dietz tech entrepreneurship
TRANSCRIPT
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WhatTheyDontTeachYouinCollege-BecomingaSuccessfulTechEntrepreneur
(InspiredbyBruceNelsonsCMUCSImmigra;onCoursetalk)
Sco$Dietzen,CMUCSPh.D.CEO,PureStorage
Original content herein available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License
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ThistalkdedicatedtothememoryofBruceNelson,CMUCS82
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WhyDietzforthistalk?(i.e.,whyIfeltsufficientlypresumptuoustovolunteer) WhileIcantfillBrucesshoes Brucehelpedinspiremyentrepreneurship Ivehadsomemodest
successasanentrepreneur
TransarcIBM WebLogicBEASystems ZimbraYahoo!VMware PureStorage?
Acknowledgements IplagiarizedfromBrucesoriginaltalk JohnDunham(BrucesAuspexcoworker&friend)
sharedpictures
Dietzen - TechEntrepreneurship
Preamble
Blogpostwri@enbyJohnaerBrucesdeath
h@p://rob3rt.com/bruce/BZM_Days/BZM_19990923/BZM_Archive199909234.html
Sourceofmyphotos:h@p://rob3rt.com/bruce/1.html
h@p://rob3rt.com/bruce/2.html
h@p://rob3rt.com/bruce/3.htmlh@p://rob3rt.com/bruce/4.html
h@p://rob3rt.com/bruce/5.html
h@p://rob3rt.com/bruce/6.html
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WhyImaFailedResearcher
Wantedtoputtechtoworkatchangingtheworld Ques^onedevalua^oncriteriaforresearch
(Non-CMU)Academiaseemedpoli^cal Moneylessarbitrarywaytokeepscore?
Fatherwasanentrepreneur Imnotsmartenough
Financialrewardswere(andshouldbe)secondary
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ProductsareHarderthanTechnology
Gengatech.productrightisveryhard Reliability/qualityassurance Easeofuse/designConsumer-ifica^onofIT Security&manageability Maintenance&packaging(SaaS,on-prem?) Forsuccess,eatyourowndogfood
Buildingsomethingnewfromscratchismuchharderthanenhancingsomethingthatsalreadysuccessful
Toptalentgravitatestostartupsbecause Theyreceivecommensuraterewardfortheiruniqueimpact Theygettosetasidelegacyconstraints
(Dietzsbestrecrui^ngline:Doyoureallywanttospendyournextyearturning10
year-oldsowareinto11yearoldsoware?)Dietzen - Tech Entrepreneurship 5
The intellectual level needed for system design is in general
grossly underestimated. I am convinced more than ever that thistype of work is very difficult and that every effort to do it withother than the best people is doomed to either failure or moderate
success at enormous expense. Edsger Dijkstra
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GengYourProductAdopted
Isoenharders^ll
Forallmarkets(consumer&business),enduser^meandmoneyarescarce!
Forsuccess,focusonspecificenduserstodeeplyunderstandtheirpainand/oraspira^ons
Mosttypicaldownfall:Interes^ngtechnology,butinsufficientvaluetocommandendusera$en^on
WhydoIcarerightnow?Forsellingtoenterprise,top3painkillersma$ermost;vitaminscangenerallywait
Doyouhaveaproductorafeature?Areyou10Xbe$erthantheincumbent?
Gengtheproductrighttakes^meandenduserfeedbackDietzen - Tech Entrepreneurship 6
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WhyNon-TechnicalIssuesMa$er
Sincetechnologyisgenerallythemeans,nottheend Togettechnologyadoptedintherealworld,youneedto
makethebusinesscasetothetechnologyend-user
Definecompellingvalueproposi^on Framedintermsthecustomerandpartnersfindcompelling Getyourmessagetothebuyer/adopter
Thereisaveryhighhurdlefordoingthis Thinkreceivingsolicita?ons
atyourhome! Thisiswhyproductmgmt.,marke^ng,
andsalesarehighly-valued
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Corollary:WhyDoTechnologistsFeel
(Rela^vely)Underpaid?
