Keynote presentation at the Runway Incubator in San Francisco about lessons learned from 12+ years and multiple startups here in Silicon Valley. Hosted by The German Silicon Valley Accelerator (GSVA) in collaboration with: the German American Chamber of Commerce (GACC), Germany Trade and Invest (GTAI), and the German American Business Association (GABA). Seventh edition of My Success. Our Visions. March 5th, 2014 - More info at http://bit.ly/1gNvv6V

1. Startup Lessons Learned
One Exit, One Going, One Failed
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German Silicon Valley Accelerator (GSVA)
March 5th, 2014 - Runway Incubator, San Francisco
By Frederik Hermann / @netzkobold
#siliconvalley #gsva

2. My computer science professor Prof. Dr. Walter F. Tichy first sparked my interest in“Palo Alto”
and the “Silicon Valley” at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in the late 90’s.

3. Berlin, Germany

4. Vienna, Austria

5. Jajah Office - Vienna, Austria

8. San Francisco, CA

10. Jajah was acquired by Telefónica Europe/O2 in December 2009 for $207 million in an all-cash transaction.

11. Talenthouse Office - Palo Alto, CA

12. Swipp Inc. - Mountain View, CA

13. Focus
With your limited resources it is essential to focus your energy.
Set a few achievable goals and make everything
work towards those goals.
#gsva

14. Product/Market Fit
Don’t wait too long, test and validate your assumptions with
real customers. Build a product that people want.
#timetomarket #gsva

15. Reality is for pussies
You can't design for the present, you have to build for an
anticipated future. You can't build to where your potential customers
are today, but rather where they will be tomorrow.
#gsva

16. Go big or go home
It totally doesn't pay to think or act small.
Big thinking tends to create its own weather system.
#gsva

17. Hire for your culture
Hiring the right team is essential. Look for energy.
Hire the person that blows you away with energy, curiosity,
ideas and focus. A’s Hire A’s, B's Hire C’s.
#gsva

18. F%$k the features
Your core value proposition needs to resonate with your
potential customers, adding features won’t help.
Reduce, make it simple and easy to use.
#gsva

19. Trust your gut
Don't lose sight of that finely tuned instrument
between your head and your belt. If something doesn't feel right about
a business deal or business relationship, it probably isn’t right.
#instinct #gsva

20. You don't want it to be easy
The value is often created doing the things other people
can't or are unwilling to do. You want it to be hard.
#gsva

21. Be in it for the long haul
People think that a startup is a quick/easy way to make money,
but startups take time - a lot of time. If you aren't in it for a
5-year time horizon at least, don't do it.
#gsva

22. Create a path to revenue
No (business) problem is not helped with cash flow.
#gsva

23. Learn Hard / Learn Fast
If you're the smartest guy in the room, get out. You have no time to
not be learning and you're wasting your time. Change is the
dominant characteristic of today’s business landscape. Embrace it.
#gsva

24. Viral Loop
Build a viral loop into the product’s core inner workings.
#gsva

25. PR is dead
Don’t spend time and money focusing on PR in your early stages.
PR is not an effective customer acquisition tool anymore.
Building a product that people want is more important.
#gsva

26. Learn how to present
If you can't sell your idea to others, no one else will be able to.
#gsva

27. Honor your fans
Your fans and advocates are the most important asset you have,
engage and involve them, show them that you care about them,
they will bring more users for you.
#wordofmouth #gsva

28. Test, measure, refine
Through rapid experimentation create a healthy loop of
building, testing, measuring, learning, refining and improving.
Base your decisions on analytics and data .
#gsva

29. Don’t be a dick
The valley is small. Reputation and relationship is everything.
#gsva

30. Believe in your vision
You will receive a lot of advice, conflicting suggestions, people telling
you to change your approach… take everything with a grain of salt,
nobody knows your business better than you.
#gsva

31. Imagine a better future, then go build it.

32. Questions? Connect.
Frederik Hermann
http://twitter.com/netzkobold
http://www.frederikhermann.com
http://www.slideshare.net/netzkobold
http://www.linkedin.com/in/frederikhermann
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With thanks to Michael Hirschbrich (@michirschbrich),
Don Thorson (@donthorson), Charlie Costantini (@coz360),
and Sunil Rajaraman (@subes01) for their input.
@netzkobold #gsva