Alex De Simone (MBA ’16 Candidate, Founder of Caller Zen) provides an overview of three questions non-technical founders commonly encounter when starting a business. Topics include teaming up with technical talent, deciding which tools to use for technology development, and choosing an array of products to manage the business in 5 key areas. The presentation includes content from the first three sessions of the Stanford Venture Studio Tech 4 Non-Tech series.

1. T4NT: TECH 4 NON-TECH SERIES
Startup Toolkit
Products to build, manage, and grow your startup
Alex De Simone
Founder @ Caller Zen, Advisor @ Jobr
MS ME‘11, MBA ’16
alexds@stanford.edu
Stanford Graduate School of Business
January 14, 2015
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1. Do I need a technical co-founder?
2. What tools can I use for software development?
3. What tools can I use to manage my business?
Three Topics for Non-Technical Founders

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Do I need a technical
co-founder?
Summary of Alan Chiu’s first T4NT session…

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Which type of startup
are you building?

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Technology
As A Product
Tech-Enabled
Business
Tech-Leveraged
Business
Which type of startup are you building?
YES MAYBE NO
Need technical
Co-founder?

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What is your biggest
risk right now?
=> Focus on it

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Market Execution Technical
What is your biggest risk?
- Can you build it?
- Does it work?
- Can it scale?
- Can you put it in the
hands of users?
- Can you generate
buzz and press?
- Retention/growth?
- Beat competitors?
- Do people want it?
- Will they pay for it?
- Is there a real
need?

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In Session 2, we focused on technical
From zero… …To deploy
Blank App ?

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Concepts Covered
From zero… …To deploy
Blank App
1. Applications
2. Databases
3. Environments
4. Version Control
5. Deployment

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1. Programming Languages To Build Applications
1. Web 2. Native
iOS:
Android:
* many others not included

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* many others not included
Relational Non-Relational
2. Programming Languages For Databases

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3. Three Types of Environments
Development Staging Production
- Live version of your
application
- What your customers
interact with
- Replica of production
environment
- Used for testing bugs
- Also known as “local”
or “dev”
- Unique to a computer

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4. Version Control
Apps
MySQL DB
local
“git push”
repository (cloud)
* many others not included

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5. Web App Deployment
Web App “git push”
Server
(cloud)Local
* Assuming you don’t use your own servers. Many others not included

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5. Native App Deployment
Native App
PlatformLocal
* Assuming you don’t use your own servers. Many others not included
Submit for approval
NOTE: The approval process for native apps can take over 2 weeks.

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Today: Focus on startup tools
in five areas of management

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Five Management Areas
Team
Project CRM
Website Analytics

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Criteria for choosing startup tools
1. Does it meet our business needs?
2. Does it save time and $$?
3. Does it make employees and customers happier?
NOTE => The tools on the remaining slides are simply
suggestions for founders to explore.
Keep in mind there are many other tools available.

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1. Team Management
Payroll/Benefits
Recruiting
Internal Communication
External Conferencing
* many others not included

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Slack: www.slack.com

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Slack: www.slack.com/apps

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Caller Zen + Slack slack.com/apps/A0CRS2XT3-caller-zen

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Xero: www.xero.com
• Accounting
• Payroll
• Taxes
• Invoices
• Expenses
• Starts $7/mo

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AngelList: www.angel.co
• Fundraising
• Hiring
• Networking
• Free to post jobs

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Jobr: www.jobrapp.com

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2. Project Management
Project Task Management Issue/Error Tracking
File Management
* many others not included

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Trello: www.trello.com

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Codebase: www.codebasehq.com

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Honeybadger + Slack: www.honeybadger.io

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3. CRM: Customer Relationship Management
Telephony Support Systems
Email Support Systems
Sales
Marketing

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Desk: www.desk.com

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Desk: www.desk.com/apps

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Caller Zen + Desk www.desk.com/apps/caller-zen

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Cloud-based Servers
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4. Website / Domain Management
Simple Website Builders

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Webflow: www.webflow.com

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GoDaddy: www.godaddy.com

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Analytics Testing
Payments
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5. Metrics Management

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Amplitude: www.amplitude.com

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Loader: www.loader.io

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Braintree: www.braintreepayments.com

41. T4NT: TECH 4 NON-TECH SERIES
Startup Toolkit
Products to build, manage, and grow your startup
Alex De Simone
Founder @ Caller Zen, Advisor @ Jobr
MS ME‘11, MBA ’16
alexds@stanford.edu
Stanford Graduate School of Business
January 14, 2015
41