization
=
Advice
Paul Bucheit
Creator of Gmail, Co-founder of FriendFeed

4. my story

5. Market leading customer feedback & support solution
21 strong in San Francisco & Raleigh
90,000+ organizations have used us
$2M+ raised over 2 funding rounds
Tens of millions of registered users
182 people/sec see our product
Learning stuff.
Having fun.

6. Had graduated from State school
Toiling as a developer at a local dev shop
Had never even visited Silicon Valley
Writing Java...
... to generate reports ...
... for companies that inspect
urinals
Meh.
in 2005

7. 3,000 miles
3 failed startups
Too many failed investor pitches to count
2 ex-cofounders
1 ex-girlfriend
2 months of homelessness
A lot of good stories
in between...

8. the start
ACT I

12. I see you’ve built a
calendar. Cool!
It has a lot of functionality.
But it’s really ugly and
hard to use.
I’ll fix that for you

20. Oh, Shit!

23. 4 ideas
ACT II

24. AjaxScaffold
Open Source Project
Simple Record UI
One line of Code
36K Downloads
725K Visitors

25. AjaxScaffold
Open Source
Simple Record UI
One line of Code
36K Downloads
725K Visitors
The Team

26. AjaxScaffold
SlimTimer
Time tracking for freelancers

27. AjaxScaffold
SlimTimer
Time track for freelancers
I really hate timesheets

28. AjaxScaffold
SlimTimer
???

29. AjaxScaffold
SlimTimer
???
UserVoice

30. Prototype
6 weeks - December 2007

31. Prototype
December 2007
Initial Test
1 week - December 2007

32. Prototype
December 2007
Initial Test
December 2007
Angel Funding
$35K - February 2008

33. Prototype
December 2007
Initial Test
December 2007
Fool Funding
$35K - February 2008

34. Prototype
December 2007
Initial Test
December 2007
Fool Funding
February 2008
Launch
April 2008

35. Oh, Shit!

36. the mistress
ACT III

37. Stealth Startup

38. Stealth Startup
Amazing Team

39. Stealth Startup
Amazing Team
Raised $1MM

40. Stealth Startup
Amazing Team
Raised $1MM

41. Stealth Startup
Amazing Team
Raised $1MM
Starstruck

42. picture of Ron Conway / Mitch Kapor

43. Yes We Can
ACT IV

44. Cofounder Quits

45. Cofounder Quits
Girlfriend Too

46. Cofounder Quits
Girlfriend Too
Kinda Homeless

47. Cofounder Quits
Girlfriend Too
Homeless

48. Cofounder Quits
Girlfriend Too
Homeless
Market Not So
Great

49. Cofounder Quits
Girlfriend Too
Homeless
Market Blows

51. Ahhhhh!!
ACT V

52. I <3 Dad

53. I <3 Dad
Relocation

54. I <3 Dad
Relocation
Three’s
Company

55. I <3 Dad
Relocation
Three’s
Company
Momentum
0
0
0
0
0
April May June July August September October November
Accounts - 2008

56. I <3 Dad
Relocation
Three’s
Company
Momentum
April May June July August September October November
Accounts - 2008

57. Breakthrough! Funded!
$800K Seed Round - May 2009 - uservoice.com/blog/founders

58. the (re)start
ACT VI

59. Hiring Sucks
Founder Drama
We’re Spending
What?!?
Now What?

60. lessons

61. Beware of people with all the answers
To a first-time entreprenuer everyone seems to have more experience
than you but that doesn’t mean you should listen to them.

62. Start learning to go with your gut
Most successful people I know have never been afraid of making
decisions about things they had absolutely no prior experience to
prepare them for :)

63. Don't expect anyone to answer the hard
questions for you
No MBA or expert advisor is going to drop of the sky and answer
that difficult business model question for you. Make a decision.
Build on it. Don’t wait for a white knight.

64. Be sure to check what domains you already
own
I’m a dumb ass.

65. Market then Team then Product
You’re a creator so your tendency will be to rush into building
something. Don’t **.
** but don’t write a 30 page business plan either

66. Be sure you love the
problem you’re solving
My test: Am I helping people have
more time to waste or wasting more of
people’s time? YMMV

67. Passionate people can
love all sorts of
problems
More important than what you already
love is finding new problems, even un-
sexy problems like customer service,
that you can pour yourself into.

68. When it comes to investors
often no data is better than
some data
Easier to craft a big story and not get bogged
down with projections

69. Getting funded is a lot like losing your
virginity
Except the TechCrunch article. Don’t get caught up with who’s
(funding) whom. You’ll get yours.

70. Be sure to have a sense of urgency.
Create one if necessary. Getting outside investment, of any kind, keeps
you “honest” and ensures you’ll take it things seriously.

71. Don’t be so fucking
clever
In your product and in how you setup
your company. Cleverness is the
enemy of maintainability.

72. Be a joiner not a loner.
Going it alone is HARD. Check your ego and your “great” idea and find
a good group of people to work with.

73. Richard
White
@rrwhite
richard@uservoice.com