Dan's intro slides from the first Cornell Hacks event. See the Facebook e

1. CORNELL HACKS
Unconventional Startup Tactics in
5 Minute Lightning Stories
Nov 14, 5-6pm
Sage Hall, Room B10
Dan Storms & Ami Stuart

2. Why Cornell Hacks?

3. What’s a Hack?

4. Who am I?
A great shot of me micromanaging

5. 8 Hacks

6. HACK #1
Problem
Need money.
Typical Solution
Rich uncle.

7. HACK #1
Problem
Need money.
Typical Solution
Rich uncle.
Hack
Joe Yevoli helped fund RightPlay by renting his bed
out on AirBnb and sleeping on his couch.
http://rightplay.com/

8. HACK #2
Problem
Need attention.
Typical Solution
Hire an expensive PR firm.

9. HACK #2
Problem
Need attention.
Typical Solution
Hire an expensive PR firm.
Hack
Sphero recorded
Obama playing with
their toy.
http://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=jqT8U_kiYY8
http://www.gosphero.com/

10. HACK #3
Problem
Need direction.
Typical Solution
Write a business plan.

11. HACK #3
Problem
Need direction.
Typical Solution
Write a business plan.
Hack
Behance got their first “users” by selling a physical
notepad that helped creatives get more organized.
http://www.behance.net/

12. HACK #4
Problem
Need money.
Typical Solution
Email pitch deck to VCs.

13. HACK #4
Problem
Need money.
Typical Solution
Email pitch deck to VCs.
http://baydin.com/blog/2010/10/the-100k-taxi-ride/
Hack
Baydin landed $100k from Dave McClure by
responding to this tweet:

14. HACK #5
Problem
Need to know your customers.
Typical Solution
Nothing.

15. HACK #5
Problem
Need to know your customers.
Typical Solution
Nothing.
http://enchantedcollar.com/
Hack
Robin Yang started Enchanted Collar by going to
pediatric clinics to talk with parents about financial
literacy of their children.

16. HACK #6
Problem
Need money.
Typical Solution
Meet with 60-70 VCs.

17. HACK #6
Problem
Need money.
Typical Solution
Meet with 60-70 VCs.
Hack
Mac Bishop made a
wool dress shirt. Then
wore it for 100 days
straight. Then raised
$300k (10x his target)
on Kickstarter.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1868906/woola
ndprince-the-better-button-down-guaranteed

18. HACK #7
Problem
Need employees.
Typical Solution
Use recruiters.

19. HACK #7
Problem
Need employees.
Typical Solution
Use recruiters.
Hack
Shelby hired Chris Kurdziel by having an active
presence on Twitter. When Chris engaged with
them, they learned of his passion for online
video and wanted to meet him.
http://shelby.tv/

20. HACK #8
Problem
Need customers.
Typical Solution
Hire salespeople.

21. HACK #8
Problem
Need customers.
Typical Solution
Hire salespeople.
Hack
Red Rover got our first enterprise customer when
the founder was brought in to talk to the HR team
by his brother-in-law. He convinced them to launch
something small, and hooked the CEO.
http://redroverhq.com/

22. Thanks!
Dan Storms
@startstorms
dan.storms@originate.com