12 MONTHS AS AN ENTREPRENEUR

Ideas, noodles, troubles, laughs and dreams

THIS IS NOT A GUIDE

MERELY A RECALL ON MY LAST YEAR OF ACTIVITY

AND WHAT I WISH I KNEW 12 MONTHS AGO

WARNING 2

FREDERIC CHANUT

‣ Experienced Suit & Marketing Guy

‣ Closet engineer

‣ Special powers:

Can see company through Google’s goggles

Workoholic and near insomniac

Self aware, daredevil, stubborn

A bit slow but learn skills quickly

Terrible driver taking unsuitable vehicles

across the globe in the name of charity =>

ABOUT ME

DON’T REALLY HAVE TRAITS OF AN ENTREPRENEUR

ABOUT ME

A HYBRID MODEL OF MARKETING AGENCY

‣ Try to combine effective tools and leverage

implementation for most effective results.

‣ Issues:

‣ Bootstrapped

‣ Limited client base

‣ No experience running an agency

ABOUT MY IDEA

WHY DID I STARTED

ABOUT MY COMPANY

Of course because it was cool, thrilling and exciting but beyond that…

I wanted to scratch my itch.

As in-house marketer, I couldn’t find decent agencies

I developed a certain passion against the whole agency model.

As an ex-agency worker, I found how dreadful the process was for

anyone with a touch of sagacity

Rather than bitching about it. I decided to see if I could change it.

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SO I HAD

ABOUT MY SITUATION

the ambition, the vision, most skills

But…

I was unsure of my vision

I didn’t know where to start

I didn’t have the xp

I didn’t have the cash

…all of that cost me a lot (time & $$)

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WHAT I WISH I KNEW BEFOREHAND

ABOUT MY SITUATION

Reality/Difficulty

Literature

How to Setup

How to Position my offering

What Resources I could use

How to trust myself

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HOW PICTURED IT?

REALITY/DIFFICULTY 9

THE ROLLER COASTER

REALITY/DIFFICULTY 10

HOW IT FEELS SOMETIMES(STILL… NICE VIEW)

REALITY/DIFFICULTY 11

PERSONAL LIFE TOLL

REALITY/DIFFICULTY

• +15 Kgs of fat

• Min 70hrs work

• Rarely see my GF

• No/Limited physical activity

• No social life

• Only a few people understand your situation

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QUIT ENTREPRENEUR PRESS

REALITY/DIFFICULTY 13

FAME, FORTUNE, FLAMES

REALITY/DIFFICULTY 14

FINDING MARKET FIT =

FOCUS

ADJUSTING THE COURSE

Picking the wrong niche = near death of any startup

Revised my offers.

Stopped taking on small biz and Startups.

Getting more clients

Higher quality

Healthier

Happier

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PIVOTING =

MOVE ON AND QUICK

ADJUSTING THE COURSE

Can’t do everything at once.

Pick on thing you are really good at.

Build on it and consolidate later.

Learn to Say No

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BE PATIENT

ADJUSTING THE COURSE 17

Source

LEARN TO ADAPT

ADJUSTING THE COURSE 18

Google Changes

Link

RESOURCES 19

WHY WE MEASURE

Source

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WHAT TO MEASURE

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FINANCE

RESOURCES

Focus on your financials

Automate the management

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KNOW YOUR WORTH

RESOURCES

Average Work Week 60hrs

Hours per annum 3k

Time frame for sale 5 years

Total hours invested 15k

Exit worth $5 Mln

Salary paid ($60k/yr) 300k

(5,000-300k)/15 = $313 per hour

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LITERATURE

RESOURCES

Purple Cow – Seth Godin

The e-myth

KPI – Key Person of Influence

Rework – 37 Signals

Startup school – Seth Godin

The 8 weeks startup

Lean Startup – Eric Ries

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HARNESS TECHNOLOGY

RESOURCES

CHOOSE THE RIGHT PEOPLE

Very few can build a success alone. Tools can’t help w/out people doing

the work.

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‣ Watch out for:

• Bad fit investors

• Juniors/ Interns

• Wantrepreneurs

• Technicians/ Experts

• Equity schemes

• Business partners/ co-founders

‣ Get instead‣ Client revenue

‣ Contractors

‣ Hire slow. Fire fast

‣ Take classes

‣ Wait if you can

‣ Are you marrying the right guy

RESOURCES 27

CHOOSE THE RIGHT PEOPLE

2013 WAS A BLAST

…AND HERE IS WHY

STARTUP = AWESOME

46,000,000 bytes Initial data used for our latest 'little' experiment

+10,000 SEO visits/mths to one of our SMB client.

1,026 coffees - conservative consumption estimate

+306 % visits to our site from last year

+157% SEO visits in just 2 months

151 Events attended to learn, network, teach

7 Digital cadets trained at In Marketing We Trust HQ

#1 rated presenter at a leading event for Search Marketing

professionals. (I am scared of doing public talks btw)

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