Are Startups for me?

Are Startups for me?

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  Are Startups for me? 2021.11.04 Pedro J.Molina, PhD Founder
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  Disclaimer ▪AllopinionsthatIamgoingtopresenthereare hardlybiasedbymyownexperience. ▪Takethemcarefully,notasanirrefutabletruth. ▪Contrastwithothersandyourownexperience& context.
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  Contents ▪ Career pathsfor PhDs ▪ Entrepreneurs:data & mindset ▪ Short Bio (to put in context) ▪ My balance: achievements & failures ▪ Lesson learned ▪ My approachto business ▪ Entrepreneursin a Post-pandemic World ▪ Sum up: advice to my younger-self
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  Career paths fora PhD ▪ Academia, Postdoctoral Research ▪ Path to→ Full time professor (high competence) ▪ Work in industry ▪ Software Developer ▪ Consultancy ▪ Research ▪ Startups ▪ Build your own ▪ Join a startup ▪ Cultivate carrots, be a gardener, a musician, etc. Legend: Explored in Blue, not yet in Red.
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  Some Entrepreneurial Facts Abundanceof entrepreneurs: 0.31% in the USA Survival rate: ▪ 20% close on the 1st year ▪ 50% close before the 5th year. ▪ 33% ofstartup survive after10 years. Reason #1why businesses fail is there’s no market need. 62% of small businesses don't have any staff. 30% of entrepreneurs only have a high school degree. PhD holders: ▪ 4% entrepreneurs ▪ 96% remains in Academia or work for companies) Studies show middle-aged men start the most successful businesses. (MIT Sloan) There is a belief that young people are responsible for most successful businesses out there. However, studies shown that middle-aged men have a much better chance of succeeding in their enterprises, especially if they’vealready workedin thefield before. 42years of age on average. There seemed to be this very consistent finding that the likelihood of entrepreneurialsuccess riseswith age. https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/age- of-successful-entrepreneurs 55% say their biggest motivation is being their own boss 97% of self-employed professionals say they would nevergo back to traditional employment.
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  Bio 1998 - 1999Research Fellowship, UPV, Valencia 1994 - 1996 Technical Software Engineering, UCLM, Albacete Seattle SFO 1996 - 1998 Software Engineering, UPV, Valencia 1998 - 2003 PhDinComputer Sciences,UPV, Valencia 1999 - 2004 Researcher, Software Architect CARE Technologies, Dénia 2005 - 2012 Capgemini, SW Architect, Consultant, Manager, Valencia 2012 - 2016 Research Manager & CTO, Icinetic, Sevilla / Seattle 2016 - now Founder,Metadev, Sevilla 2018 - now OpenAPI Inititative, Linux Foundation / Univ. of Seville AB VLC Dénia SVQ Born in 1975. Work Experience Studies
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  Achievements ▪ PhD inthe area I like (2003) ▪ 2 USPTO patents granted (2005) ▪ Working for top companiesbuilding successful MDE approaches ▪ Build one of the firsts successful Mobile AppBuilder (Windows Phone App Builder) (2013) ▪ Setup my own company → freedom (2016) Failures ▪ Discover a failed marketing approach (2003) “The ProgrammingMachine” ▪ Discover a total lack of trust from my boss (2004) ▪ When almost get ready to sell the product/company being cheated by a big shark (2013) ▪ Wrong VC focus on the market (2013) ▪ 1.5M USD of investment vs competitors: ▪ Mendix 13+38M USD (sold to Siemmens by 700M USD 2018) ▪ or Outsystems 360+150M USD My (current) balance So far, so good! Game has not finished. I keeplearningeveryday…
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  The Startup Circus ▪Tech Crunch ▪ AngelList ▪ Accelerators ▪ Y Combinator ▪ 500 Startups ▪ Angel Investors ▪ Venture Capital ▪ A16z ▪ Sequoia … ▪ Series A, B, C… and sell The“easy” recipe: ▪ Pitch & raisethe money ▪ Growth an exponentialproduct ▪ Builda Unicorn ▪ Exit: Sell it! Pros: ▪ Will learn a lot in 2-3 years (better than an MBA) ▪ If lucky (Unicorn) you can do whatever you want after that Cons: ▪ Stressful & demanding (fierce competence) ▪ High risk: 10% get an exit, 90% close (all or nothing) Otheralternatives: ▪ Bootstrapping: keep control of the company ▪ Set the pace of the growth ▪ E.g. Mailchimp (2001 – 2021) (12.000M USD)
