AlwaysOn kicked off at Stanford last night and Guy Kawasaki moderated a panel entitled The Anatomy of a Successful Start-up in 2010. In the discussion was Mike Lee, co-founder of Tapulous, Chris Barbin, CEO of Appirio, Barry Silbert, Founder/CEO of SecondMarket, Treb Ryan, CEO of Opsource, and Doug Knopper, CEO of Freewheel.
Guy asked the panel whether it was a good time to start a company and what were each of the entrepreneurs doing differently today than they did in 1999.
A few random insights and thoughts that came from that thread:
Cloud computing is just starting to sort itself out through all the hype and monetize, so while challenging, its just starting to get going and there are lots of opportunities here to ‘get it right.’
Additionally, the sentiment was that “there’s a ton of capital but not a need to take it hastily….there’s so much more you can do on your own today — you just don’t need a lot of infrastructure anymore, even for an enterprise business.
Says Doug,”the world has gotten a lot smaller.” Others agree and have outsourced, tapped into resources outside the U.S. One had a resource in China with a 415# and between local numbers and Skype, there’s no reason not to be connected any time of day or night.
What about the role of the VC moving forward? It felt like the whole panel was opting for ‘any other way.’ In other words, with how easy it is to build infrastructure today, why get a VC on board unless you absolutely have to, although a VC does play a role outside of hard capital of course. A great VC can do pattern matching really well.
They also noted how much smarter prospects and employees are getting – today, they wan to “see a plan – they want to know the metrics and see a vision; its not good enough anymore to hear that the CEO has one.
Guy asks, “so how do you roll out a launch today? Mike says, “you need to think about how you build a company that the big boys are going to be interested in….how do you make your solution or service more compelling than anyone else….in other words, make something that someone like Apple CAN’T ignore. He says, “if you have something that resonates with users, they’ll use it, tout it and give you the buzz you need.”
Building buzz and testing things out with consumers is still key. Treb says, “the only friend you have when you’re a Series A start-up is buzz – you need to find out early on what works really well and what doesn’t.”
And Guy ends on a humorous note: Two things – “never surprise your board,” and at the end of the day regardless of what else is happening, “sales fixes everything.”
Below are two videos highlighting the majority of the panel.
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
