How to save your early stage startup from certain doom In this session, Tom will combine anecdotes and data to highlight some of the oft-repeated mistakes that startups make when trying to get themselves moving. Listen and learn from the mistakes of those before you. Examples include: Too much listening to users, not listening to users enough, cargo cultism, not looking at competitors, comparables and corpses and, most importantly, blindly following advice from people on a stage who give you startup advice.

1. Tom Walsham / @tomwalsham - - July 17th, 2015
Application of the bleeding obvious to avoid
clearly signposted pitfalls
How to save your early-stage startup
from certain doom

2. Tom Walsham
Director of Product
The Working Group
@tomwalsham
25 Years writing Code
15 Years working in Online / Tech
10 Starts annually with TWG clients
5 Years practising Lean Methodology
WHY SHOULD I LISTEN TO THIS GUY? HAS THE CLOSING PARTY STARTED YET?

3. One of your school friends is a cofounder You’ve been
working at it a few months, with limited traction You
have no revenue, but have t-shirts Your stack is Golang
& Cassandra with a RabbitMQ layer (but you don’t
know why) You don’t talk to users as they don’t say
anything you didn’t already know You’re like trendy
startup X but with a clever twist You have a refined
pitch deck with 5yr projections & market sizing You
have one more feature to build before you really take
off You dream about your big exit, not your company
HOLD ON. THIS LOOKS FAMILIAR
@tomwalsham

4. 01
What are you building?

5. An existing market need
Problem
Before you build anything
First
IT’S FIRST BECAUSE IT’S LITERALLY THE MOST IMPORTANT THING
@tomwalsham

6. All happy companies are different:
each one earns a monopoly by solving
a unique problem
“
FOLLOW ADVICE OF MEN IN NICE JACKETS WITH ENIGMATIC STARES
- Peter Thiel
@tomwalsham

7. [Don’t] Fall in love
(with your idea)
IF YOU LET YOUR LOVE FOR YOUR IDEA CLOUD YOUR JUDGEMENT IT WILL BETRAY YOU
@tomwalsham

8. [Don’t] Build
someone else’s
idea
COVET NOT THY NEIGHBOUR’S TERRIBLE SITCOM STARTUP IDEA
@tomwalsham

9. [Do]
Build a Boring
Startup
REVENUE MODELS (BORING). REAL PROBLEMS (BORING). ENTERPRISE (BORING).
@tomwalsham

10. [Don’t] Get Distracted
By Your Pitch
“BUSINESS PLANS ARE DOCUMENTS INVESTORS MAKE YOU WRITE THAT THEY DON’T READ” - @sgblank
@tomwalsham

11. Never half-ass two things.
Whole-ass one thing
“
PARKS AND REC. SECOND ONLY TO SILICON VALLEY IN STARTUP WISDOM
- Ron Swanson
@tomwalsham

12. 02
Validating Your Product

13. [Do] Talk to
Humans.
PLEASE TELL ME YOU’RE DOING THIS AT LEAST
@tomwalsham

14. We actually want to
talk to our customers
“
IT’S KIND OF AMAZING THAT CUSTOMER SERVICE CAN STILL BE A DIFFERENTIATOR
- Tony Hsieh
CEO, Zappos
@tomwalsham

15. [Don’t] Follow your
users’ advice
“IT’S ON THE ROADMAP” IS YOUR SECRET WEAPON
@tomwalsham

16. Those solving similar problems for a
similar user baseCompetitors
[Do] Understand your competitive landscape
Those using similar techniques to solve
problems in different domainsComparables
Those who have failed attempting to do
exactly what you’re tryingCorpses
EVERYONE ALWAYS FORGETS THE CORPSES
@tomwalsham

17. [Do] Talk to the Corpses
Zombies have good insight
OUCH! GET OFF! YOU’RE STANDING ON MY HEAD
@tomwalsham

18. [Don’t] Practice Cargo Cult
Product Management
I THINK THAT’S ACTUALLY AN AEROFLOT PLANE
@tomwalsham

19. THIS IS A SCREENSHOT FROM F-16 STEALTH FIGHTER. THAT’S THE JOKE
[Don’t] Attempt Stealth Mode
@tomwalsham

20. [Don’t] Be Data Driven …
[Do] Be Data Informed
THE PERILS OF LOOKING AT TWITTER WHEN COMPOSING A DECK. THANKS
@tomwalsham

21. 03
How do you build this thing?

22. Learn
PROCESS IS NOT A DIRTY WORD
Build
Measure
Rinse & Repeat
[Do] Have a Process
@tomwalsham

23. [Do] Read Awesome
Books
[Don’t] Get your
process from a book
THE STARTUP EQUIVALENT OF ‘STREET SMARTS’
@tomwalsham

24. [Don’t] make
Bad Hires
INSERT PITHY BIGHEAD QUOTE HERE
@tomwalsham

25. [Don’t] Use
Bleeding Edge
Technology
(for its own sake)
MONGOREDISCASSANDRADOCKERRABBITMQGOLANGLISPHASKELLERLANGZEROMQ
@tomwalsham

26. Premature optimization is the
root of all evil
“
IF YOU KNUTH THE THINGS I’VE SEEN
- Donald Knuth
@tomwalsham

27. [Don’t]
Fail Fast
Fuck That
WHAT A STUPID LESSON. LEARN FAST, TRY NOT TO FAIL
@tomwalsham

28. n
Conclusions

29. [Do] Solve Real Human Problems
[Do] Talk To Users
[Do] Focus
[Don’t] Mimic
[Don’t] Skip Validation
[Don’t] Mistake Ideas for Products
DON’T TAKE ADVICE FROM RANDOMS ON STAGES TOO SERIOUSLY
@tomwalsham

30. Thanks!
@tomwalsham / @twg / Montreal StartupFest 2015