Key success factors for early stage startups to reach product/market fit and scale, supported by findings of the Startup Genome Project regarding premature scaling. Update Jan 28 2016 incl. additional perks: Startup Playbook by Sam Altman with learnings from Y Combinator and growth hacking advice by Chamath Palihapitiya of Social Capital https://paulamarttila.wordpress.com/2016/01/29/key-success-factors-to-reach-productmarket-fit-and-scale/

1. @paulamarttila
K E Y S U C C E S S
FA C T O R S
T O
R E A C H
P R O D U C T /
M A R K E T F I T
A N D
S C A L E
Supported by findings of Startup Compass
THE STARTUP GENOME PROJECT (SGP)

2. 1 .
“ D O N ’ T G E T
H I G H O N Y O U R
O W N S U P P LY ”
@paulamarttila
Elvira Hancock, Scarface

3. “ 7 0 % O F
S TA R T U P S
FA I L D U E
P R E M AT U R E
S C A L I N G ”
@paulamarttila
• N E V E R PA S S E D 1 0 0 K U S E R M A R K
• 2 0 X S L O W E R G R O W T H R AT E
• 9 3 % N E V E R B R E A K $ 1 0 0 K R E V E N U E P E R M O N T H
SGP:

4. 2 .
L O N G
T E R M
V I S I O N
S G P : S U C C E S S F U L S TA R T U P S
S U C C E E D B E C A U S E T H E Y A R E G O O D
S E A R C H E R S , A N D FA I L E D S TA R T U P S
A C H I E V E FA I L U R E B Y E F F I C I E N T LY
E X E C U T I N G T H E I R R E L E VA N T.
i.e. Finding your product/market fit.
@paulamarttila
Jeff Bezos: “Pay attention to competition, but
obsess over customers.”

5. 3 .
C O M M I T M E N T
S G P : F O U N D E R S T H AT D O N ’ T W O R K F U L L - T I M E :
• 4 X L E S S U S E R G R O W T H
• R A I S E 2 4 X L E S S M O N E Y F R O M I N V E S T O R S
@paulamarttila

6. 4 .
T E A M
I S
E V E RY T H I N G
“Hire slowly. It’s the only way to avoid winding up at a cocktail party of strangers.”-
@Mattlinderman, 37 Signals
@paulamarttilaPsst. You’re always hiring!

7. S G P : B A L A N C E D T E A M S W I T H O N E T E C H N I C A L C O - F O U N D E R
& O N E B U S I N E S S C O - F O U N D E R :
• R A I S E 3 0 % M O R E M O N E Y
• H AV E 2 , 9 X M O R E U S E R G R O W T H
• 1 9 % L E S S L I K E LY T O S C A L E P R E M AT U R E LY
@paulamarttila
4 .
T E A M
I S
E V E RY T H I N G

8. 5 .
R E S P E C T
& D I V E R S I T Y
@paulamarttila
I . E . H I R I N G A N D
D E F I N I N G C O M PA N Y
C U LT U R E

9. W H E T H E R
Y O U ’ R E
A N E A R LY
B I R D
O R
A N I G H T
O W L …
@paulamarttila

10. • A G E
• G E N D E R
• E D U C AT I O N L E V E L S
• E N T R E P R E N E U R I A L E X P E R I E N C E
• T I M E C O - F O U N D E R S K N E W E A C H O T H E R
S G P : F O L L O W I N G AT T R I B U T E S H AV E
N O I N F L U E N C E O N W H E T H E R
C O M PA N Y I S M O R E L I K E LY T O
S C A L E P R E M AT U R E LY:
@paulamarttila

11. 6 . C U S T O M E R C E N T R I C
D E V E L O P M E N T
& FA N S *
* FANS = Your first PR, Marketing, Customer Service & Sales Team @paulamarttila

12. S G P : B 2 C V S . B 2 B I S N O T A M E A N I N G F U L S E G M E N TAT I O N O F
I N T E R N E T S TA R T U P S A N Y M O R E , B E C A U S E T H E I N T E R N E T H A S
C H A N G E D T H E D Y N A M I C S O F C U S T O M E R I N T E R A C T I O N .
6 . 1 . C O N S U M E R I Z AT I O N
@paulamarttila

