Importance of IS in Startups

A short talk that I gave to MIST 5670 at UGA on 2013-09-10

Transcript

1. Importance of IS in Startups Wednesday, September 11, 13 - i’m here today to provide a different perspective - a POV for people who are into risks
2. Today’s plan • Me • Startups • Technology commoditization • Following is Leading Wednesday, September 11, 13
3. Me Wednesday, September 11, 13
4. Wednesday, September 11, 13 - let’s talk about how i’ve been involved in IS and startups - i want my cake and i want to eat it too - work from home, be w/my family and kids - know yourself, what’s most important? • http://www.flickr.com/photos/belisario/100346747/
5. Wednesday, September 11, 13 - the IS portion of my career - early in college I considered (flirted with) becoming an ISP (costs == thousands/per month). - cost now? I get 19x dl speeds for $70 including cable
6. Wednesday, September 11, 13 - 6 weeks of training on every position in the business - communication email/telephone - IT was a costs center for every franchisee - restaurant business profit margin == 1.8 to 3.5 (for full service)!! 5% is good! - 50K for computers and POS software
7. Wednesday, September 11, 13 - contract packaging / contract manufacturing - i was responsible for keeping all software running smoothly, implementing new features, fixing bugs
8. Wednesday, September 11, 13 - profit margin was 20%+. how do i know? i was responsible for maintaining software that contained the KPIs (key performance indicators) - i got in trouble for spending $2k on a software upgrade for software that was 5 years out of date
9. My Startup Phase.. Wednesday, September 11, 13
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14. Wednesday, September 11, 13 - appointmentcity - groupon clone - record label
15. Startups Wednesday, September 11, 13
16. Central challenge? Wednesday, September 11, 13 - all those previous companies are looking for one thing..
17. Repeatable business model?!?! Wednesday, September 11, 13 - nope, i lied!
18. Wednesday, September 11, 13 • http://www.flickr.com/photos/tracy_olson/61056391/
19. Cash flow • Make more than you spend • Risk profiles (bootstrapped vs. angel funding vs. VC) Wednesday, September 11, 13
20. Lean startup model Wednesday, September 11, 13 - the “lean startup” coined by Steve Blank.. - “The Four Steps to the Epiphany: Successful Strategies for Products that Win”
21. Wednesday, September 11, 13
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23. https://www.udacity.com/course/ep245 Wednesday, September 11, 13
24. Customer discovery Wednesday, September 11, 13 - validate your hypothesis as cheaply as possible - do you have someone itching to give you money? - in web world, landing pages to gauge interest a la...
25. Wednesday, September 11, 13
26. Technology Commoditization Wednesday, September 11, 13
27. Wednesday, September 11, 13 http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/363783371/sizes/o/in/photostream/
28. Moore’s Law • # of transistors on integrated circuits doubles approximately every two years Wednesday, September 11, 13
29. Real life examples Wednesday, September 11, 13
30. Real life examples Wednesday, September 11, 13
31. Real life examples • Hosting services Wednesday, September 11, 13
32. Real life examples • Hosting services • smart phones Wednesday, September 11, 13
33. Wednesday, September 11, 13 - iPhone 5S 56x faster than original iphone
34. Real life examples • Hosting services • smart phones • Software Virtualization Wednesday, September 11, 13
35. Exceptional following Wednesday, September 11, 13
36. Exceptional following • Anticipating needs • Strategic thinking • Managing up • Remain flexible (be able to pivot) Wednesday, September 11, 13
37. Image Credits • http://www.flickr.com/photos/belisario/100346747/ • http://www.flickr.com/photos/tracy_olson/61056391/ • http://www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/363783371/sizes/o/ in/photostream/ Wednesday, September 11, 13
38. Shameless plugs Wednesday, September 11, 13
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40. http://bignerdranch.theresumator.com/ Wednesday, September 11, 13
41. http://fourathens.com Wednesday, September 11, 13
42. Get to know me! • software developer (Ruby, Rails, C, etc) • http://blog.jonathanrwallace.com/about • jonathan.wallace@gmail.com • @jonathanwallace Wednesday, September 11, 13 tweet out the slides