Elliot Turner started his first company as a sophomore in high school. Now with two successfully acquired startups under his belt, he has invaluable insights to share. Here are highlights from his discussion with Katie Farrer of IBM THINK Leaders. Check out the full podcast at http://bit.ly/1XCCPa2

1. Startup Wisdom
5 questions for Elliot Turner,
Founder & CEO, AlchemyAPI
Presented by IBM THINKLeaders!

2. ELLIOT TURNER
HQ:
!
Denver, Colorado, USA
Industry:
!Company:
!
Director, Alchemy, IBM Watson
Computer Software
AlchemyAPI
(Acquired by IBM in 2015)
One of the largest Artificial
Intelligence (AI) platforms
for understanding data on
the web with users across
36 countries
© 2015 IBM Corporation
2!

3. 1
When founding your
startup, was your
goal to be acquired?
3!

4. Elliot Turner, Director, Alchemy, IBM Watson
!
© 2015 IBM Corporation
4!
Startups mean:
High growth & a liquidity event
“At the end of the day, you want to grow, and you
want to have some sort of thing that happens
at the end that makes it all worthwhile
to the investors, to the team, to everyone involved.”

5. 2
What is the transition
from startup to
acquisition like?
5!

6. “It wasn’t just about our position in the
marketplace, it wasn’t just about our technology.
It was about the DNA of our team,
about the velocity that we can create useful
artifacts for the world to leverage.”
Elliot Turner, Director, Alchemy, IBM Watson
!
On AlchemyAPI’s acquisition:
© 2015 IBM Corporation
6!

7. 3What can corporations
learn from startups?
7!

8. “Big companies need to learn from
startups and startups need to learn from
big companies, there's a virtuous cycle
that we can all benefit from.”
Startup strengths:
Speed, agility, cross-business integration
Elliot Turner, Director, Alchemy, IBM Watson
!
© 2015 IBM Corporation
8!

9. What mistake has
taught you the
biggest lesson?
4 9!

10. “If you’re not cultivating the next set of leaders,
making sure that they not only have the capability, but
the autonomy to do their jobs, to trust in their decisions,
you will hit a wall and it’s going to impede your ability
to continue climbing up that mountain.”
Lesson learned:
Build out your team quickly
Elliot Turner, Director, Alchemy, IBM Watson
!
© 2015 IBM Corporation
10!

11. “Ultimately, as a founder and
CEO, everything that goes wrong
in a startup is your fault.
The buck stops at the top.”
Elliot Turner, Director, Alchemy, IBM Watson
!
© 2015 IBM Corporation
11!

12. What advice would
you give someone
thinking of starting
a company?5 12!

13. “The path for any startup is never going to be a
string of one success after another. There's going
to be ups and downs, good times and bad.
And for you to get through those bad times,
to really take that marathon run, you have to
have those things that you’re passionate
about anchoring you and grounding you.”
Elliot Turner, Director, Alchemy, IBM Watson
!
© 2015 IBM Corporation
13!

14. THANKS!
@IBMThinkLeaders
www.ibm.biz/thinkleaderscommunity
!
Interview by Katie Farrer
Designed by Elizabeth Wood