Karri Saarinen gave a talk at the NESU Spring Conference in Vaasa, Finland about his experiences starting companies. He discussed three main topics: the startup process using his company Flowdock as an example, how he started the company ArcticStartup with no experience or money, and things aspiring founders can do before starting a company like meeting other founders, attending events, reading blogs and books on entrepreneurship. The key lessons were that ideas will change, execution and customers are more important than plans, and one needs to embrace the unknown and learn through doing rather than traditional product development models.

1. Tales from
the Startup
Karri Saarinen, March 3, 2010
NESU Spring Conference Vaasa 2010

2. #nesuvaasa
If you twitter about this talk
http://bit.ly/nesu-karri
Slides + all links

3. 1 The Process
case: Flowdock
2 The Start
case: ArcticStartup
3 Before The Start
What to do?

4. ?
Who is this dude?

5. 6
developer
years designer
of web stuff
entrepreneur

6. Now
Product Manager / Product / Customer /
Co-founder Business Developer

7. Now
...And I study Business Management
at University of Vaasa
Product Manager / Product / Customer /
Co-founder Business Developer

8. Introduction;
What is a
Startup?

9. startup:
1. a new organization or
business venture

10. Really,
a startup:
Rather recent
Product business
High growth potential
High risk / reward

11. Chapter 1;
The
Process
case: Flowdock

12. Belief;
1 You need a great idea
to start a business

13. The first idea of
Flowdock:
Time tracking for
the enterprise

14. Fortunately we didn’t
go there. Instead...

17. Flowdock,
The best group
messenger

18. Ideas change, it’s ok.
People & execution
matter more

19. Belief;
2 You need to do a
business plan

20. We didn’t write a
business plan.
We contacted
customers.

21. Business plans are not
real. People are.
Get out of the building!

22. “Plans are worthless, but
planning is everything.”
But nothing beats facts.

23. Belief;
3 You need to know a lot
about your business

24. For a startup
everything is unknown.
Just deal with it

25. Product =
Problem + Solution
unknown unknown startup
known known enterprise

26. Traditional method:
How Products Are Made
Concept / Product Alpha / Beta Launch /
Idea Development Test Ship

27. Traditional method:
How Products Are Made
Concept / Product Alpha / Beta Launch /
Idea Development Test Ship
Where are the customers?

28. Traditional Product Development:
The Waterfall
Requirements
Specification
Problem: known Design
Solution: known Implementation
Verification
Maintenance

29. Traditional Product Development:
The Waterfall
m
on
Requirements
th
Specification s or
Problem: known Design
ye
Solution: known Implementation ar
Verification
s
Maintenance

30. Traditional Product Development:
The Waterfall
Pa
Requirements th
If... Specification to
Fa
Problem: unknown Design
ilu
Solution: unknown Implementation re
Verification
Maintenance

31. How To Deal Better
With The Unknown
Problem
(What your product will solve)

32. Steve Blank

33. Customer Development

34. Customer Development
Customers Customers Customers

35. Customer Discovery:
State your hypotheses
Test “Problem”
Test “Product”
Verify: Iterate or Exit

36. How To Deal Better
With The Unknown
Solution
(How you solve the problem)

37. We practice
Agile / Scrum
2 weeks
Plan Do Release
Hypotheses Daily 15min Have something
Insights meetings that works
User stories
Iterate

38. Problem + Solution

39. Traditional Product Development:
The Waterfall
Requirements
Specification
Problem: known Design
Solution: known Implementation
Verification
Maintenance

40. Lean Startup Product Development
Customer Development
Hypotheses Problem: unknown Data
Experiments Feedback
Solution: unknown
Insights Insights
Plan Do Release
Iterate

41. Where is Flowdock now?
500+ groups created
7 days to public beta

42. Ideas change
You don’t need a business plan.
You need customers.
Embrace the unknown

43. Chapter 2;
The Start
case: ArcticStartup

44. 2007
Started a blog about startups
& growth entrepreneurship in
the Northern Europe

45. 2007-2009
4 guys
No journalist background
No business model
No money
Working on nights & weekends

46. What there was:
People
Passion
Opportunity

47. 2010
2 guys employed full-time
Well known brand
Profitable
Advertising, Events, Consulting,
Product

48. What Do You Need?
People.
It’s easier with co-founders.
Find something you’re passionate
about. Mostly forget money.
Start something.
Figure it out as you go.

49. People.
Choosing a co-founder is more
like choosing a wife / husband.
It’s nice to have complimentary
skills but the relationship is more
important.

50. Start.
Start something or join a startup.
As a student you have advantages:
Spare time, low costs of living, no-
one cares if you fail, minimal
commitments

51. Chapter 3;
Before
The Start
What to do?

52. Meet with founders /
go to events
ArcticEvenings (Nordics)
www.arcticstartup.com/arctic-evenings
More Nordic events: www.arcticindex.com/events
Aalto Entrepreneurship Society (Finland)
www.aaltoes.com
Open Coffee (World-wide)
Google: open coffee
Local events, conferences

53. Read Online
ArcticStartup
www.arcticstartup.com
Hacker News
news.ycombinator.com
Mixergy (Videos with founders)
www.mixergy.com
Paul Graham Essays
www.paulgraham.com

54. Read Books
Crush it! The Monk and The Art of
The Riddle The Start

55. Thanks.
email: karri@karrisaarinen.com
twitter: @karrisaarinen
slides + links: http://bit.ly/nesu-karri
flowdock.com / arcticstartup.com