Becoming Accidental Entrepreneurs

A talk presented at Hacker News London on 27th October 2011.

Transcript

1. Lanyrd.com Becoming accidental entrepreneurs http://www.flickr.com/photos/chuckp/ 21394313
2. Lanyrd.com
3. Lanyrd.com $1.4 million
4. Casablanca August 2010
5. Casablanca August 2010
6. Lanyrd.com People who use Twitter Professional Events Something interesting
7. Bootstrapping on Twitter
8. Lanyrd.com @lanyrd attending #HNLondon
9. Lanyrd.com
10. Lanyrd.com
11. Lanyrd.com "We'll scale it live!" http://www.flickr.com/photos/chuckp/ 21394313
12. Read only mode http://www.flickr.com/photos/chuckp/ 21394313
13. Lanyrd.com El Jadida September 2010
14. Lanyrd.com Marrakech September 2010
15. Lanyrd.com Marrakech September 2010
16. Lanyrd.com
17. Lanyrd.com Cairo September 2010
18. Lanyrd.com http://ycombinator.com/atyc.html
19. Luxor October 2010
20. Lanyrd.com YC application What substitutes do people resort to because what you plan to make doesn't exist yet? What do you understand about your business that other companies in it just don't get? How will you make money?
21. Mountain View, USA January 2011
22. Mountain View, USA March 2011
23. Demo Day
24. Lanyrd.com
25. Lanyrd.com 2 minutes, 10 seconds You'll be lucky if investors remember a single noun from your pitch... so make sure it's the right noun!
26. Lanyrd.com Investment
27. Lanyrd.com Reasons startups die 1. Not making something people want 2. Fundraising http://www.paulgraham.com/fundraising.html
28. Lanyrd.com "Raise money or Bootstrap?" http://www.flickr.com/photos/stawarz/3526784136/
29. Lanyrd.com "How much should I raise?" Raise enough money for 18 months You'll have to start fundraising again after 12 How much of the company are you willing to give away?
30. Lanyrd.com Finding (the right) Introductions are essential Ask investors for intros to more investors Look at who they have previously invested in
31. Lanyrd.com Investor meetings Good investors decide quickly - just one or two meetings ... but it takes a LOT of meetings to fill up your round Meet with less exciting investors first, to practice At the end of the meeting, ask for the
32. Lanyrd.com Raising money takes longer than you expect, even when you take that in to account
33. Lanyrd.com Runway http://www.flickr.com/photos/15545136@N06/5891705931/
34. Hiring
35. Lanyrd.com London October 2011 photo by @bfirsh
36. Lanyrd.com Lanyrd app for iPhone
37. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pattylagera/ The emotional roller-coaster
38. http://www.flickr.com/photos/pattylagera/ On top of the world! Everyone likes us! Why would I ever want a real job? Oh crap! The world is ending, Servers are down, Bad comments on Twitter, Maybe I can still get a real job?
39. Lanyrd.com Thank you! http://lanyrd.com/skrhq
40. Lanyrd.com http://lanyrd.com/skrhq Any questions?