Foundations of Entrepreneurship

1. Foundations of Entrepreneurship Quiz 2 Content Spring 2013

2. 5 steps to the perfect pitch • Identify a big pain that invokes an emotional response in your audience • Offer a brilliant solution that logically follows and solves the big pain you've identified • State how your solution is different (i.e., better) by acknowledging and dismissing current solution providers • State convincingly why you are the right person to make this opportunity a reality. • Push your audience to act - get them to the point where they say "Tell me more."

3. How to connect with your audience • Why should you care about how you come across to your “catcher?” • Entrepreneurs come up with great pitches to show how their plans or concepts are attractive, timely durable, and high-margin • But corporate decision makers don’t “get it” and ideas go unfunded • Why? Is it the pitcher’s or the catcher’s fault? • You can model yourself after one of three types of pitchers to succeed

4. 3 types of pitchers • Showrunner: “professionals” who combine creative inspiration with production and technical know-how • Artist: quirky and unpolished, prefer creativity over reality • Neophyte: tend to be – or act as if they were – young, inexperienced, and naïve, but are prepared to “do the impossible.” Project yourself as one of these three creative typesand convince the “catcher” s/he is a creative collaborator and you improve your chances of selling the idea

5. Traits we use to stereotype “creatives” People rely on stereotypes – We use visual and verbal matches with these pitching models and remember only the characteristics that identify the pitcher as a particular type • Unconventionality • Intuitiveness • Sensitivity • Narcissism • Passion • Youth Which creative pitching type is the best fit for you?

6. How to succeed • Catchers overwhelmingly look for showrunners – be a showrunner if you have the skill set • Artists and neophytes can wind through enchantment and charm (and overcome gaps in experience) • Showrunners are also the most dangerous because they can blind the catcher through glitz

7. Founding teams

8. Anchoring vision in team philosophy and attitudes • The most successful entrepreneurs seem to anchor their vision of the future in certain entrepreneurial philosophies and attitudes: • What a team is • What its mission is • How it will be rewarded • Unwritten ground rules, rewards, compensation, and incentive structures rest o these philosophy and attitudes

9. Anchoring vision in team philosophy and attitudes “The capacity of the lead entrepreneur to craft a vision, and then to lead, inspire, persuade, and cajole key people to sign up for an deliver the dream makes an enormous difference between success and failure.” Jeffrey Timmons

10. Ways to success – advantages of a team • More feedback • Increased portfolio of skills • Higher level of social support • Moral support • Greater capacity for innovation • Extended network

11. Things to keep in mind when creating a start-up Evaluate your skills Use your strengths Ask for feedback of your actions

12. Building a powerful team Create a staffing plan You have at least three types of networks to source team members – make the most of them! Find people to fill positions Your personal network Your advisors’ Network Your extended Network • Professors • Alums • Friends • Family • Professional Managers • Tech experts

13. Attributes of successful teams • Cohesion – “We’re in this together” • Teamwork – make others’ job easier; no individual heroes • Integrity – hard choices and trade-offs based on what is good for the customer • Commitment to the long haul – no one benefits by signing up now and bailing out early • Harvest mind-set – capital gain is the goal, not a paycheck

14. Attributes of successful teams • Commitment to value creation – making the pie bigger for everyone • Equal inequality – democracy does not work well in start-ups –divide the pie based on what you bring to the table - $, talent, contacts, experience • Fairness – rewards are based on contribution, performance, and results over time • Sharing of the harvest – 10 – 20% of “winnings” is frequently set aside to distribute to key employees; characteristic of the most successful entrepreneurs

15. Filling the gaps • “Successful entrepreneurs search for people and form and build a team based on what the opportunity requires, and when.”* • Team members contribute high value when they complement and balance the lead entrepreneur and each other • The process of evaluating and deciding who is needed, and when, is dynamic and not a one-time event * Timmons, 1975

16. Filling the gaps • The founder • Every team starts with the founder (aka, the lead entrepreneur) • Founder determines whether team is needed, assesses talent, skills, track record, and contacts of possible members • Founder needs to determine what the venture requires in order to succeed

