The Way of the Entrepreneur

The Way of the Entrepreneur

Leighton Peter PrabhuReutov

14-Nov-2014

Why choose entrepreneurship?

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Search for meaningful work

Only 13% of employees worldwide are engaged at work, meaning only about one in eight workers is psychologically committed to their job and trying to make positive contributions.

Pull factors3

Meaningful work

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and

the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you

do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't

settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when

you find it.”Steve Jobs

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But... employment is inherently unstable

LTVCAC

Push factors5

Risk

Is entrepreneurship riskier than being an

employee?

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Or does entrepreneurship

choose you?

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The “making” of an entrepreneur

“Entrepreneurs want to matter. They do not

want a job, they want a purpose. They want to make a difference and they know that if they

do not show up for work, important

accomplishments will not be achieved.”John Greathouse

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Personal journey

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Candy tradingNewspaper sales/deliveryEnterpriser magazine salesDoor-to-door Florida orangesDoor-to-door chocolate almondsPrabco Typing ServiceCredit card salesTelesalesData entry / system conversion Waiter

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18Business card printing pressDuraclean carpet cleaning franchise

HustleJobs and businesses before university

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During & post universityPosition Company/Project Location

Summer Intern Investment Canada Ottawa

Summer Intern Clarkson Gordon Montreal

Senior Accountant Price Waterhouse Toronto

Co-Founder Interstice Consulting Ottawa

Associate, Investment Banking Chase Manhattan Bank Hong Kong

VIce President, Project Finance JPMorgan Chase Singapore

Director, Investment Banking Bank of America Singapore

E-commerce Consultant Citigroup New York

Co-Founder End of the Tether Expeditions Cambridge

Chief Financial Officer FinanceMatrix New York

Chief Financial Officer MyCove New York

Website Developer Various US-based clients New York

Infrastructure Bonds Specialist Asian Development Bank Colombo

Model and Actor Various projects New York

Director, Corporate Finance PwC Moscow

Lecturer, Financial Markets Investor Relations Institute Moscow

Co-Founder Wonderyears.ru Moscow

Commercial Director, Russia Shoes of Prey Moscow

Co-Founder Lukx.ru Moscow

Co-Author Data Privacy: A Practical Guide USA

Co-Founder Top 10 Shades Singapore

Co-Founder The OutPost Singapore

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Challenges of entrepreneurship

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Persistence

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Paul Graham’s chart

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Airbnb• Founded in 2007• Relaunched 3 times before

gaining critical mass• Accepted into Y

Combinator in 2009• Raised $600K seed funding

in 2009• “Growth hacking” through

Craigslist, professional photos

• Current valuation $10 billion (Yandex ~ $8.5 billion)

cumulative rooms

booked

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Building a support system

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Mentors

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On mentors

“ ‘People say it’s all about who you

meet, but to me it’s about who you

make part of your circle that really

matters.’ ”Shane Snow

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Where to find mentors?• Angel investors

• Accelerator programs - if they are the “right” ones with real access to successful entrepreneurs who are willing to get involved

• University alumni groups

• Business networking groups

• Direct contact

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Resilience

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Dealing with failure

“Everyone is an entrepreneur. The only skills you need to be an

entrepreneur are the ability to fail, to have

ideas, to sell those ideas, to execute on them, and to

be persistent so even as you fail you learn and move onto the next

adventure.”James Altucher

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“... you are the average of the five people you associate with most, so do not underestimate the effects of your

pessimistic, unambitious, or disorganized friends. If someone isn't making you stronger, they're making

you weaker.”

Tim Ferriss

“Alternating periods of activity and rest is necessary to survive, let alone thrive.

Capacity, interest, and mental endurance all wax and wane. Plan

accordingly.”

Social circle

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24Emotional rollercoaster

Persistence

“Courage is not something that you

already have that makes you brave when the tough times start.