Becausetheydontunderstandthegame
Technologistscanfeelsales&marke^ng
aretrivial Butinmostcompanies,R&Dis
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GotoMarket(GTM)Innova^on
YourGTMstrategy(thehow,why,whoofselling)shouldevolvealongwithyourproduct
Consumerwebsites,opensource,otherfreebiesallowyoutoseparateadop^onfrommone^za^on
PRandviralpromo^onfarmoreeffec^ve&cheaperthanads/telemarke^ng
Goalistherepeatablesellanenduseradop^oncycleinwhichcustomerisiden^fied,receivesthepitch,andyouwin
oenenoughtojus^fyacquisi^oncost
DontscaleyourGTM(steponthegas)un^lyouhaveyourproductand
yourrepeatablesell
(thinkMythicalManMonth)
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Evolu^oninGTM
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OldSchoolTop/Down($) NewSchoolBoJom/Up()
Salesini^ates&controlsengagement
Customerini^ates&controlsengagement
ColdcallSalescall PRWebsite
Salesmakesbusinesscase;
qualifiescustomer
Customervisitswebsite&
self-qualifies,buys
Chargeforvalue Givevalueaway,mone^zeelsewhere(thinkrazor&blades)
Customerpaysupfront Payonlyaervalueisproven
SEinstallsproduct Customertriesfree/trailversionof
productthatcanbeupgradedlater
Companycontrolsproduct Companyfosterscommunity
(opensourcedev,publicforums,
opendefecttracking)
Staffsalestohitrevenuetarget Staffsalesasproduc^vitygrows
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LackofFocus-Sayingno Lackofcompellingproduct(especially
simplicityandquality)
LackofwinningGTMmatchedtoproduct
Weakexecu^on Missingskills Teamcomesapartor
doesntcometogether Insufficientlyresponsivetochange Overlyresponsivetochange
Ferociouscompe^^on Misstechnologyseachanges 11
WhyTechStart-upsFailwhentheOpportunityisReal
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Tech
Tech
GTM
GTM
Tech
EntrepreneursAlly:TheDislocator
Opportunity:~Tenyearsago Googlehadntmadeitsfirstdollarfromsearchadver^sing Applehadbeenwri$enoff;Facebookdidntexist Virtualiza^onandVMware?
NoWebLogicwithout TheWeb(ledtocrea^onofnewcategory---TheWebApp.Server) Java&standardWebprogrammingAPIs(J2EE) TheInternetfreetrialdownload
NoZimbrawithout Richlyinterac^veWebUIviaAjax(Web2.0) Mash-ups(Web2.0) OpenSource TheOpenCorebusinessmodel
PureStorage? Flashmemory
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TechnologyAdop^onCurve
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ThisisthebestcasescenarioAlltechaspirestobelegacy Shapeofthetailcanbeveryflat(Ethernet&IP,Intel
architecture)
Orverysteepasoldwavesupersededbynewone
*ThanksGeoffrey
Moore
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Dietzs2011TopTenTechDislocators
1. MobileWebHTML5-capablephones/tabletswilltrumpPCsastheprimaryInternetinterface(Bonus:Majorityofhumanityon-line)
2. Mobilecontent&commerceMobiledevice+appstrumptradi^onalmediaformats&security/creditcards
3. FlashmemoryStoragemedialosinggroundtoCPUfordecades;virtualiza^on&clouddrivinguprandomI/O(disk95%+inefficient)SeeJimGrays
Tapeisdead,Diskistape,Flashisdisk,RAMlocalityisking
4. Cloud&DevOpsElas^ccompu^ng(public&privateclouds)viacommodityhardwareandupdatedopera^ons
infrastructure(Bonus:convergepublic/private?)
5. SaaSThosewhowritetheapplica^onsowareshouldmaintain,secure,andmanageit
(Bonus:Solveapp.integra^ononceatscale?)Dietzen - Tech Entrepreneurship 14
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Dietzs2011TopTenTechDislocators(Cont.)
6. SocialNotonlychangingthewaywecommunicate,butalsochangingthewaywedealwithinforma^on(assearchdidbeforeit)
7. BlendedReali;esGamingisgengmorereal(e.g.,social)&good-oldrealityisgengaugmentedwithvirtualworlds
8. BigDataHowtobestleveragethedataweredrowningin;Howcanweeffec^velyminethesmartstherein?Scienceslikeastronomyand
par^clephysicshavebeenrecastasbigdataproblems
9. Func^onalProgrammingandNoSQLHowcanwesimplifyprogrammingformassively-parallel,massively-distributed,high-
performancesystems?
10. Collabora^onintheLargeContentandsowareauthored
acrossorganiza^onal,geographic,andlanguage
boundariesviaopensource&be$ertooling
11. ???Dietzen - Tech Entrepreneurship 15
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TechDislocators
Dogiveyourproductleveragevs.theincumbentsandhencetheopportunitytochangetheworld
Dontchangethefundamentals:Yous^llneed Amarketopportunity Agreatproduct Astellarteam GTMplanthat
enablesyoutoreachthatmarket
(Thiscomboispre$ymuchallIlookfor)
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Team+Idea,ThenMoneyPremierventurecapital Why?
