• What We Can Learn From HBO’s Silicon Valley

  Pied Piper Is A Proprietary Site

  Posted by Aram on March 19, 2020 at 9:59 pm

  S1 Ep1 – Minimum Viable Product

  Most Founders heard about MVPs, yet they are not well understood. MVP doesn’t mean “quick and dirty”. It’s one of the weapons in the Lean Startup arsenal, helping Founders gather intelligence from prospects and clients about their product or service. “Learning is the unit of progress.” Eric Ries

  Networking. One aspect that Founders often underestimate is the importance of meeting fellow entrepreneurs, Venture Capitalists, and other actors of the ecosystem. Networking must be done without wasting time but often is an effective way to accelerate learning or traction.

  Past successes. Beware of Founders who advertise their exit continuously. Not all they say is applicable to you. And most VC exits barely return the money invested.

  Vested stock options. It means that Hooli would have to buy them out even if the employee left the company.

  Elevator Pitch. A 30-second presentation that aims at getting you a meeting with a VC. Structure: Bait – Core – Ask. Compare Richard’s pitch with the doctor’s at the end.

  B2B vs B2C. Most young startup Founders want to build a “consumer-facing” company, lured by the success of Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Netflix. Yet, these models require huge amounts of capital and strong network effects, which are very difficult to find and exploit. The B2B route has longer sales cycle but requires less capital, too. Think SaaS B2B à la Hubspot.

  Valuation. Hilarious take on Sell vs Raise (“Take the money or Keep the company.”) using pre- and post-money valuation. It’s a real conundrum, one of the many Founders have to navigate — like freelancer or full-time employees, make vs. build, etc.

  Competition. When all is said and done, price is determined by the market. Running a competitive bid is the best way to not only get a higher price (from $600k to $10M), but also better terms and a speedier process.

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  • This discussion was modified 3 years ago by  Aram.
  • This discussion was modified 3 years ago by  Aram.

  Aram replied 3 years ago 1 Member · 0 Replies
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