Forward Tech Conference, 2014: Jignesh Patel

transcript

Listening to your startup Jignesh M. Patel

University of Wisconsin

jignesh@cs.wisc.edu

Trajectory

1997 • Ph.D., The Paradise system

• Paradise -‐-‐> NCR/Teradata

1999 • Assistant Professor @ U. Michigan

2007 • Co-‐founded LocomaHx. CTO à CEO

• Associate Professor @ U. Wisconsin

2013 • LocomaHx -‐-‐> TwiOer

Powering Big Data for Mobile

Where can I get coffee?

Lat/long

Lat/long Lat/

long Lat/long

Lat/long

How do I sort through

all this?

Shows the current location of the user

Shows the trails of user so far during the day

Shows the trails of user for the past week

Need to match many high-‐volume live streaming data sets to user many needs in REAL 9me

… need to also run real 9me analy9cs …

Need an agile and scalable loca9on infrastructure

Imagine 1M users in SF with 10 checkins a day è 7K checkin checks/min

Each checkin = 1M checks.

With some non-‐trival smart spaHal indexing = 1000 checks à 7M checks/min

Today the cheapest Oracle tpmC is $.54. Assuming perfect scalability would cost ~ $3.75M over 3 years.

A single LocomaHx server does > 10K checkins/min and deploys for less than 1/10th the cost

Reference Apps

Reference app with: 1: People finder 2: Madison bus alert 3: Geo-tagged messaging 4: Mobile coupons

Photo from madison.com

Location and Text Analytics

20 hottest startups Mobile Beat, July 2010.

Top 16 Innovative Startups

CTIA, E&A, Oct 2010.

Top 16 Innovative Startups

CTIA Wireless, March 2011.

Awards

What worked

What did not work

Good fun!

Met great people!

Could make quick

decisions/pivots

Great team!

Lost customer

opportunities due

to no VC funding

Learnt the

business-side the

hard way

Grueling roller-

coaster rides

Solve a Big Technology Problem •  Forcing function to take a broader view •  Simplicity is preferred over complexity

Passion •  To make a difference •  Be bold, but remember to fail-fast!

Become a Better Professional •  Learn to ask the right questions (quickly) •  Learn to be more efficient with your time •  Become a better mentor and network

Why do a startup?

Life Cycle of a Startup

ADULT TEEN INFANT

! Working Business Model!

New Business Model!

Revenue stagnates

Re-pivot

The Three Crucial Ps

Powered by passion and a real need.

Product Talent is key.

Easy to hire. Hard to fire.

People It’s not only OK, it is

required!

Pivoting

Revenue •  New

monetization strategy

•  Changing customer needs

Competition •  Product

features •  Market needs •  Competitors

pivoted

A long, long time ago … in 2000

Common Mistakes

… chase a customer, and loose the product focus

… fall in love with the technology, ignoring the business model

… no independent feedback

… fail to listen to your customers

… not leading by example … check big egos at the door

… hold grudges

… measure = funding management time/$

… take the “wrong” type of funding. Are your goals aligned?

Location -‐-‐ Madison

Photos: U. Wisconsin, Communication

1000 miles to New York

Other tips …

Focus on your long-term goals

Stay in Shape Deal with it gracefully

Frustration The original startup!

Family

Summary

Stay hungry!

Focus on the business model.

Pivot if needed.

Take care of your health.

Remember your family.

•  My family (my original startup J)

•  My co-founders and collaborators @ Locomatix

Karthik Ramasamy, Sanjeev Kulkarni and Chris Kellogg.

•  The University of Wisconsin

Thanks!