Strategy for a startup

or... how to stop worrying and love the crazy.

Presented by Raymond Chandler III / @raymondchandler

A little about me

It all started here...

Then with this..

High School

College and Beyond

I hated it.

I became cynical and depressed.

I quit!

The last 2.5 years.

• Worked on 7 failed ventures.
• • Most failed within weeks. (Good)
  • Some failed in months. (Bad)

But then...

• SpkrBar is my first "stable" startup.
• Launched in September
• 300 users. 215 speakers. 5 conferences.
• Under constant development.

Lean Startup

• Seed and early stage companies.
• Fail early, fail often.
• Validate, then build -> measure -> learn.
• Customer interviews are king.
• Get people to pay for it.

Some things I've learned.

Startups are crazy hard.

Business is stupid easy.

Entreprenuers are insane.

You are only weeks away from failure.

Consulting is a necessity.

Noone(who matters) will ever believe you.

No "typical" startup.

80+ hour work weeks.

Growth is ALWAYS linear.

Freemium REALLY, REALLY doesn't work.

Getting funding is VERY hard.

Advisors are extremely important.

Your competitors will often help you.

Ray's Quick Primer on Building a Startup

• Do what you know.
• "Real" problems.
• Growing Industry.
• Network like crazy. Know as many people as you can.
• Your team will make you or break you.
• Don't jump into anything.
• Follow your gut.
• Be fluid, change direction often but slowly.

Market Research is everything.

Competition research is also important.

Most customers don't care about your technology.

Open Source is eating Microsoft and Oracle alive.

JavaScript and Ajax and REST is a MUST!

SpkrBar's Tech Stack

Backend

• Python 2.7.x
• Django 1.5
• Flask (Web Services)
• Celery (Queue)
• unitest2 (xUnit) with sure(should.js)
• Ubuntu -> Arch Linux
• Linode - 3 2048 Nodes
• Buildbot for CI

Frontend

• CoffeeScript/HAML/LESScss
• jQuery/Underscore.js
• Backbone.js (SpkrBar)
• AngularJS (SpeakerMotion)
• Jasmine Test Framework
• Bootstrap (SpkrBar)
• Foundation (SpeakerMotion)
• Font Awesome (iconography)

Databases

• postgreSQL 9
• MongoDB
• Redis (key-value store)
• Memcache (page caching)

That is all

Questions?