This presentation provides an overview of entrepreneurship and the process of taking an idea to a startup. It discusses that entrepreneurship involves creating value by building a business and notes that most startups fail. It then outlines an 8 step process for taking an idea to a startup, including identifying a problem, finding co-founders, validating the problem and potential solution, defining a minimum viable product (MVP), and getting early customer feedback on the MVP. The goal is to help students and aspiring entrepreneurs understand entrepreneurship and how to successfully launch a new venture.

1. Rakesh Soni
Co-founder & CEO
LoginRadius Inc.
Twitter: OyeSoni
Linkedin: in/OyeSoni
Startup 101
For students & aspiring entrepreneurs

2. Who is this
presentation for?

3. Students & Aspiring Entrepreneurs
who are curious about entrepreneurship and startups.
I created it for

4. So what are we
gonna cover here?
Part I
Entrepreneurship
Part II
Idea to Startup
#Fun and #noBS is promised.

5. My Background

6. ● I am an Engineer from Indian
Institute of Technology (IIT)
● In 2013, I founded a SaaS-based
company called LoginRadius. We
offer authentication and SSO API
for developers. I raised $17M from
Microsoft. Forrester ranked us #1
product in the category.
● And, I love helping entrepreneurs.
Follow: Twitter | Linkedin

7. Entrepreneurship
Part I

8. I am not here to motivate you
to be an entrepreneur.
I am here to tell you the TRUTH.

9. Don’t feel bad...
if you don’t end up pursuing the entrepreneurial path.
Firstly

10. It is absolutely OK
● To get a job in a big company.
● To climb the corporate ladder.
● To achieve job security.
● Or pursue some other plans you
may have.

11. Entrepreneurship is not for everyone!
More importantly,

12. Always be aware of the
primary and secondary
consequences of your
decisions, and
make sure it aligns with
your dreams.
Food for thought.
BUT

13. What is Entrepreneurship?

14. Entrepreneurship is
creation of value
by designing, building and
running a business.

15. Fun Facts
There are 582 million entrepreneurs in the world.
[Source: Global Entrepreneurship Monitor]
Use of word “Entrepreneurship” grew dramatically in last two decades.
[Source: Google]

16. Why motivates someone to
become an Entrepreneur?

17. People have
different motivation
depending upon
their life journey and
experiences.

18. Here are
Top 8 Reasons

19. Freedom.
Free time.
Freedom to follow their interests.
Free from day-to-day hassles of
life.

20. Impact.
Change the world.
Leave a dent in the universe.

21. Power.
They love being powerful.

22. Family.
Securing future for the family.
Ensure a great life for them.

23. Fame.
Yes. Many love
being in limelight
like Elon Musk.

24. Money.
I mean duh! Who doesn’t love making money?

25. Legacy.
You know the drill.

26. Yes, that is all possible.

27. But, what is the reality?

28. The reality is
It is F***ing Difficult.
It takes years of perseverance
and “lot of luck” to become
successful.

29. As an entrepreneur,
your life is going be miserable!
Media (including social media) romanticizes it.

30. Your startup is most
likely to Fail.
It doesn’t matter how awesome you are!

31. ● 90% of new startups fail.
● 75% of venture-backed startups fail.
Facts.

32. Let me share a fun meme →

34. Ya, that’s the reality!

35. Who is an Entrepreneur?
“An entrepreneur is
someone who jumps
off a cliff, and builds a
plane on this way
down”
Reid Hoffman
Linkedin Founder

36. Let’s break it down
Jumping off a clip = Stupid and Crazy Building the plane on the way
down = Impossible

37. That’s who entrepreneurs are.
● They sound stupid and crazy.
● They have an impossible task of building a
successful company.

38. Finally,
Some of you, like micro % of you,
→ will have Freedom, Fame, Power, Money.
→ will change the world and leave a legacy.
→ will provide an amazing life to your family.

39. ● Your startup is most likely to fail.
● You will go through immense mental pressure.
● You may be living in miserable conditions (at least, initially).
● It is 24/7 job. No breaks. No vacation.
● You will work 80-100 hours a week. And no one might
appreciate.
● Your relationship with Friends & Family will be jeopardized.
● The whole world is going to conspire against you to make
you fail.
So, to recap:

40. But, don’t lose hope :)

41. If you have some of
those dreams and
willing to go through
some tough time.
You should
pursue the
entrepreneurial
path.
It’s FUN!

