Jason Mendelson on "Building a Business". Through a series of workshops, crash courses, and mentorship opportunities, the CU NVC experience supports the development of new ventures and culminates with a March 2010 competition. The CU NVC is presented by entrepreneurship centers and programs across campus, including the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship, Silicon Flatirons Center, eShip, ATLAS, Technology Transfer Office, and the Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program.
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
1
How to Build a CompanyJanuary 13, 2010
University of Colorado’s New Venture Challenge
Jason Mendelson, Co-Founder and Managing DirectorFoundry Group; Chair, Silicon Flatirons Entrepreneurship Initiative
The idea of this presentation is to give you an all-purpose summary on company building. The workshop presentations later this semester will dive into all of these subjects and more in depth
•How to come up with the right idea for you to pursue•Building a team•Setting up the business•Getting financed•Growing a business•Operating a business•Common mistakes people make•PLEASE INTERRUPT ME. Chances are that you are less boring than I am
The Idea• Is a “non-competitor” really a competitor?
Facebook – generic social network. You decide to create one targeted to musicians / soccer moms, etc.
Competition might not be Facebook, but the time allocated to social networks by your customers. They only have so much. Plus, FB can quickly move to compete, if need be
• Can you make money from it? (and the answer isn’t “advertising”)
• When you talk to your friends, do they get excited about it? (If you don’t have any friends, then you have other issues that I can’t help you with)
• Make sure you don’t have “technology in search of a problem”
• Seriously vet your idea. Remember, people’s incentives are to say “go for it” – it’s not their time and money being wasted