Stella will discuss the challenges and key metrics founders need to focus on based on the stage of their startup. From
ideation, fundraising, gaining traction, and acquisition, Stella will share personal experiences, having experienced the startup life cycle a couple of times.
Stella Garber is VP of Marketing at Trello. Before Trello, Stella was CEO and cofounder of matchist, a marketplace for developers and entrepreneurs. She was also on the founding team of FeeFighters, a payments startup acquired by Groupon in 2012. Follow her writing on Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/sites/stellafayman/) or on Twitter. (twitter.com/startupstella).
5. From Ideation To Acquisition
The Family: October 30th
Stella Garber
VP of Marketing
6. Who Am I?
• VP, Marketing @
• Co-Founder/CEO, (acquired 2015)
• Founding Team, TechStars ’10, (acquired
2012)
• Brief stint in VC at OCA Ventures and Foundation
Capital
• MBA, University of Chicago Booth School of
Business, BA, Northwestern University
7. Goals For Today
• Cover basic life cycle of a startup
• Share my personal experiences as an
entrepreneur
• Plenty of time for questions and discussion
9. Ideation
• Make a framework. Use it religiously.
• Mine:
• Am I going to be passionate about solving this problem
in 5 years?
• Do I have the right set of skills and experiences to solve
this problem?
• Will this be the type of business I want to run?
• Will I have access to the right resources?
10. Product Development
• Scale down your idea of an MVP
• Launch something that has metrics you can track
• Always be selling
• Constantly iterate
• Beware seeking validation for your ideas
11. Building a Team
• How to find the right cofounder
• Analyze in terms of long term and short term
• Consider: risk tolerance, working style, future goals
• Align compensation with incentives
• Should you consider a technical cofounder?
12. Questions Founders Ask
• When should I raise money?
• Should I raise money?
• Should I do an accelerator?
• How do I know when there is product/market fit?
• When will I know I’ve built something of value?
13. Funding The Business
• Seed Funding - money from angel investors, friends
and family, etc to build something
• Series A - you’ve built something, now scale it and
get traction
• Series B - you’ve found the formula, now add fuel to
the fire
14. Angels vs VCs
• Angels
• Informal
• Passionate
• Live vicariously
• Don’t do follow
on
• VCs
• Sophisticated
• Value add driven
• See a ton of deal
flow
• Understand the
market
15. How To Find Investors
• Almost all completely organic and network driven
• No secret formula
• Try to develop a robust network well before you seek
to fundraise
• “Lines not dots” find graphic for this.
• If they say no, find out why. Be relentless.
16. Getting Traction
• Initial questions to answer:
• What are my unit economics?
• How can I iterate and move quickly?
• What is my business model?
17. Unit Economics
• Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
• Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV or just LTV)
• LTV>CAC
18. Acquisition
• Can come along when you don’t expect it
• Like most things, will come from networking
• Lean on investors
• Lean on entrepreneurship community
• Understand acquirer’s perspective