42. ● You are young. You have nothing to lose.
● You will make, at least, same money that you could
have made working for someone else.
● You can always go back and find a job.
● You will not regret for not trying.
● You will learn so much more.
Because

43. Idea to Startup
Part II

44. I’ve an idea.
How can I go from an idea
to a startup?

45. First thing first.
● Ideas are overrated.
● Ideas are not secrets.
● Ideas are not the reason,
startups succeed.
So, please don’t
hesitate to share
your idea with
others and get
feedback.

46. From an Idea to a Startup
8 Steps Process

47. They are applicable to
all the tech startups
B2B as well as B2C

48. Identify & Define the Problem
Step 01

49. DON’T DO ANYTHING ELSE
Until you truly understand the problem that
you are solving.

50. Write the problem
statement on a
piece of paper!
#VeryImportant

51. Now, answer these questions:
● Are you passionate about the problem?
● Would you have fun solving this problem?
● Is it large enough a problem i.e. large market?
● Who has tried or trying to solve the same problem?
● Can you build a viable business around it?
● If you want to build a VC-funded company, can you
drive $100M in annual revenue?

52. Find a co-founder(s)
Step 02

53. You don’t
want to be
lonely in this
painful
journey!
Find at least one co-
founder.
Two - three are even
better but limit to
total 4 founders.

54. Look for these things in your co-founder(s)
● Someone you would love to work with 8-10 years
● Someone you trust
● Someone who is equally passionate about this
problem
● Someone whose values matches with yours
● Someone who compliment you in skills and/or
experience

55. Validate the Problem
Step 03

56. Validation of the problem is so important,
Because
You do not want to solve a problem that
doesn’t exist.

57. Figure out how you can validate the problem
● How can you test that the problem exists?
● How can you test the scale of the problem?
● How can you have deeper understanding of the problem?
● Tip: Do it without spending money (or maybe, spend less
than $200)
Interview People Conduct Survey Talk to Solution Providers Market Research

58. Understand Target Persona & Market
Step 04

59. You need to focus
on a tiny niche
market.
Expand the market
as your startup
grows.
Within the tiny
niche market,
identify
individuals
whose pain you
are solving.

60. Who are you solving the problem for?
● What is your target market?
● Who is your target persona?
● What pain are you solving for your target persona?

61. Define a Solution
Step 05

62. Think it through, put it on paper, create flow charts, etc
You know the problem, you know the
market and you know the persona. It’s
time to define the solution that truly
solves for the target persona.
Get feedback and scrutinize your solution.

63. Ask yourself
● Why would your target persona going to care?
● What value are you adding to the target persona?
● How is it different from existing solutions available
in the market?
● Why would your solution is going to win?

64. Validate the Solution
Step 06

65. Tip
Always, always,
always validate
your thesis (if
possible). I can’t
stress enough :)
Validate the
solution that you
came up with.
Does it really
solves the
problem?

66. Some tips
● Build the solution without building technology or
hiring people
● Do everything manually for a few customers
● Verify your thesis:
○ Solving the pain? Adding value? Target
persona is happy? Better than other solutions?
● Do not spend money (or less than $500)

67. Now, build the MVP
Step 07

68. Once the solution is
validated, let’s build
the product.
Not full product, but
an MVP (Minimum
Viable Product)
You can read more about
MVP on the Internet.

69. Building MVP
● Automate the manual processes by building a bare
minimum technology
● Bare minimum features & capability but address
the core issue. Make sure it works though.
● Founding team should build it
● Do not spend money

70. Give the MVP to your target persona
Step 08

71. Time to get your First Customer :)
Let people use your product.

72. Launching your product
● Invite target persona (your early adopters)
● Let them use it and test it (give it away for free initially)
● Get their feedback
● Define success metrics and see how is the product
helping your target persona

73. You have a startup!
Congratulations 👏🏼

74. I’ve a question!
I’ll respond to your comments😊🙏🏽
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Linkedin: /in/OyeSoni
Twitter: @OyeSoni