Defactosealofapprovalforcompany/product Tradeshareofownershipforresources Lettheprostaketherisk
(entrepreneur'sriskischieflyopportunitycost)
Getpluggedintothenetwork Earlywarningaboutcompe^^on Helpwithrecrui^ng Easiertogetmoney
downtheroad
Smarterthanstrategicindustrymoney
WhyNot? Dilu^on Interference/lossofcontrol Youneedagoodfit
(Thinkthesisadvisor)
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WhatVCsWant(MostlytheSameThings
thatEntrepreneursWant)
Hugemarketopportunity(Stretchgoal)
Safetynetondownside(Moremodestgoals)-KeepinmindVCsonlyneed
someoftheirbetstohit Awesomefounding/early-stageteam Deepknowledgeofthetargetcustomer Unfairadvantage-Hightechnicalhurdlesforcompe^tors
surmountableforyou
FaiththatteamwillfindacompellingGTMstrategy(Techonlypartofthebusinessplan)
Butallatalowvalua;on Note:SiliconvalleyVCsgenerallydontneedtoseeabusinessplan!
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WhatVCsWant-FundingtoMilestones
Capital
Risk ()
Valuation
Idea is
Feasible
Beta or FCS
(customervalidation)
Repeatable sale
identified andproven
Seed R&D Ship Expansion
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ABrilliantMomentinJavaHistory?
Excerptsfromacommi$eemee^ngregardingtheforma^onoftheJavaCommunityProcess(JCP):
Dietz:
Sunexec:Andwhywouldyoupossibly
thinkthatthatsgoingtobeacceptable?
Dietz:Well,IguessImjustablind,stupidop^mist.
Anotherexec(laughing):Sco$,Isurehopeyoudontloseyourop^mism,causethenyoure
justgoingtobeblindandstupid!
Ifyouaspiretolead,op^mismisessen^al
justtrynottobeblindandstupid
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Scott Dietzen 21
Recommenda^onsfor
TheWould-BeEntrepreneurs
Blind,stupidop^mismrequired Learnhowtowriteandspeakwell Beateamplayer
(theresnoiinteam)
ButalsobealeaderTakeresponsibility
Touchcustomers Workonintersec^onoftech/business
(productmgmt.,productmarke^ng,technicalsales)
Learntobecomfortablemakingdecisionsfromincompleteinforma^on
Prac^cework/lifebalanceItsamarathon,notasprint
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GengStarted
Ifyourenotquitereadyforyourownstart-up,joinsomeoneelses! Start-upexperienceisvastlybe$erthanbigcompanyexperience Anditsmorefun
Evalua^ngstart-upsishard Greatteam Compellingmarketopportunity,product>Mvision Wellconnected Maylearnmoreataloser, Butfarbe$ertotrytofindawinner
Findingstart-upsisalsohard InSiliconValley,therearetoo
manytokeeptrackof
OnetrickCheckouttherostersofthetopVCs,e.g. Greylock&Su$erHill(Pure) Benchmark,Redpoint,&Accel(Zimbra) AndreessenHorowitz,Sequoia
Mostwillacceptyouresumedirectly Ortrytofindarecruiter
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Dr.BrucesFinalExam Purelytechnicalissuesareofter^aryimportance.Predic^ngtechnology
evolu^onanddeliveringhigh-addedvaluetothebusinessarefirstandsecond
CSeduca^onoenblissfullyignoresthis Start-upcompanieshavethebestwealthpoten^al,
butrequirethehighesteffort,discipline,
commitment,andrisk
Thegreatesttechnicalinfluencecomesoutofconnec^ngtechnologytothe
business(CTO,technicalmarke^ng/sales,
productmanagement,etc.)
Compensa^oniscommensuratewithresponsibilityandabilitytoassimilateincompleteinforma^onandactdecisivelyuponit
ManyCSgradswithmaturitybecomegreattechnicalmanagers.Farfewerbecomegreat
marketeersorexecu^ves
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TheCharge Greatestthingaboutourindustryiswhat
asmallgroupofpassionatepeoplecanaccomplish
Mobilephones,opensource,andcloudshavedrama^callyreducedthehurdlestoyoursuccess
Youjustneedthesparkforanamazingproduct! Fourgoldenrulesforconver^ngthatsparktosuccess
Cashisyourlifesupply,manageitruthlessly(formostofyou,thatmeansnotoverstaffing,innumbersorinseniority)
Getthefirstversionoutthedoorquickly&iterate...don'twaitfortheperfectproduct Focusoninnova^oninbothproduct>M Makedecisionsfast.Somewillbewrong.Makesureyouhave
enoughfeedbackinthesystemtocoursecorrect
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BestQuoteonEntrepreneurship?
Youmustneverconfusefaiththatyouwillprevailintheend---whichyoucan
neveraffordtolose,withthediscipline
toconfrontthemostbrutalfactsof
yourcurrentreality,whateverthey
maybe.
AdmiralJimStockdale
Thanks you!
Comments most welcome.
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