Courage is what you earn when you’ve been

through the tough times and you discover they

aren’t so tough after all.”Malcolm Gladwell

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Building a business

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Making an impact

“You need three things to create a successful startup: to start with

good people, to make something customers actually want, and to spend as little money

as possible.”Paul Graham

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Selecting an idea

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“Just about every successful venture is

based on an ‘unoriginal’ idea

beautifully executed. Ideas are easy. Doing

stuff is hard.”

- Seth Godin

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Selecting a business idea

“It’s much better to be the last mover.

Make the last great development in a

specific market and enjoy years or even

decades of monopoly profits.”Peter Thiel

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Entrepreneurship ≠ Tech

Company Name Industry Deal Size

Axalta Coating Systems Leading global supplier of coatings for the auto and transportation industry. $878mm

PRA Health Sciences One of the largest global contract research organizations. $400mm

Virgin America Low-cost airline operating primarily out of San Francisco and Los Angeles. $300mm

Navios Maritime Midstream Partners MLP formed by Navios Maritime to operate four contracted crude oil tankers. $162mm

eHi Car Services Chinese car rental service with a 15,000+ vehicle fleet in over 90 cities. $130mm

FibroGen Developing treatments for anemia and fibrosis using a protein inhibitor platform. $124mm

NeuroDerm Developing a slow-release formulation of an existing drug for Parkinson's Disease. $65mm

Landmark Infrastructure Partners LP MLP formed by Landmark Dividend to own cell towers, billboards and leased property. $60mm

S1 Biopharma Developing a combined therapy of existing drugs for female sexual dysfunction. $36mm

The Joint Franchises 225 cash-based chiropractic clinics in the US. $30mm

IPO Calendar, Week of November 10, 2014

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Booking temporary flats

before airbnb32

Booking temporary flats

airbnb33

Scaling the business

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Marketing is crucial

“What nerds don't realize is that it also takes hard work to make sales look easy ... If you've invented something new but you

haven't invented an effective way to sell it,

you have a bad business—no matter how good

the product.”Peter Thiel

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Customer acquisition

• Word-of-mouth / referrals / CRM

• Online advertising (keyword / display)

• Content marketing / SEO

• PR & social media

• Affiliate marketing

• Event sponsorships

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Cost?Short / long term

Conversion trackingROI

Scaling profitably

CAC

LTV

Net

pro

fit /

cust

omer

Time

Payback

•Tactics to increase spending / share of wallet•Customer churn

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Case: Shoes of Prey

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Building the Shoes of Prey brand

Creating awarenessand excitement

Delivering a great experience

Generating positive word of mouth

‣ Encouraging sharing on social media‣ Offering incentives for referrals

‣ Online‣ Offline‣ Localized‣ Personalized

‣ Creating demand through PR, events, social media‣ Engaging opinion leaders

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Closing comments

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“There are no shortcuts to knowledge,

especially knowledge gained from personal experience. Following conventional wisdom

and relying on shortcuts can be worse than knowing nothing

at all.”Ben Horowitz

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Making an impact

“You want to be extra rigorous about making the best possible thing

you can. Find everything that’s wrong

with it and fix it. Seek negative feedback, particularly from

friends.”Elon Musk

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Bias towards action

“Startups are like minefields. Most people never make it out alive. 

Some make it out because they are lucky.  But most who make it out make it

because they've hit so many landmines they know

how to avoid them.  You don't learn this in books or

by reading blogs, but by living it day to day.”

Rob May

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Lifestyle / empowerment

“Fitting in is a short-term strategy.

Standing out pays off in the long run.”

- Seth Godin

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Additional resourcesBooks

• “Choose Yourself”, James Altucher

• “Outliers”, Malcolm Gladwell

• “Smartcuts”, Shane Snow

• “The 4 Hour Workweek”, Tim Ferriss

• “The Hard Thing About Hard Things”, Ben Horowitz

• “Zero to One”, Peter ThielInternet

• Paul Graham’s essays: http://www.paulgraham.com/articles.html

• Mixergy.com Podcast

• “How to Start a Startup”, online course with video segments by real entrepreneurs

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[email protected]

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