A 5 year journey summarized into 15 minutes: Although every business is different and faces unique challenges, The Business Lifecycle attempts to build a framework that could be adapted to all. This presentation provides a generic outline of the stages of building a business and challenges faced along the way.

1. The Business Lifecycle
From Ideation to Liquidity
by Karl Alomar - February 2016
@kalomarnyc

2. THE GREAT IDEA
BIRTH TRACTION PREDICTABILITY
VALIDATION LIQUIDITYSCALE

3. WANT
NEED
DISRUPTIVE
TECH
REVOLUTIONARY
PROCESS
THE GREAT IDEA

4. “You don’t need to be a genius or a visionary, or
even a college graduate for that matter, to be
successful. You just need framework and a dream.”
– Michael Dell, CEO of Dell

5. BIRTH
MONEY
TIME
PARTNERS
PATIENCE RESEARCH PLAN

6. “If you have to ask whether you have Product/
Market Fit, the answer is simple: you don’t.”
– Eric Ries, The Lean Startup

7. VALIDATION
VISION
PRODUCT
HYPOTHESIS &
REQUIREMENTS
GATHERING
BUSINESS
FEASIBILITY
TECHNICAL
FEASIBILITY
PIVOT LEARN
(MVP)
PRODUCT
DESIGN
ITERATE
TEST AND
ANALYZE
INVESTMENT

9. “...customers are buying the product just as fast as
you can make it – or usage is growing just as fast as
you can add servers...”
– Marc Andreessen, The Pmarca Guide to Startups

10. INSTITUTIONAL
INVESTMENT
GROWTH
INVESTMENT
BUILD CORE
TEAM
TRACTION
PRODUCT /
ENGINEERING
SALES/
MARKETING
FINANCE / HR
DEFINE &
DRIVE
MEASURABLE
GOALS
Drives Organic
Traction
Drives Market
Traction
Necessary
Foundation

12. “It is important for young entrepreneurs to be
adequately self-aware to know what they do not
know”
– Mark Zuckerberg

13. SCALE
FOUNDATIONOPERATIONMODEL
Is your PRODUCT SCALABLE? Is your MARKET SCALABLE?
Profitable
BUSINESS MODEL?
Scalable
PROCESSES?
Available
RESOURCES?
Focus on
VISION
Focus on
TALENT
AQUISITION
Focus on
CULTURE
Focus on
LEADERSHIP

14. Series B
Series A
EMPLOYEE COUNT NUMBERS
Series Seed

17. “...clearly as you move towards being a public
company. Probably even more than growth. There is
huge value based upon predictability...”
– Mark Pincus

18. PREDICTABILITY
CLEAR VISION
MANAGED GROWTH
MEASUREMENT
COMPLIANCE & CONTROLS

19. Steady Growth, Strong Organization, Clear Vision
“I enjoy not being a public company.”
– Marc Andreessen
M&AIPOSTAYING PRIVATE

20. Thank you!