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[video=youtube;0Qs3jTRzGXQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qs3jTRzGXQ&feature=related[/video]
This is a really informative video of Kevin Systrom and Michael Krieger, cofounders of Instagram lecturing at Stanford in May 2011 on common myths of entrepreneurship. The above video is worth the 58 minutes, but in case you don't have the time to watch, I took notes of the key highlights and will write them below.
Myth #1: You can learn to be an entrepreneur from a blog, book, or talk.
You learn much better by taking action. One day of working on a business is much more valuable than reading about it in theory. This relates to a lot of forum topics of going to college vs. starting a business. While learning something can provide a great foundations for where to begin, the real progress happens when you take action. You will never be "ready", but by doing many projects early and learning from the successes and mistakes from them, you will be in a much better position to move your company to the next level.
Myth #2: You need to major in Computer Science in college.
I am not really going to put much commentary on this part, because I am sure there is enough information on the forums already about this. Learning begins after you graduate. Kevin and Michael also touch upon another area in this section of the lecture about going to entrepreneurial events and seminars. You don't gain the most value from the information, but from the connections you make there, whether you talk with the lecturers after their presentation ends or are sitting next to another aspiring entrepreneur who can help your company out.
Myth #3: Finding the solution is the hardest part.
That is false, the hardest part is finding the problem. MJ talks about this a lot in his book and how a common problem people had was the foundation for his business. Is your fastlane business solving an actual problem? And your solution or problem does not have to be that big. Don't be afraid to have simple solutions to simple problems. If you have a simple solution and delight people, it goes really far (delight was their words, not mine).
Test the problem as quickly as possible. Too many people wait too long to see what the problem people are having is. If what you put out there is not catching on with people, re-evaluate and tweak it until it does. You want to fail as cheaply as possible.
Myth #4: You should work for months building a robust product in secrecy, then launch to the world.
I kind of touched on this in my previous paragraph. Fail early and fail often. Make failing as low cost as possible. Build the minimum viable product that answers "Are we building the right thing". Often the first thing your start with is not what you end up with. Fail your way to success. There may be some controversy to that previous statement, but take it as an opinion.
Myth #5: Start a bidding war among VCs with a slick pitch deck.
Raise only what you need to get off the ground. Your main focus early on should be more of getting a working prototype of your product or website as opposed to a fancy powerpoint presentation with nothing to show. People react more with something they can interact with and see in action.
From a personal standpoint at my day job, I saw a problem with a system we were using at work and told my boss that there is a better way to set it up. I got a lot of "maybe, might work, idk's", etc. They just saw a theory and no action. It would get nowhere this way. I went home that night and spent 3 hours coding the feature on my own, showed my boss the next morning and started getting the ball rolling to put it to use. Back to the point of this post...
Myth #6: Starting a company = building a product.
Building a product is only about 50% of the company. The other 50% goes to the other stuff - bank account, legal structure, managing a team, recruiting, raising capital, bank accounts, taxes, forms, insurance, office, etc. Kevin and Michael stress that the most important part is getting the right team and treating them right. They mentioned they did this by having great incentives for their employees.
Myth #7: Successful startups come from a single great idea.
Your first idea will not be the final product. A good example is veri.com from when they were at TechStars. That team started off with an idea of creating a website helping recruit high school athletes for college sports teams. Now they are in the education sector.
Myth #8: Great startups happen overnight.
Overnight success takes five years. Search these forums for "the event" vs. "the process" or read MJ's book and if you don't know what this means. In this section of the lecture they also talk about entrepreneurs focusing on the destination too much. They compare this to a long biking trip. If you focus too much on conquering the next 100 hills to get to your goal, you will overwhelm yourself and most likely quit. Instead, focus on the next 1 or 2 hills (while having a general idea of where you want to go). A personal technique I use for this is that I bought a white board for my apartment and list out the next 20 tasks I have to do on my websites and cross 1 or 2 of them off the list a day. I stared at a computer screen in frustration for 2 weeks making ZERO progress. When I did this, I finished the main features for my website in a couple of days. Don't overwhelm yourself.