17. Filling the gaps • The opportunity • Whatever the team needs are depends on the fit between the lead entrepreneur and the opportunity • Entrepreneur must clearly define: • the value added and logic of business model (revenues and costs) • Critical success factors • Extent to which s/he has access to critical resources and relationships

18. Filling the gaps • Outside resources • Gaps can be filled by external resources: • Boards of directors, accountants, lawyers, consultants, etc. • Entrepreneur must consider: • Whether need is specialized, one-time or part-time or a critical continuous need • What trade secrets might be compromised if external expertise is used

19. Examples of External Team Members

20. Do Nots of double employment • Do not use your employer’s resources • Do not expropriate intellectual property from your current employer • Do not solicit your employer’s customers until you quit the job • Do not conceal the fact that you are founding your own venture

21. Problems that new venture teams face • Family pressures: intense commitment of time and effort can stress family relationships • Burnout: entrepreneurs need to be mentally tough and focus on the long haul • Interpersonal conflicts: minor conflicts between team members can blow up under high pressure

22. Entrepreneurial teams William Sahlman remarks on creating the best start-up teams Notes from Stanford EdCorner series

23. 4 critical elements to hiring • Four critical elements to observe in the process of hiring people are: • Integrity, • References, • Attitude and • Adaptability. • Sahlmanhighlights the importance of seeing through a resume to the core of the person underneath, one way of which is to use your network of contacts to get the back story on an individual.

24. 4 critical elements to hiring • You have to pay the most attention to integrity. • In 180 companies Sahlman has seen, he's only had to deal with 3 bad people. • Issues to consider: • When confronted with decision that may benefit person or team, person who makes decision on his or her behalf is absolute poison. integrity has to be the forefront of your thinking. • Conflict is everywhere. you have to deal with situations where people may prefer to act in their best interests. if you're concerned, don't hire them..

25. References and attributes • A resume is a marketing document to sell yourself – people don’t talk about failures, just how they want you to see them • Find people with valuable competencies – use your networks because your first hires will make or break your venture • Attitude is everything in early hires – make sure they’re capable of change – see second bullet on networks…

26. Challenges of hiring good people • Recruiting good people is hard work • Mistakes are common, fixing them is critical • Entrepreneurs must expend extra effort in interviewing and screening because a bad hire can kill the company • Entrepreneurs must be ruthless in fixing hiring mistakes

27. Interviewing • Do you love to interview people? (most of us don’t) • We are biased to want that person in front of us to be the right person – it’s still a 50/50 proposition (aka chance for mistakes) • A bad hire in an established company costs $500k; bad hire in start-up costs the company • People don’t change; give them feedback, treat them with respect, but realize that org requires great people

28. Teams are more important than individuals • Teams are the central unit of entrepreneurial success • Many companies succeed because of the team, not any particular individual – entrepreneurs should think carefully about breaking up teams as well as the effect that replacing an individual has on a team – worry more about the quality of the team than the person you are removing or adding to the team

29. Summary • What you want from ideal candidates: integrity, references, adaptability, attitude, and valuable capabilities – integrity is paramount • Teams are more important than individuals • You must expend more effort in your hiring activities than established companies expend • You must deal with bad hires as soon as possible

30. The Business Plan

31. Why write a business plan? • Always when a new venture needs outside funding • Early in the planning process when you are looking at a large-scale project • Later or not at all when you are bootstrapping Dollinger, 2008

32. Costs and benefits of planning • Writing a plan takes considerable time, money, and energy • Every plan deals with economic uncertainty and risks posed to new venture – founders may be uncomfortable confronting risks and uncertainties and avoid writing a plan • Writing the plan helps founders confront risks and conflicts before they become serious problems Dollinger, 2008

33. The plan demonstrates how you • Create or add significant value to a customer or end user • Solve a significant problem or meet a significant need for which someone is willing to pay a premium • Have robust market, margin, and money-making characteristics • Have a good fit with the founders, management team at time of market entry, and the risk/reward balance Timmons, 1999