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  “Know thyself” Socrates Whatare my strengthpoints? What Iknow, Iam lacking? What kind of games Iliketo play? Look yourself at the mirror and ask others how they sincerely see you. https://www.16personalities.com Architects are the most likely personality typeto avoid beingdependenton other people. True for me. -> Tendency to be a solo entrepreneur. Steve Jobs: Discourse to Standford 2005 Students https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc
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  Entrepreneur Mindset ▪ Positivethinking ▪ Creative mindset ▪ Persuasive communication ability & Story telling ▪ Intrinsic motivation & Drive ▪ Tenacity & ability to learn from failure ▪ Humble while hungrily ambitious
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  Uncertain / Risk tolerance? Wheredo you feel comfortable? Build a company is a challenge in many aspects: ▪ Technical ▪ Social: customers & providers relations & team building ▪ Legal & Finances ▪ Negotations ▪ Personal effort (keep healthy physical & mental)
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  Lesson learned ▪ Setyour objectives in life ▪ What is success for you? ▪ Buildinga revolutionarytechnologyto improvethe world? ▪ Having 5 millionsof USD in the bank? ▪ Be the owner of your agendaand be able to takea free day if you want to to play with your 2 years daughter? ▪ To grow a happy family? ▪ Do what you like: Life is short to be following other's dreams ▪ Break & try thinks while you are young. You need to expose to different cultures, way of thinking to discover what you really like. ▪ Your 20s-30s are ideal time frame to discover and learn. ▪ Probably when approaching 30, 35, 40 chances are you will have children → Your perception of risk will change. ▪ Priorities change ▪ Will tolerate less risk ▪ Will not be liking to travel so much ▪ So be aware of that, and plan accordingly
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  Lesson learned ▪ Buildyour own business is not for everybody (risk aversion & self motivation) ▪ Know yourself. Can you tolerate the risk? ▪ Be prepared& await for the right timing ▪ Focus on what you can control, be aware of what we cannot ▪ If failure arrives: it’s part of life ▪ «Aguapasadanomuevemolino»(Old Spanish saying) meaning “Pastwaterdon’tmovethewatermill” ▪ Recognize > accept > embrace > learn & move on.
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  Our (lean) approachto business ▪ Now Bootstrapping (less pressure, no hurry) ▪ Know your customers: detect pain points, find where we can Add Value and focus on it ▪ Look always for win-win deals ▪ Build trust for a long-term relationship ▪ The best marketing are satisfied customers ▪ Simplify: life is too complexto create more troubles.
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  Entrepreneur in aPostpandemic World ▪ Climate Crisis: We need to be sustainable, or not be. ▪ Remoteworkhas come to stay. ▪ Talent is more reluctantto move to Silicon Valley and commute to work 2 hours every day. ▪ The nextsuccessful startups are no longer to be in SFO / Silicon Valley (can be anywhere in the world). ▪ Hire thebest (you can afford) Culturalfit & alignmentmatters more than distance. Buildtrust relationshipsand nurturethem.
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  To sum up Myadvice, to my younger self would be: ▪ Know yourself ▪ Define your own goals for happiness & to be successful ▪ Know the market ▪ Be antifragile, defer decisions, keep alternatives open: optionality. ▪ Build a team to make you grow ▪ Surround yourself with smarter people than you to learn from ▪ Be prepared to surf the wave: Thefortune willfavor thebrave (& the prepared) What ever you do, enjoy during the path, everyday. “Donottakelifetooseriously. Youwillnever get outofitalive.” Elbert Hubbard
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  Recommended readings ▪ Antifragile,Things that Gain from Disorder 2013, Nassim Taleb ▪ Exponential Organizations, 2014, Salim Ismail ▪ The Lean Startup, 2011, Eric Ries ▪ Phoenix Project, 2018, Gene Kim ▪ The Unicorn Project, 2019, Gene Kim ▪ Storytelling & Negotiation
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  Your ideas, inaction. https://metadev.pro | @metad3v