Mentorship with Alon Cohen

Mentorship
Alon Cohen – 2013

alonchook@gmail.com

Call us 24/7 (800) 998-7087 www.phone.com 1

Agenda

•  VocalTec or My Story
•  Mentorship
–  Should you believe what I say?
–  Who should you listen to?
•  Last word of advice


The Beginning - 1989

FYI: VocalTec – First VoIP company.

•  2 geeks garage operation
–  Alon Cohen
–  Lior Haramaty
•  Developing a sound card for a PC
•  Starting with $4000 gift

Staying Afloat 1989-1992

•  Selling Sound cards for different applications
•  Stand alone sound devices
–  Ice-cream truck music box
•  Hebrew TTS for blind people
•  Reaching out to the US market


Re-Inventing the company
1993 -1994

•  VocalTec was losing the battle with sound cards
–  The keyword was SoundBlaster compatibility

•  Raised money
–  Vardi: “The CAT will not sell but I saw good people, you
should invest”

•  Sat down for a problem solving session (1993)
–  We understand Telephony
–  We understand Computers
–  We understand integration of Computer & Audio
–  We bet that every computer will have sound

•  The conclusion
–  Build a Phone Application that use PCs & LAN
–  Novel -> Net-Bios

Call us 24/7 (800) 998-7087 www.phone.com

From LAN to WAN

•  Is this VocalTec’s support?
•  Support: Yes..
•  Your software does not work…
•  I am trying to call from England to France
over my fast 64K Line, and it sounds bad.
•  Did you press the compress button?…
•  Wow!! now its working, I can save a
bundle on my long distance phone
calls!!

•  That was it.
–  We now had a clear direction.
–  We had to make it work on the Widest Public
Network available.

Call us 24/7 (800) 998-7087 www.phone.com

Creativity Wins - 1995

•  Developing SW only Real-Time audio compression
•  Using IRC – as a directory service
•  Only small luck..
–  All the experience we had from the Sound Cards days
–  All that we developed for the LAN
–  Was needed and operating in full force on the Internet
•  The final touch
–  Converting every 3 bits to 1 bit (dropping 66% and losing only 25%)
•  E-commerce engine
•  Internet download
•  Mass distribution


1995 – 1996 The Launch

•  Feb 1995
–  First to market
–  Good PR People
–  Getting front page headlines

•  1996 - EXIT
–  Going public (Nasdaq: VOCL)


What else

•  VocalTec - IPO
•  RemoteAbility - sold
•  ExciteView – nice demo, wrong partner
•  BitWine – sold and came back
•  Phone.com – still on it


Mentorship


The Sample Size Theory

N = 1/(B^2)
•  So for:
–  N = 100 we get an +/-10% error (Good)
–  N = 3 we get a +/- 60% error (Very bad)
–  N = 2 you get a +/70% error (Even worse)


And here is the problem

•  Most mentors (like me) had N = 1,2 or 3,4 experiences.
•  I.e my conclusions has potentially +/-60% deviation from the truth
–  Time is different
–  Technology changed
–  Market players morphed
–  And people are never the same

•  Your startup is most likely different
–  (Some principals are similar, like “buy low sell high”)
•  However, the details make all the difference
–  What to sell, to whom? When? Where? and at how much?


Do you know what is best?

•  Most starting entrepreneurs thinks they do
–  N = 0 --> B = +/- A lot
–  Confident people are more susceptible to errors…

•  Hence, not a good practice!
•  So:
–  First listen (with a very open mind)
–  Preferably to people with some gray hair (or larger N)
–  Than decide what’s relevant and what’s not for your case.


Pulling in Different Directions?

•  Investors are not friends nor good mentors!!!
–  Get investors only as absolute last resort
–  They have their own agenda
–  They think they know what is best for you and your startup
•  Probably based on past few successes, if any
•  Or maybe based on good grades & intuition.

•  They are good smart people
–  They are good in what THEY DO
–  Much less in what you do.

•  “The house on the hill” problem
–  If you succeed I will be able to afford it.
•  (Contributed by an investor)


Take it or Leave it

•  Keep a file with ideas, keep updating them, keep adding - Ideas do expire
•  Identify problems in your surroundings
–  Solving them is an opportunity
•  It is simpler to sell an investor a dream than a working product
–  Try and let me know what worked better in your case
•  Never say the word simple to an investor
•  Extend your runway – where you start is almost never where you finish
•  Never work for free, give value or equity equivalent value to your time
•  Be humble, listen to others, keep an open mind
•  Ask many, decide with few
•  Find good partners (it is hard, I know)
•  Start with an API (if relevant)
•  Always have a business model
•  Luck has a lot to do with success
•  Be nice to your employees, people do not forget. One day they will hire you.


Thanks

Alon Cohen
alonchook@gmail.com
BLOG: alonc.blogspot.com
Phone.com


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Mentorship with Alon Cohen

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