34. After you write the plan • It becomes a point of departure for due diligence for potential investors and to determine risks of venture (technology, market, management, competitive, financial risks) • This homework is crucial even if you don’t try to raise outside capital • The most valuable investors will see weaknesses, even flaws, and will propose tactics and people to fix them Timmons, 1999

35. Tips for business planning and raising outside funds RE: Venture capitalists • There are a lot of them; don’t talk to all of them • Getting a “no” is as difficult as getting a “yes;” qualify your targets and force others to say no • Be vague about which other VCs you are talking to • Do not meet with an associate or junior member twice without a partner Timmons, 1999

36. Tips for business planning and raising outside funds RE: The plan • Stress your business concept in the executive summary • The numbers matter less than the economics (value proposition and business model) • Make the business plan look and feel good w/o using “filler” • Be prepared to provide copies of published articles, contracts, market studies, purchase orders, resumes, etc. Timmons, 1999

37. Tips for business planning and raising outside funds RE: The Deal • Make sure investors want you as bad as you want them • Create a market for your venture • Never say no to an offer price • Use a lawyer with venture deal experience • Don’t stop selling until the money is in the bank Timmons, 1999

38. Tips for business planning and raising outside funds RE: The fund raising process • It is much harder than you ever thought it would be • You can last much longer than you ever thought you would • The venture capitalists have to do this the rest of their careers Timmons, 1999

39. Critiquing the plan – General criteria • Comprehensiveness – use a template to help • Analysis – resource, industry, competitor and product analysis; financial projections with percentages, returns, and comparisons with analogs • Reasonableness – assumptions are comparable to benchmarks and facts • Writing and presentation – well written and organized Dollinger, 2008

40. Critiquing the plan – Specific criteria • Management – experience, honesty, integrity • Resources – rare, valuable, hard to copy, unique • Projections and returns – all data must have solid foundation in reality, yet optimistic enough to attract investors • Exit – how and when will investors recoup money? Dollinger, 2008

41. New venture resources Steps to identifying, acquiring, developing, and deploying resources in start-ups

42. New venture resource endowments Reality of start-ups • No administrative history • No loyal customer base • No performance reputation • No shared experience Implications • Each resource decision choice has substantial implications for survival and growth of the firm • Early strategies must focus on unique capabilities rooted in innovative combinations of resources

43. Jeff Hawkins • Developed patent on handwriting algorithm as doctoral student in neurobiology • Licensed patent to former employer Grid Systems to commercialize it to keep track of deliveries • Grid customers said they wanted personal devices – saw demand for a consumer product

44. Resource development pathway at Palm ORGANIZATIONAL • Complex • Intangible • Systemic • Knowledge-based SOCIAL Industry contacts TECHNOLOGICAL Patent HUMAN Experience, education, reputation PHYSICAL COMBINATIONS • Simple • Tangible • Discrete • Property-based PHYSICAL FINANCIAL Instrumental Utilitarian

45. Resource development pathway at Handspring ORGANIZATIONAL Experienced employees • Complex • Intangible • Systemic • Knowledge-based SOCIAL Industry contacts Customer/supplier relationships TECHNOLOGICAL License HUMAN Experience, education, reputation PHYSICAL COMBINATIONS • Simple • Tangible • Discrete • Property-based PHYSICAL FINANCIAL Personal funds Instrumental Utilitarian

46. Challenges in building a resource base The Timmons Model for Entrepreneurial Success

47. For example

48. Resource pyramidof value creation Unique advantage Strategic assets Core competencies Capabilities Generic resources Palm Handspring

49. Attracting initial resources • Concept must be viable… • …but there must also be a connection between the founder and the potential sources of resources • The entrepreneur’s reputation, capabilities, commitment, and conduct – plus human and social capital – determine his/her ability to attract resources

50. The resource-development pathway • Resource-development pathway tool helps the entrepreneur begin with starting endowments and connect the specification steps to acquisition of other needed resources • This process is facilitated by the social skills – a competence – of the entrepreneur