Date post: | 18-Jun-2015 |
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Small Business & Entrepreneurship |
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Startups The emotional spectrum
TechPeaks, Tento 2014 Andy Parsons @andyparsons
This talk
TECHPEAKS 2014
A c t u a l S u c c e s sA p p a r e n t S u c c e s s
R e a l i t yS t a r t i n g
Startup press glorifies SACRIFICE and DRAMA.!
But the truth is building a company is a journey full of exhilaration and pain. LET’S TALK ABOUT THAT.!
WHAT ARE THE DRIVERS OF STARTUP EMOTION?
F a i l u r e
Me. • startup junkie. masochist. EE/music • co-founder/CTO Happify, CTO new ed tech stealth • founded/sold shrty • CTO Outside.in (acq. aol), bookish (acq. zola), DRR ... • MENTOR @ seedcamp, 500 Startups • ADVISOR to many NYC early stage teams • pragmatist
not Me.
• “STRATEGIST” (lessons learned are mine) • billionaire (still working hard) • IDEALIST
what is “success?”
• milestone success
• terminal success
• coping success
TECHPEAKS 2014
EMOTIONAL spectrum
and: anger, boredom, fatigue, elation, depression, peace, shame, paranoia …
‣ savor ‣ thank ‣ aspire ‣ give ‣ empathize
Happiness skills
‣ have collected a lot
‣ all firsthand / secondhand
‣ patterns are hundreds of years old, but…
everything happens faster now!
stories
THE ups
‣ incorporating ‣ first launch ‣ key meeting goes well ‣ first user ‣ first revenue ‣ key hire ‣ funding ‣ hitting kpi milestone
celebrate these!
THE downs
hiring/firing/team management
• making a great hire… or so you thought • no good time for people to leave • firing friends • anxiety • mutiny
‣ must be better ‣ envy - enemy of happiness
COMPETITION
your health
• things that are healthy, ironically, are the first to go
• fatigue: mental and physical
‣ investors pass
‣ press may not cover you
‣ feedback: know their backgrounds and viewpoint
‣ don’t doubt based on one or 2 meetings
‣ down rounds and no follow-on
funding and press
founder relationships
• shit happens
• personalities emerge
• empathy
‣ servers crash
‣ customers get mad. or just leave.
‣ founder true colors show
screw ups
network, social capital
• nothing is more important!
‣ Runway
‣ the fundraising treadmill
‣ limited burn vs hibernation mode
‣ lights out
cash and operating
decision making and boards
• decision paralysis • consensus • misaligned board members
‣ responsibility of spending investor money
‣ co-founders
‣ market/customer
‣ imposter syndrome
‣ what am i doing with my life?
doubt
CLosing thoughts
‣ in matters of integrity ‣ in the absence of data
Trusting your gut
the path of least resistance
‣ savor ‣ thank ‣ aspire ‣ give ‣ empathize
Happiness skills
‣ do it every day ‣ counteracts natural tendencies ‣ Works!
3 Good things