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Jason Nazar was nice enough to run a free day-long workshop at UCLA Anderson on "How to Start a Business," and I checked it out. I find Jason to be a passionate, hard-working, and wise entrepreneur, and I wanted to see what I could learn from him.
Overall, I was astounded by the immense breadth and depth of resources he and his team at DocStoc have put together to help businesses. They basically have an e-book, video course, and "quick start guide" for every single topic/issue a business faces (pretty cool stuff). Below are some of my notes and takeaways. I. intro II. Why start a business a. Must have big burning why i. If don’t have it, will use the “what” as excuses b. Today is sharing what and how but won’t help if don’t know the why c. He has huge sense of urgency for life i. Sees big clock ticking down III. Ideation a. Fallacy of the “good idea” i. No such thing as great idea; there are bad ideas and good businesses and good business owners/teams/execution ii. Ideas don’t matter, execution does iii. Don’t need a “good enough idea” to start iv. Best ones start w/ something else someone else doing and do it better v. Worst is when you want to start biz no one else is doing 1. We already know people’s problems and ways that work vi. By sharing your ideas with others, you get feedback 1. You also make mental contract w/ others to commit to doing what you said you’re going to do, puts pressure on you to work on it 2. Secret reason of not sharing ideas w/ others: to not get ppl asking you what’s going on, want way to back out vii. If someone shoots down your idea, it motivates you more viii. Just take something you’re passionate and go with it b. Idea checklist i. to analyze if idea right one for you ii. checklist 1. does it solve others’ problems 2. do a lot of ppl have it 3. am I passionate about the idea 4. am I willing to commit the next 5-10 years of my life to this idea 5. are others successfully doing something similar 6. does it have too many competitors 7. can I do something substantially different or better than others 8. can I build the business on my capital resources or what can raise 9. could I have an MVP and customers in 90 days or less 10. are potential customers giving overall positive feedback > 75% of time 11. do I have background/skillset compatible w/ biz 12. do I have acopmetitive advantage on how to get customers 13. if I don’t start this will someone else 14. can I court mentors who have been successful doing something similar 15. does it have a high likelihood of success 16. does the risk/reward match my person r/r 17. does it help me fulfill my purpose iii. when evaluating many ideas, score each on how many points it has from this list c. lifestyle vs. liquidity biz i. lifestyle biz: live off profits now 1. $1M rev, $400K profit, sole owner ii. liquidity biz: don’t take out money, go for exit 1. focus on growth, not profit IV. protecting your idea a. copyright i. for work of authorship ii. written work iii. automatic b. trademark i. for logo/mark/short phrase ii. do a search when naming your business 1. trademarkia iii. process for filing is easy iv. he’s a big fan of legalzoom for basic stuff like incorporation v. value of attorney is analysis is whether something is infringing or not c. patent i. unless something highly specialized and technical, won’t make biz successful 1. if u genuinely invent a new process, then do it 2. if anything online, do not worry about getting a patent a. likely unpatentable and won’t make diff ii. first objective is getting customers d. trade secret e. NDAs i. Most investors won’t sign ii. Use for mergers/partners/complex deals iii. Has entire course online about how to use them V. Business plans a. 3 things will make you successful as small biz i. good product ii. figuring out how to get customers 1. #1 biggest challenge iii. making sure you have enough capital for biz b. uses of bplan i. raise money ii. get partners iii. get others interested in idea c. crappy ppt can be enough for a bplan for these purposes d. 10 key questions to address i. what is prod/service in 30 seconds, explainable to a 5th grader ii. what is unique value prop 1. what makes better/diff iii. what is market opp e. best format i. powerpoint, not 40 page doc iii. create ppt w/ about 15 slides, each one addresses one of the main questions iv. for product, show multiple examples on slides v. no more than 15-30 words per slide vi. investors like picture books, not docs vii. his is great example of visual deck w/ key info f. financials ii. what are core metrics 1. how long to reach profitability a. restaurants want to achieve profitability w/in 1st year iii. must be able to explain basic assumptions behind model 1. price per unit 2. how many orders iv. also: use of funds VI. setting up the business a. right structure i. LLC simplest, most popular, $800 to set up 1. Best for service biz ii. C corp allows more complex ownership/management 1. Only if raising a bunch of money b. filing and checking i. LLC: articles of org, operating agmt ii. EIN c. licenses and insurance i. Licenses123 free VII. Corporate identity a. Name, logo i. Do trademark search ii. Domain name, all social media iii. Logo: 99designs iv. Name something meaningful/important for you b. Physical collateral i. vistaprint c. Phone i. Google voice ii. Ringcentral iii. Onebox d. Website i. If your website is not your product use weebly, wix, site creator, intuit, wordpress 1. Istockphoto 2. Online commerce: shopify, volusion, magento, google checkout, paypal ii. Mailchimp, constant contact, sendgrid iii. Managing social media business presence course