13. 7 .
E X E C U T I O N
S G P : I N C O N S I S T E N T S TA R T U P S
O U T S O U R C E 4 - 5 X A S M U C H O F T H E I R
P R O D U C T D E V E L O P M E N T T H A N
C O N S I S T E N T S TA R T U P S .
#FAIL
@paulamarttila

14. S G P : G R E AT L I T T L E T E A M W I T H FA S T
P R O D U C T T U R N A R O U N D
A N D N I M B L E D E V E L O P M E N T,
T H AT L I S T E N S T O C U S T O M E R D ATA .
#WIN
@paulamarttila
7 .
E X E C U T I O N

15. 8 .
F O C U S
W H E N “ E V E RY T H I N G I S P R I O R I T Y ”
S G P : F O C U S B E F O R E R E A C H I N G P R O D U C T / M A R K E T F I T:
• I N C O N S I S T E N T S TA R T U P S : 8 0 % O N P R O D U C T
• C O N S I S T E N T S TA R T U P S : 4 5 % O N C U S T O M E R D E V E L O P M E N T
@paulamarttila
Psst. Don’’t engage in feature wars!

16. VA L U E O F H I R I N G
A N D F O C U S T O
A C H I E V E G R O W T H
B Y @ C H A M AT H
“ E L I M I N AT E E G O C U LT U R E .
H I R E A - P E O P L E . ”
“If you constrain the problem to say there’s one
thing, it forces everyone to be an expert, or to
know that one thing, and then to speak
intelligently and, most importantly, factually about
that one thing, and so you can’t bullshit, and you
can’t grind f**k people, and when you can’t do
that, you actually have good decisions and you
force clarity of thought. That’s hard.” -
“ F O C U S C O N S T R A I N S
O P T I O N A L I T Y A N D F O R C E S
C L A R I T Y O F T H I N K I N G ”
H O W W E P U T FA C E B O O K O N PAT H T O 1 B U S E R S :
@paulamarttilaChamath Palihapitiya, Social Capital

17. 9 .
L E A R N FA S T
@paulamarttila
S G P : S TA R T U P S R A I S E 7 X M O R E
& H AV E 3 , 5 X B E T T E R
U S E R G R O W T H W H E N T H E Y:
• H AV E H E L P F U L M E N T O R S
• T R A C K P E R F O R M A N C E M E T R I C S
• L E A R N F R O M S TA R T U P T H O U G H T
L E A D E R S
S G P : F O U N D E R S T H AT L E A R N
A R E M O R E S U C C E S S F U L

18. 1 0 .
B E
A P E R S O N
@paulamarttila
Give before you get.
People do business with,
and invest in people they trust.
Build trust.

19. R E M E M B E R ,
S TA RT U P S
A R E H A R D

20. B O N U S
T R A C K # 1
# M U S T WAT C H
@paulamarttila
Startup Lifecycle by Fred Destin

21. # M U S T R E A D
B O N U S
T R A C K # 2
Startup Playbook by Sam Altman
@paulamarttila

22. E X C E R P T S 1 / 3
Startup Playbook by Sam Altman
“Don’t lose sight of the long-term vision, and trust that the day-to-day challenges will someday be forgotten and
replaced by memories of the year-to-year progress. Among your most important jobs are defining the mission and
defining the values.
“Don’t get caught up in early success—you didn’t get off to a promising start by going to lots of networking events
and speaking on lots of panels. Startup founders who start to have initial success have a choice of two paths: either
they keep doing what they’re doing, or they start spending a lot of time thinking about their “personal brand” and
enjoying the status of being a founder.”
“99% of the time, you should ignore competitors. In the words of Henry Ford: "The competitor to be feared is one
who never bothers about you at all, but goes on making his own business better all the time."
“They [startups] should be building product and talking to users, and not much else besides eating, sleeping,
exercising, and spending time with their loved ones.”
“A successful startup takes a very long time—certainly much longer than most founders think at the outset. You
cannot treat it as an all-nighter.”
@paulamarttila

