I gave this presentation at the Pittsburgh Technology Council on September 26, 2011.

1. Startup & Venture Lessons Jay Jamison Venture Partners, BlueRun Ventures jjamison@brv.com | @jay_jamison | jayjamison.com

2. Agenda Introduction Top 10 Lessons Q&A

3. Introduction Logistics: 30 minute talk, then Q&A About me Wharton MBA ’98 Microsoft ‘98-’07 Founder, Moonshoot ‘07-’10 Venture Partner, BlueRun Ventures, ‘10-Present 3

4. About BlueRun Ventures Over $1.0B under management Investing out of Fund IV ($240M) Focus: Mobile & consumer internet Seed & Series A Representative investments 4

5. Stuff that surprised me Having nearly 10 years at MSFT didn’t matter at all. Having an MBA from Wharton mattered even less. Both were actually seen as basically negatives. But, several of the skills from both really helped. 5

6. Top 10 Startup Lessons Today’s Golden Age For Founders & Its Double-Edge Sword. What’s #1: Markets, Team, or Product? Picking Co-Founders & How to Split the Baby. The “Whatever Works” Principal. Getting used to “No,” and Being a Meat Eater Hire Slow, Fire Fast Distribution is Really Hard & Really Important If You Stop Loving It, Make a Change. Integrity and Value Add Pitching & Fund-Raising My go-to resources 6

7. It’s a Golden Age for Entrepreneurs…. Cheaper than ever to start a company. Better resources (Y-Combinator, Founder Institute, Startup Digest, 500Startups, StartupCompanyLawyer, TechCrunch, etc.). Technology is easier to learn, access, &c.

8. … And Investors Understand This. I’m seeing lots of great companies that are: Capital efficient High velocity in coding and releasing. Product in market with traction Clear customer insight on what works. Battle-tested founding teams. Clear, concrete ask on what $$$ they need.

9. Implication While we’re in a Golden Age for Entrepreneurs, it is raising the bar for most very early stage companies… You need to prove more on very little money, because so many other start-ups are already doing so.

10. What’s #1: Markets, Team, or Product? Which is most important? Market Product Team

11. Which is most important? Market Product Team

12. Analysis 75 pitches / quarter 0-2 get to term sheet Score each Multiple regression 12

13. How I think about Markets Choose Any 4 Companies, Stack Rank Vision World’s largest store Redefine social Organize & access information Reinvent money ???? Your Company

14. How I think about Markets Choose Any 4 Companies, Stack Rank Vision World’s largest store Redefine social Organize & access information Reinvent money Teach English to children everywhere

15. How I think about Markets Choose Any 4 Companies, Stack Rank Vision Internet Radio Flash retail sales User generated video & tv Social local food media

16. Co-Founders What a tech founder needs in a business co-founder… Someone who sells what you build Someone who can do all the important stuff that’s not coding Leadership and vision Potentially you can raise money, while you code. What a business co-founder needs in a tech co-founder… Someone who writes code and gets technical stuff done, and who ideally understands how to hire and expand the technical team over time. Technical chops, CS/EE degree Nice to have: a track record building stuff Very nice to have: Ideas on how to hire devs 16

17. Finding a Technical Co-Founder 17 More important than fund-raising Requires almost the same skills Pitching and salesmanship Capacity to speak enough geek Resourcefulness

18. Default founder split: equal 18

19. Whatever Works 19 You never get a second chance to make a first impression. – Anon. If you’re not embarrassed with your first launch, you’re waiting too long. – Reid Hoffman Lean Startup Never stealth! Revenue from Day 1 Building for Scale Scrum Everything Inhouse Offshore Minimum Viable Product StealthCo HTML5 Customer Development Native Apps

21. Listen to people you trust

22. Use what works for you

23. The key is work fast & economicallyLean Startup Never stealth! Revenue from Day 1 Building for Scale Scrum Everything Inhouse Offshore Minimum Viable Product StealthCo HTML5 Customer Development Native Apps

24. Getting Used to No As Founder: Heard “No” a lot, especially fund-raising At least 150 times From 5 different countries As an Investor: I say “No” a lot, especially to fund-raisers Probably 1% 21

25. What’s weird about this… These numbers are probably about average Generally “No” coming from smart, polite person (Not always the case, so be careful) Under 10% of founders really follow-up and stay after it Lesson: build a plan to deal with “No”… 22

26. Be A Meat-Eater Speed Swagger Persistence Follow-through Showcase progress 23

27. Hire Slow, Fire Fast Hire Slow Wait for real pain Everyone interviews Share feedback Do reference checks Dinner w/ SO Fire Fast When perf lags, speak up Set clear expectations Set a crisp timeline Fire Ensure lawyer is in loop 24

28. Distribution This is by far the weakest part of your business at this point And, it is also one of the most important…

29. Love It or Leave It 26

30. Values & Value-Add Values are key from day 1 Set them & talk about them constantly. No “right” way to do this, but doing it is important Value-Add is also a key from day 1 If someone stops pulling their weight, deal with it 27

31. Fund-Raising & Pitching

32. Logistics : Pre-Meeting Arrive 15 minutes early every time Have back-ups (2nd PC, Dongles, USBs) Treat everyone you meet politely Setup & preflight ppt & demo before meeting starts Bring ideally 2-3 people Remember: You are SELLING

33. Logistics: During Meeting Give everyone who attends a role Script which person handles which slide(s) Assign a scribe, every time

34. Logistics: Q&A During Meeting Often badly managed, and very important Answer questions directly Script answers on the obvious questions How much are you raising? How long does this last? What beachhead markets do you think are most promising? What holes exist in your team? Why won’t Google, Facebook, Twitter, or someone else eat your lunch? What makes you the right team to do this?

35. Logistics: Post Meeting Scribe: Write down all new QA for FAQ Follow-up in email that dayw/ thanks, etc. Do what you need to handle rejection Keep positive & keep in touch

36. Go To Resources TechCrunch, VentureBeat, TechMeme, etc. JoelonSoftware (MUST READ!!! Esp on functional specs) Startup digest Netflix on Culture Compstudy.com Igor International Naming Guide Paul Graham’s blog. http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/ (Eric Ries’ blog) 33

37. Thanks! 34