StartupSchool - Ann Winblad
Ann winblad from hummer-winblad came up. It was clear from the get-go that she was very comfortable presenting to large crowds, she started with jokes about her height (she seemed short). Her talk was packed with info and she moved very fast skimming all the slides. It was hard to take notes, but great talk
How to write a Fundable Business Plan
Background
- First fund for software
- IPO in process
2005
- 21.7B 2939 deals
- 35% of all dollars are going to software company
- 13 series A in last year, 2 more closing soon
New Era of innovation
- big companies not doing well, smaller companies doing better
- incumbents are playing whack-a-mole
- 4 year step function of innovation
Challenge for founders
- customer understanding
- unfair competitive advantage (sustainable)
- team
Plan
- IDEA
- Who are the Customers
- What is the Secret Sauce
- Can you Attract Excellence
- Do the numbers make sense
Hook in 15 mins
- voltage
- business plan contest
- voltage replaces PKI with identity based encryption vs. Voltage secures anytime, anywhere business communications
- describe it as business not tech
Do YOU understand the market
- UNMET CUSTOMER NEED + GROWTH
Is the need real?
- vitamin vs pain killer
sacred cow dung.
Market Timing
- Defining the market vs jumping hurdles already in place
- Redefine the market
Up and to the right
- ability to execute vs challenges for vision
Product vs company
company is bigger than product
Will customers beg
- newton vs ipod
- aspirational products
What is your secret sauce
- Technology/IP
- business process
- Partners
- Domain Knowledge
Engineering Roadmap
- build it quick
Can you attract excellence
- founder & CEO has been good for h-w
- early stage vcs will fund 2 people
- rarely fund 1
- no need for management team
Do you know what you don’t know
- Assumptions are ok
- Be clear abotu hypothesis.
- read michael porter’s book (title?)
-
Do you reach software economics
- 80% gross margin - 20% ebitda
- are services big part of revenue
- capitalization < 15M
- COGS COGS>30%
- Sales/Marketing - commissions/quotas in line
- Eng - does eng plan match op plan
- G&A is G&A < 10%
- P&L q over q growth rates
- Model enterprise vs salesforce model
- cashflow - How long does the initial investment last
Market Bats last
What VCs bring to table
- People, partners, process
65 companies funded
Why should I write a b-plan
- no one reads a b-plan
- Exec Summary
Don’t use more than 10 slides
- exec summary
- team
- market analysis
- secret sauce
- Assumptions
- Customers (potential or reference-able)
- Product Plan
- Eng Plan
- Sales Model and marketing outline
- Biz model/financials/cash flow