they have VIII. Business operations a. Location i. Retail 1. Lock in a great long term space ii. Office 1. Space not core to business 2. Don’t get locked in to long contract a. 1 yr leases 3. Try to get option to extend b. Professional vendors i. Overcommunicate expectations of deliverable and prices ii. Be clear of what u expect iii. Put a cap on hours attorney can work c. Tools/services i. Paychex? Payroll, Trinet ii. SohoOS for customers iii. Have course on google analytics iv. Basecamp IX. Service-based businesses a. You are your products i. He did consulting before and developed philosophy of service ii. Quality fantastic iii. Understand underlying needs iv. Agree on, overcommunicate 1. Final product deliverable definition 2. Timeline of delivery 3. Cost v. Overdeliver on value vi. Have a great consulting agreement in writing 1. On docstoc b. Go right to getting customers i. First bplan he ever wrote was for a paying client (bplan consulting service) 1. Just jumped into it, got 3 clients in 2 days, figured out all else afterwards c. Scale expenses along w/ demand i. Grow rev monthly, divert more and more portion of that onto business expenses ii. As get more demand, charge more iii. Scale by adding ppl iv. The more money you charge, the more credibility you have 1. He got certified in hypnotherapy after college but never focused on it; what hypnotists charge affects how popular they are 2. Charge whatever amount you feel good about X. Building and selling physical products i. Slideware: PPT deck w/ visual representation of product to get first set of sales b. Pre-sales contracts to fund initial inventory i. Get positive terms on when paid ii. Half up front to pay for initial orders c. Where to sell products online d. Selling IRL; Getting partnerships XI. Building and selling online products a. 3 golden rules i. spend 10-50K to get it built 1. enough to get to first version to play with 2. spend this of your own money ii. spend no more than 3-6 months to get it built 1. narrow feature scope iii. 1st version needs to have something to be charging for immediately or can start scaling users very fast immediately b. how to build online product i. requirements doc 1. long outline detailing all features ii. wireframes iii. get a design done 1. 99designs iv. developers/dev shop v. hosting c. getting feedback & users i. see how ppl use your product ii. his presentation: 7 ways to drive traffic for free iii. usertesting.com XII. raising money a. 5 P’s i. people ii. product iii. progress 1. momentum iv. passion 1. we buy things on emotion and justify the logic 2. your passion is a commodity you can trade to get other things done in your business v. persistence 1. in pushing for meetings b. sources of capital i. self ii. friends & family 1. don’t raise money from ppl who if they lost it, they would give more than a second thought to it iii. bank loans 1. need long history of relationship and profitable biz or collateral/personal or biz assets 2. start small line of credit and show that repaying over a long time iv. angel investors v. venture capitalists c. how to do it i. tell them what will do and timeline ii. reach back out in advance of timeline and show that beat timeline and expectation iii. show pattern of doing and exceeding what will do and when iv. get multiple investors to show interest to get leverage v. find businesses similar to yours that got investment, find out who invested, make contacts with those investors d. mastering the pitch XIV. getting customers a. #1 reason why businesses fail b. no classroom will teach; it’s experiential c. if you’re committed, you can do it d. if not motivated to start biz in next 3 hours, there’s nothing he can do e. you can’t outsource sales & marketing f. this has to be your #1 priority g. the businesses that succeed are those that are the best marketed, not the ones with the best product h. if you have demand for your service, you can always get capital for it i. exercise i. write down the #1 thing that if you got done today/this week/this month would be the most important for the biz ii. track how much time spent 1. usually not much because it’s the hardest thing j. in 1st 6 months, spend 50%+ of time getting customers XV. sales a. 5 step sales process i. gain interest 1. talk to them about them 2. give compliment 3. show you listened 4. never start talking about self; start talking about other person 5. 3 topics they care about: health, wealth, relationships ii. establish credibility 1. past accomplishments 2. willingness to want to help 3. genuineness, transparency 4. ability to speak clearly and give metaphors others can apply to their lives 5. nothing more compelling in biz than one’s own certainty a. currency like money that can be used in exchange for value/getting people to do things iii. establish need 1. first actually understand the person and get them to know you understand 2. prospect must feel like you know what they need iv. offer solution 1. my product is what fulfills the need you’re looking for 2. when they say “what do we do from here”/”next steps”/etc., you finish immediately w/ transaction v. system to establish easy transaction b. prospecting i. 1 out of 10 who have an interest in your service, will actually buy when offered and qualified 1. need wide enough funnel ii. way to talk to lots of ppl iii. no’s get you 1 step closer to yes iv. if you don’t believe in your product/service, really hard to exchange value c. methods & types of sales i. inside ii. outside d. sales is exchange of value; marketing is getting someone interested in exchange of value and driving ppl to u; PR is building awareness of product i. key