I will do my summary of the Q&A section of the video in my next post.
This is a really informative video of Kevin Systrom and Michael Krieger, cofounders of Instagram lecturing at Stanford in May 2011 on common myths of entrepreneurship. The above video is worth the 58 minutes, but in case you don't have the time to watch, I took notes of the key highlights and will write them below.
Myth #1: You can learn to be an entrepreneur from a blog, book, or talk.
You learn much better by taking action. One day of working on a business is much more valuable than reading about it in theory. This relates to a lot of forum topics of going to college vs. starting a business. While learning something can provide a great foundations for where to begin, the real progress happens when you take action. You will never be "ready", but by doing many projects early and learning from the successes and mistakes from them, you will be in a much better position to move your company to the next level.
Myth #2: You need to major in Computer Science in college.
I am not really going to put much commentary on this part, because I am sure there is enough information on the forums already about this. Learning begins after you graduate. Kevin and Michael also touch upon another area in this section of the lecture about going to entrepreneurial events and seminars. You don't gain the most value from the information, but from the connections you make there, whether you talk with the lecturers after their presentation ends or are sitting next to another aspiring entrepreneur who can help your company out.
Myth #3: Finding the solution is the hardest part.
That is false, the hardest part is finding the problem. MJ talks about this a lot in his book and how a common problem people had was the foundation for his business. Is your fastlane business solving an actual problem? And your solution or problem does not have to be that big. Don't be afraid to have simple solutions to simple problems. If you have a simple solution and delight people, it goes really far (delight was their words, not mine).
Test the problem as quickly as possible. Too many people wait too long to see what the problem people are having is. If what you put out there is not catching on with people, re-evaluate and tweak it until it does. You want to fail as cheaply as possible.
Myth #4: You should work for months building a robust product in secrecy, then launch to the world.
I kind of touched on this in my previous paragraph. Fail early and fail often. Make failing as low cost as possible. Build the minimum viable product that answers "Are we building the right thing". Often the first thing your start with is not what you end up with. Fail your way to success. There may be some controversy to that previous statement, but take it as an opinion.
Myth #5: Start a bidding war among VCs with a slick pitch deck.
Raise only what you need to get off the ground. Your main focus early on should be more of getting a working prototype of your product or website as opposed to a fancy powerpoint presentation with nothing to show. People react more with something they can interact with and see in action.
From a personal standpoint at my day job, I saw a problem with a system we were using at work and told my boss that there is a better way to set it up. I got a lot of "maybe, might work, idk's", etc. They just saw a theory and no action. It would get nowhere this way. I went home that night and spent 3 hours coding the feature on my own, showed my boss the next morning and started getting the ball rolling to put it to use. Back to the point of this post...
Myth #6: Starting a company = building a product.
Building a product is only about 50% of the company. The other 50% goes to the other stuff - bank account, legal structure, managing a team, recruiting, raising capital, bank accounts, taxes, forms, insurance, office, etc. Kevin and Michael stress that the most important part is getting the right team and treating them right. They mentioned they did this by having great incentives for their employees.
Myth #7: Successful startups come from a single great idea.
Your first idea will not be the final product. A good example is veri.com from when they were at TechStars. That team started off with an idea of creating a website helping recruit high school athletes for college sports teams. Now they are in the education sector.
Myth #8: Great startups happen overnight.
Overnight success takes five years. Search these forums for "the event" vs. "the process" or read MJ's book and if you don't know what this means. In this section of the lecture they also talk about entrepreneurs focusing on the destination too much. They compare this to a long biking trip. If you focus too much on conquering the next 100 hills to get to your goal, you will overwhelm yourself and most likely quit. Instead, focus on the next 1 or 2 hills (while having a general idea of where you want to go). A personal technique I use for this is that I bought a white board for my apartment and list out the next 20 tasks I have to do on my websites and cross 1 or 2 of them off the list a day. I stared at a computer screen in frustration for 2 weeks making ZERO progress. When I did this, I finished the main features for my website in a couple of days. Don't overwhelm yourself.
I will do my summary of the Q&A section of the video in my next post.
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