4 thoughts on “7th Exercise – Watch Dave McClure’s 2014 Stanford Talk on Startup Funding Landscape

  1. Dave McClure (500 Startups) at Startup Grind 2014

    http://youtu.be/TV3fgqhat60

    Notes:
    1. Global startup market is huge.
    2. VCs limit themselves to handful of unicorns but 500 Startups looks at much bigger market.
    3. 500 Startups is Amazon for startups.
    4. International startups, especially those in well developed home markets like Korea and Japan, should start at local markets first since advantages are language, culture, and less competition than in Silicon Valley.
    5. 500 Startups may be better value than MBA degree.
    6. Get on AngelList.
    7. Learn the other big languages: Mandarin, Spanish, Arabic.

    Comments:
    Learning languages is good but I believe learning basic level greetings and more importantly how each cultures value differently. It’s all about respect and to avoid being misinterpreted as a conquistador. However, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised (wowed!) at a company meeting at an Asia-based global company when a non-Asian, American addressed the group perfectly in the Asian language. Big silence in the room as everyone there took him much more seriously.

  2. Dave McClure – Startup Metrics For Pirates @ Techaviv
    http://youtu.be/hEp8ttE7WVc
    https://twitter.com/charlesjo/status/496676216695320577

    1) Understand customer need.
    2) Create marketing to tap into customers to pay profitably.
    3) Plumbing is already done & product is not hard to build.
    4) Most startups fail at user experience & marketing.
    5) How to scale is the question.
    6) Speak to investors at scaling up/marketing analytics language.
    7) Can an investor invest $500K and expect traction in 6-12 months?
    8) You are not Facebook/Twitter which are outliers w/runaway adoption rates.
    9) You need rational approaches to derisk.
    10) How to convert users to paying customers.
    11) Protoyping is cheap so may not need external financing.
    12) Marketing is not evil! Marketing can & must be measured.
    13) Conversion rate: visitors -> engagement -> monetization.
    14) Launching is continual: mini-launches -> fail -> data collection -> repeat.
    15) Most PR is positive.
    16) Don’t talk about self; instead talk problem, customers, solution.

Your input is welcome