First Week at 500 Startups
They say San Francisco is the mecca of tech-startups. A place where a good idea is worth a million dollars. It’s true. It’s also the perfect place where mediocre ideas and products die…quickly.
This week was Lexop’s first dip into this fascinating world.
For the 23rd cohort of 500 Startups in San Francisco, over 2500 startups from all around the world applied, but only 18 were chosen. Statistically speaking, it represents a lower rate of acceptance than trying to get into Yale, Stanford, or Harvard.
Lexop is one of the lucky few who will go through this 4-month bootcamp-style program run by one of the most prestigious accelerators in the world. As they say, “it’s like a startup MBA on steroids.”
Periodically, I’ll share a few of our key experiences, learning opportunities, and failures:
Here’s the top 3 this week:
“Startups die from indigestion, not starvation.”
This quote really resonated with me. It was one of the first expert-talks that we had and the purpose was to attract our attention to the core mission: focus.
The biggest issue with early stage startups is that they are trying to tackle too many channels at once. As such, because they are aiming for all possible avenues, they end up digesting either too much or incompatible things.
We will have to hone in on the 2 channels (max) that will allow us to increase our metrics within the limited timeframe that we have. It implies that we will have to elaborate and experiment strategies in order to quickly target the channels that will have the best results for Lexop. This will be an interesting challenge.
The Attention Span of VCs in SF is Less Than 5 Seconds
All batch startups were asked to pitch their company within 1 minute. Usually, I’m good with pitches and as I confidently approached the stage to grab the mic, I realized within 5 seconds, that nobody was listening to me anymore. The structure is very different here. You have to get to the point almost immediately. I tend to tell a story then end with a punch. That won’t work here. I have to learn to start with a bang and finish with whatever is left.
Growth is Not About Tactics, it’s About Process
I’m sure you’ve read books and blogs that have titles such as “7 Marketing Tactics to Grow Your Business”. Apparently, that’s all b**lshit. Growth is not about defined tactics, it’s about the process that you have put in place in order to target the best tactics. In other words, just because it’s written “Use Social Media”, doesn’t mean it’s the right tactic for you. Growth initiatives are about setting objectives, establishing KPIs, measuring their success (if any), and learning from the results. If the conclusion is good then you have a right idea/tactic that will help you grow your business. If the conclusion is bad, then you re-do the process until you find the right fit.
This upcoming week is called “Hell Week”. We have over 25 talks (all-day events) from industry experts regarding growth, marketing, and sales. Also, from time to time, we’ll need to find a few seconds to run the business ;))
Bring it on Hell Week, we’re ready.
