techcrunch disrupt observations from zach boerger & ben gilbert
Post on 26-Dec-2015
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TechCrunch Disrupt
Observations from Zach Boerger & Ben Gilbert
Douglas Leone - Sequoia
•Why the world is how it is, how it’s changing, and your role
•“Solve problems that are your own”
•1988 - avg. founder 45. Now 25.
•More “application layer” than “technology layer” now
YC Office Hours•PG - “gets” an idea instantly. Cuts it
down to simplest form
•Launch ASAP: “What are you waiting for?”
•Who are your users?
•Why would someone use you over the other guy?
•Need one sentence explanation
Peter Thiel & Max Levchin
•Technology innovation is at a standstill
•Risk-taking atmosphere has declined (think NASA inspirational speeches)
Vinod Khosla
•“Cool dozen areas”: data reduction, big data, using machine learning to figure out user preferences, “emotional” apps, education, health, empowering people
VC Panel
•Arrington - “VCs should get out of the way until startups really need $$ to grow”
•Real value = mentorship
•Pros/cons of being in SF area
•Arrington dissent
Ashton Kutcher
•Shockingly amazing
•Investing = witch-hunt for magic ideas
•“Wealth chases revolutionary people, not the other way around”
•“Only invest in things I’m passionate about”
Eric Ries, Scott Cook, Kevin
Systrom•Don’t be small/cheap; be fast & deploy constantly
•Iterate on what your users want
•Constantly assess if a pivot is needed (Instagram)
•Focus on “love metrics”
•“Don’t fall in love with your solution”
Kevin Rose
•Digg - “I hired a whole bunch of engineers rapidly to scale. That didn’t work, and it’s my fault.”
•Now, hiring “Swiss Army Knife” engineers
John Doerr
•Investing in founders
•Investing heavily in green-tech/energy
•Government/economy needed for these
•$23B invested in companies started in last 12 months
Angels Panel• Funds between $20M - $50M
• McClure - 10/mo, Conway - 3/mo
• Background/pedigree = leverage
• Only want to work w/ VCs who can take company to next level
• Conway - bootstrap as long as possible
• Arrington calls BS
• Market, product, team, customer, revenue = $1M each
Battlefield Day 1
• Tonara - “Kindle for sheet music”
• Farmigo - bringing fresh farm produce right to users
• OpenBucks - use gift cards to pay online
• CakeHealth - Mint.com for healthcare
• Bitcase - “infinite” storage for PC
• Shaker - Facebook social discovery game
Battlefield Day 2•Trello - Joel Spolsky. Team
productivity management tool
•Meexo - rethinking online dating. Mobile. “Reverse social graph”
•JiffPad - increasing healthcare understanding. Gorgeous iPad app.
•myLanguage - Star Trek universal translator
Themes
•Launch quickly
•Iterate
•Figure out what really matters in your company
Conclusions
•We are not far behind
•Hiring like crazy
•Frenetic pace
Full Notes
•https://docs.google.com/document/d/1i7-1WVafh4WAr9TmB_ZF_eJJvuDKJopGpGoWI5cnT0w/edit?hl=en_US
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