Entrepreneurial Lessons LearnedBy Sam W. Beal

presentation SCU Jan 18, 2012

linkedin/in/samwbeal

“The first thing you should learn in a course on entrepreneurship is how to make yourself valuable.”

• Combine Skills• Fail Forward• Find the action• Attract Luck• Conquer Fear• Write simply• Learn Persuasion

Scott Adams WSJ 4/9/11

“The first thing you should learn in a course on entrepreneurship is how to make yourself valuable.”

• Combine Skills• Fail Forward• Find the action• Attract Luck• Conquer Fear• Write simply• Learn Persuasion

Scott Adams WSJ 4/9/11

Catch a paradigm shift, if you can

We tend to over estimate near-term changeAnd under estimate long-term change

expectation

reality

entryexit

What business are you in?

Technology Products Solutions

Bigger

Faster

Cheaper

Time to Marketantifuse

Plan on needing a Plan B

Don’t bet all your capital on Plan A

Conserve funding until you validate assumptions with real users.

Validation is tricky

Look for evidence that your assumptions are wrong. Keep looking.

Will your customer refer the product?

Is he still using it 3 or 6 months later?

PS: Anything that takes money or attention away from your target customer is competitive.

Validation is tricky

Plan B examples

AOL Yahoo Google Facebook

ISP Search Search edu directory

walled garden

+ Netscape sold - $$$

yahoo 2.0 ?

display ad

verticals

Plan D?

adwords

search

+ video + mobile + social

walled garden

the future web

A

B

C

Can’t do Plan B, our patent is on Plan A

Xilinx 2010

A patent doesn’t mean you can make it or sell it

1998

You can’t bluff your customers

Customer VP

“There on the other side of 101, you can’t miss it.”

CEO

“If you don’t buy our company at my price, I’ll take it to your competitor.”

JigSawtek

You can’t bluff your customers

You can be too early

If you are too early, you need

Deep pockets

Partners – Alliances, Evangelists

Patience

Build a team,

don’t be the team.

Good ideas aren’t enough

Execution is often the difference between success and failure.

A lot of smart people in the room is no guarantee of success

Be a Samurai.

Jason Calacanis*