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INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader [email protected] Twitter: @siddiquiahmed
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INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader [email protected].

Jan 01, 2016

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Page 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP

COMMUNITYAhmed Siddiqui

Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area

Leader

[email protected]

Twitter: @siddiquiahmed

Page 2: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

The Dream: Move West and Find Your

Riches

Page 3: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Pack your Bags go to Silicon Valley!

Twitter: @siddiquiahmed

Page 4: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Turn over stones and find money

Twitter: @siddiquiahmed

Page 5: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Yay you are funded!

Twitter: @siddiquiahmed

Page 6: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Apple just bought you! Time to Parrrrtaaayyyy!

Twitter: @siddiquiahmed

Page 7: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

The Reality

Page 8: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Customers Don’t Like your Product

Page 9: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Ramen Noodles

Twitter: @siddiquiahmed

Page 10: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Your product still sucks!

Twitter: @siddiquiahmed

Page 11: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Ramen Noodles

Twitter: @siddiquiahmed

Page 12: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Co-Founder Disagreements

Page 13: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Ramen Noodles

Twitter: @siddiquiahmed

Page 14: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Your BIG idea really isn’t that big

GOLD AND RICHES IN SF!

Twitter: @siddiquiahmed

Page 15: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Ramen Noodles

Twitter: @siddiquiahmed

Page 16: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Call your mommy for some money

Twitter: @siddiquiahmed

Page 17: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Ramen Noodles

Twitter: @siddiquiahmed

Page 18: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

It’s okay we got your back

Meetups

Hackathons

Mentors

Classes

Co-Working

Incubators

Angels

VC’s

Twitter: @siddiquiahmed

Bootstrapping

Page 19: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Meetups

Page 20: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Meetups+ Plus

Wide variety Inexpensive Mostly in the

evenings

- Minus You will meet too

many people It is more social

and not very action based

Page 21: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Hackathons

Page 22: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Hackathons+ Plus

Action based Potentially find a

cofounder Prizes!

- Minus MVP will likely be

scrapped after weekend

Requires a whole weekend’s time

Page 23: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Mentors

+ Plus•You choose your mentor•Could lead to funding

- Minus•Wrong mentor could lead you down the wrong path

Page 24: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Incubators/Accelerators

Page 25: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Incubators/Accelerators+ Plus

Seed funding Structure for your

startup Peer network

- Minus Tough to get into Too many

incubators, which one to choose?

Page 26: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Classes/Talks

Twitter: @siddiquiahmed

Page 27: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Classes+ Plus

Structured learning

Many times in the evening

Great networking

-Minus Some can be

pricey Time commitment

required Twitter: @siddiquiahmed

Page 28: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Co-Working

Page 29: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Co-Working+ Plus

Work with other startups

Build Network Attend events

- Minus Pricey – Average

Desk is $500/mo Some require you

have seed funding

Page 30: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Bootstrapping

Twitter: @siddiquiahmed

Page 31: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Bootstrapping+ Plus

Make a little money while working on your startup

Meet interesting people

- Minus Not for everyone Could be a

distraction to your startup

Page 32: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

BootstrappingBootstrapping links:Zaarly: http://zaar.ly/p0OtLyft: http://driveforlyft.com/2HYAirbnb: http://bit.ly/airasOdesk: https://www.odesk.com/TaskRabbit: https://taskrabbit.com/PAL/518662GetAround: http://www.getaround.com/RelayRides: https://relayrides.com/Venturebeat Article: http://venturebeat.com/2013/01/21/will-you-leave-your-job-to-join-the-sharing-economy/

Twitter: @siddiquiahmed

Page 33: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Angels

Twitter: @siddiquiahmed

Page 34: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Angels+ Plus

Many do convertible notes

Great advisors Help with further rounds

- Minus Smaller increments of

funding If you don’t get a

seasoned investor, things could get ugly Twitter:

@siddiquiahmed

Page 35: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

VC’s

Page 36: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

VC’s+ Plus

Funding! Great Advice Will help with

further rounds

- Minus You have funding,

but now you have more accountability

Lose large ownership stake

Page 37: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Keep reaching for the stars!

Twitter: @siddiquiahmed

Page 38: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

You will trip and fall, get back up!

Twitter: @siddiquiahmed

Page 39: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

Welcome to the SF Tech Community – Get ready for the ride of your life!

Twitter: @siddiquiahmed

Page 40: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

• NDAs / “people will steal my idea”• “Just need a coder to build my product”• Write a business plan —> get funding• The loudest people are the smartest• Too hard to get “in” or catch up• Silicon Valley is all that matters• Entrepreneurship is too risky of a career path• Founding a company is the best way to get involved• Only developers can get good jobs at startups

Common Misconceptions

Page 41: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

• Front-End Developer (CSS, HTML)• Back-End Developer (Ruby, Python, Java)• UX/UI Designer (inDesign, Photoshop)• Product Manager (Light frontend dev, design)• Business Development (Sales, Partnerships)• Marketing/User Acquisition (Email marketing, social media, SEO, data analytics)• Data Scientist (Hadoop, Matlab, SQL)• Sales (willingness to find and follow leads)• Community Management (Social Media)• Operations (Customer service, Office management)• Other roles depending on vertical (education, fashion)

Common Roles

Page 42: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

APPENDIX: BLOGS TO READ

•Chris Dixon — http://cdixon.org•Fred Wilson (A VC) — http://avc.com•BetaBeat — http://betabeat.com•SAI — http://businessinsider.com/sai•Paul Graham’s Essays — http://paulgraham.com•Hacker News — http://news.ycombinator.com•TechCrunch — http://techcrunch.com•General Assembly — http://generalassemb.ly/blog•Venture Hacks – http://venturehacks.com

Page 43: INTRODUCTION TO THE SF STARTUP COMMUNITY Ahmed Siddiqui Director of Hacks at SignalFire and former Startup Weekend Bay Area Leader ahmed@signalfire.com.

APPENDIX: NEWSLETTERS

•Startup Digest — http://startupdigest.com•General Assembly — http://generalassemb.ly