23. E X C E R P T S 2 / 3
Startup Playbook by Sam Altman
“Cofounder breakups are one of the leading causes of death for early startups, and we see them happen very, very
frequently in cases where the founders met for the express purpose of starting the company.”
“Tech startups need at least one founder who can build the company’s product or service, and at least one founder
who is (or can become) good at sales and talking to users. This can be the same person.”
“Hiring is one of your most important jobs and the key to building a great company (as opposed to a great product.)
My first piece of advice about hiring is don’t do it. The most successful companies we’ve worked with at YC have
waited a relatively long time to start hiring employees.”
“One of the things we look at the most is the strength of the founders. When I used to do later-stage investing, I
looked equally hard at the strength of the employees the founders hired.”
“Whatever you set at the beginning will usually still be in force years later, and as you grow, each new person
needs to first buy in and then sell others on the mission and values of the company. So write your cultural values
and mission down early.”
@paulamarttila
Startup Playbook by Sam Altman

24. E X C E R P T S 3 / 3
Startup Playbook by Sam Altman
“I am skeptical about most excuses for why a company isn’t growing—very often the real reason is that the product
just isn’t good enough.”
“Remember, if you haven’t made a great product, nothing else will save you. You want to build a “product
improvement engine” in your company. You should talk to your users and watch them use your product, figure out
what parts are sub-par, and then make your product better. Then do it again. ”
“You cannot outsource the work to someone else for a long time."
“Remember that at least a thousand people have every great idea. One of them actually becomes successful. The
difference comes down to execution.”
“Focus and intensity. These words seem to really apply to the best founders I know.”
“Don’t be a jerk.”
“Charlie Rose once said that things get done in the world through a combination of focus and personal connections.”
@paulamarttila
“No first-time founder knows what he or she is doing. To the degree you understand that, and ask for help,
you’ll be better off. It’s worth the time investment to learn to become a good leader and manager. The best way to
do this is to find a mentor - reading books doesn’t seem to work as well.”
Startup Playbook by Sam Altman

25. @paulamarttila
http://paulamarttila.com
paula.marttila@gmail.com
https://twitter.com/paulamarttila
http://www.linkedin.com/in/paulamarttila
Thank
You

26. I M A G E C R E D I T S
& R E F E R E N C E S
Scarface: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zpeckler/2500484769/
Highway: http://www.flickr.com/photos/seangloster/847655067/
Clock: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sneeu/202207719/
Bar: http://www.flickr.com/photos/slazebni/2997717108/
Kids at camp: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cuppojoe_trips/594428407/
Respect the cows: http://www.flickr.com/photos/runran/3816557888/
Early bird: http://www.flickr.com/photos/36997872@N00/3952976095/
Night owl: http://www.flickr.com/photos/left-hand/2239790269/
Hamilton fans: https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulamarttila/4383893915
Bored children: http://www.flickr.com/photos/zen/241745451
Lego: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ianus/279779993/
Important: http://www.flickr.com/photos/valeriebb/290711738/S
Lean Startup: https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulamarttila/6116853206/
Helping hands: http://www.flickr.com/photos/theloushe/3696494100/
Awesome: http://www.flickr.com/photos/torley/3674050796/
Fred Destin: https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulamarttila/5939919930/
www.compass.co/
startup-ecosystem.compass.co/startupgenomereport2/
http://blog.asmartbear.com/startup-genome-project.html
https://signalvnoise.com/posts/1808-strangers-at-a-cocktail-party
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdk7xVl7RUc : Chamath Palihapitiya, Launch Festival 2013
Chamath Palihapitiya, How we put Facebook on path to 1B users:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=raIUQP71SBU#!
freddestin.com/2011/08/startup-lifecycle-lean-to-fat-launch-to-scale-video.html
http://playbook.samaltman.com/
@paulamarttila