is exchange of value e. reason we’re so adverse to getting sold is because ppl are always trying to give us something we don’t want instead of learning what we do want/need f. when someone figures out what you want/need, much more impactful XVI. Marketing & PR a. Online marketing i. "7 ways to get traffic online" 1. search engines a. SEO 2. Referring traffic/press a. Top blogs w/ contacts in his PPT 3. Social media a. Infographics 4. Viral loop a. Gamification 5. Solve a compelling need 6. Online partnerships / distribution deals 7. Refreshing content b. Local guerilla marketing c. Leveraging PR XVII. Building a team a. The bar for partners, employees, investors i. 3 criteria 1. they are the best at what they do 2. no asshole policy a. 1 bad person will kill the biz b. must go extra mile to help someone else 3. work harder than everyone else a. 12 hour day b. in office until 11 c. work on weekends ii. AGPIE values: accountability, growth, passion, integrity, excellence b. Recruiting i. Interviewing 1. What is the ideal position you’re looking for? a. If not what you have, it’s a red flag 2. What do they do better than anyone else? 3. If I talk to 10 people you worked with before and what things about you bothered them, what would they say? ii. If anything comes off as pompous/arrogant, one strike rule (done) iii. Time to improve an employee is detrimental c. Issues w/ partners, early employees and equity i. Must have process in place for how to make decisions when you disagree ii. Must discuss up front iii. Prepare lots of if-then situations 1. If someone wants to leave, etc. 2. Gets pregnant 3. Not enough money earning iv. Vesting v. Paying equity for work 1. If typical rate is 10K, and my valuation is 1M, you can give 1% a. But give 2% by valuing the risk higher 2. Board of advisor on 3 year vesting schedule 3. When getting service or value over time, don’t give equity all up front d. Hiring/firing docs on docstoc i. Job descriptions ii. Job application iii. Consent form for background check, criminal check iv. Non-binding offer letter v. Employment agreement w/ IP transfer vi. Release of claims for termination, offering consideration vii. Should have documented feedback over time viii. Last day: vacation time, final day, etc. e. Employees vs. contractors XVIII. Financial planning/accounting XIX. Business dashboard a. KPIs b. Key metrics c. Benchmarking success XX. Primary legal considerations a. Working w/ biz attorneys i. Get referral to someone who has dealt many times w/ ur situation ii. Personality get along iii. High level of competency in your situation b. Preventing and managing lawsuits c. Enforcing your rights XXI. Mentors, advisors, and boards a. What you don’t know, you don’t know b. Courting advisors i. Find ppl you like, ask them to coffee, say what want to learn c. Working with a board of directors XXII. Buying and selling businesses a. Finding businesses to buy i. Franchisegator ii. Bizbuy b. Valuing i. Multiple of net income XXIII. Strategy a. How to make right decisions i. Docstoc matrix 1. “How to make decisions: 4 factors” 2. A: potential upside 3. B: likelihood of success 4. C: effort involved 5. D: strategic value ii. Entire book/presentation on this on docstoc b. Stay in the game: protect your downside risk XXIV. Philosophies a. Entrepreneurs’ dilemma i. Stay attached to problem you’re trying to solve but flexible in solution you use 1. Be passionate about the problem 2. Don’t let ppl dissuade you from that b. Entrepreneurs sell ether c. Mistakes people make before starting a business d. The one most important thing
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 I attended a fun talk at UCLA recently by Vint Cert, who is Google's Chief Internet Evangelist, and considered by many as one of the fathers of the Internet. Through humor, interesting stories, and wise perspective, he shared his thoughts on the history and the future of the Internet. You can watch the full video at the CNSI website.
Cerf actually studied at both Stanford and UCLA and was a co-designer of TCP/IP, a foundational protocol for the Internet. Of his many honors, he received the Alan Turing award for his influential work. Below are my notes on the talk.
Lean UX Research in Startups View more presentations from Susan Wilhite I attended an interesting talk at UCLA by Susan Wilhite on lean UX research. She approaches UX design from the standpoint of ethnographic research and talks about ways to do it in a "lean" fashion, emphasizing quick iterations, small batches, prototyping, etc. Her video and SlideShare are above, and my notes are below. I only wish the talk had more real-world examples of projects and research phases she went through for them so we could see it more explicitly (it was somewhat high-level and academic).
Focus on value Compile your knowledge What do you know How do you know it What does it mean Build a spine What is your core What is unnecessary What is your niche Lean != launch crap Put rubber on road instead of generating documentation Cafe testing Arguing without making it personal is important "Strong opinions, weakly held" Field trip coordinator Immersive journalist Psychotherapy + acting exercises Ride the chaos, little documentation Researchers vs. designers; is it ok for a researcher to not be a maker? Build, measure, learn (lean ux) Think, make, check (LUXr) Learn, measure, build (lean startup circle) Lots of UX research for medical instruments Balsamiq < Axure < Omnigraffle Know vizio well "Clearly" Books: Jeff Gothelf, Lean UX Rachel Hinman, The Mobile Frontier Scott Berkun Sites: UXMatters SmashingMag |
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