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Stanford Entrepreneurship corner, From Stanford to Startup No.5 Optimize for People, Not Valuation

From Stanford to Startup No.5 Optimize for People, Not Valuation

This one's kind of interesting because I feel like in all the books I read in college, people are like, what you want to do is you want to build this beautiful SlideDeck with graphs going up into the right, and you want to go up and down Sand Hill Road and tell everyone that, 'Yeah, Kleiner's in on the deal. Are you in on the deal?' You play everyone off of each other. When we were going to raise money, I said to Mike, "I don't want to meet with all these people. What I want to do is I want to seek out"... and if we can actually show the reality... "I want to seek out the people we really want to work with." I think instead of optimizing for things like evaluation, you should consider optimizing for people. There are a lot of venture capitalists out there with a lot of knowledge, and I guarantee you, your idea matches really well with a select group of those folks. In a way, you have to think about bringing on venture capital as you're hiring part of your team, and who are the people you want to hire. And I think far too many people you talk to, even at an angel stage, are like, 'We need to optimize for getting some ridiculous evaluation right out of the door.' And then they end up with some VC firm they don't have a lot in common with and they don't get along, and bad things happen. It's all about the people. And I think that's what you have to remember when you're going out to raise money. Find the people that believe in what you're doing, that are going to give you the capital to achieve your goals. The other point here is you can go off and raise $40 million in a Series A, but it turns out you don't need a lot of money to get off the ground these days. We spent like 60K to launch our first version of Instagram. Sixty K. We had raised 500 and we were kicking ourselves the second day after... not after we raised, but after things started taking off. We were like, 'We have all this money left over and we got this far.' It turns out you can bootstrap yourself with Amazon Web services. You need two engineers these days to do things well. And it turns out that you can get a lot done on a shoestring budget, especially with all these incubators and things that are happening these days. It's something to remember. So the main takeaway here is, optimize for people, don't optimize for evaluation. Because if you have a great idea, it's going to get a great evaluation, you're going to do well. But those people are what make the difference.

The second point on this slide I just want to make very quickly is that bringing a prototype into a pitch meeting is so much more powerful than a bunch of graphs that say you're going to make lots of money in the future. Prototypes are tangible. Prototypes are things that people can sink their teeth into and use and react to and ask questions about. We have yet to create a pitch deck for Instagram. We don't have a pitch deck anywhere. It was always a prototype that we brought in and we showed. I think that while you should probably create a pitch deck, and that's probably not a lesson to learn from us, what's more important is that I think people really attach themselves to prototypes.


From Stanford to Startup No.5 Optimize for People, Not Valuation من جامعة ستانفورد إلى الشركة الناشئة رقم 5، التحسين من أجل الأشخاص، وليس التقييم Von Stanford zum Startup Nr. 5 Optimieren Sie für Menschen, nicht für die Bewertung Από το Stanford στη Startup No.5 Βελτιστοποίηση για ανθρώπους, όχι για αποτίμηση De Stanford a la startup nº 5 Optimizar para las personas, no para la valoración スタンフォード大学からスタートアップ No.5 へ 評価ではなく人のために最適化する Od Stanford do Startup No.5 Optymalizuj pod kątem ludzi, a nie wyceny De Stanford para uma empresa em fase de arranque N.º 5 Otimizar para as pessoas, não para a avaliação От Стэнфорда до стартапа №5 Оптимизация для людей, а не для оценки จากสแตนฟอร์ดสู่สตาร์ทอัพ No.5 เพิ่มประสิทธิภาพเพื่อผู้คน ไม่ใช่การประเมินค่า Stanford'dan Startup'a No.5 Değerleme İçin Değil, İnsanlar İçin Optimize Edin Від Стенфорда до стартапу №5 Оптимізуйте для людей, а не для вартості 从斯坦福到初创企业 No.5 优化人员，而非估值 從斯坦福大學到排名第五的初創公司，優化人員而不是估值

This one's kind of interesting because I feel like in all the books I read in college, people are like, what you want to do is you want to build this beautiful SlideDeck with graphs going up into the right, and you want to go up and down Sand Hill Road and tell everyone that, 'Yeah, Kleiner's in on the deal. هذا مثير للاهتمام نوعًا ما لأنني أشعر أنه في جميع الكتب التي قرأتها في الكلية، يقول الناس، ما تريد القيام به هو أنك تريد إنشاء SlideDeck الجميل هذا مع الرسوم البيانية التي ترتفع إلى اليمين، وتريد الصعود و أسفل طريق ساند هيل وأخبر الجميع، "نعم، كلاينر مشترك في الصفقة." Это довольно интересно, потому что я чувствую, что во всех книгах, которые я читал в колледже, люди говорят, что вы хотите построить эту красивую слайд-колоду с графиками, идущими вправо, и вы хотите подняться и по Сэнд-Хилл-роуд и сказать всем: «Да, в сделке участвует Кляйнер». Are you in on the deal?' هل أنت مشترك في الصفقة؟ You play everyone off of each other. أنت تلعب الجميع من بعضهم البعض. When we were going to raise money, I said to Mike, "I don't want to meet with all these people. عندما كنا سنجمع المال، قلت لمايك: "لا أريد أن أقابل كل هؤلاء الناس. What I want to do is I want to seek out"... and if we can actually show the reality... "I want to seek out the people we really want to work with." "ما أريد فعله هو أنني أريد البحث عنهم"... وإذا تمكنا بالفعل من إظهار الواقع... "أريد البحث عن الأشخاص الذين نريد حقًا العمل معهم." I think instead of optimizing for things like evaluation, you should consider optimizing for people. There are a lot of venture capitalists out there with a lot of knowledge, and I guarantee you, your idea matches really well with a select group of those folks. Есть много венчурных капиталистов с большими знаниями, и я гарантирую вам, что ваша идея действительно хорошо подходит избранной группе этих людей. In a way, you have to think about bringing on venture capital as you're hiring part of your team, and who are the people you want to hire. В некотором смысле, вы должны думать о привлечении венчурного капитала, когда вы нанимаете часть своей команды, и о том, кого вы хотите нанять. And I think far too many people you talk to, even at an angel stage, are like, 'We need to optimize for getting some ridiculous evaluation right out of the door.' وأعتقد أن الكثير من الأشخاص الذين تتحدث إليهم، حتى في مرحلة الملائكة، يقولون: "نحن بحاجة إلى تحسين الأداء للحصول على بعض التقييمات السخيفة فورًا." И я думаю, что слишком много людей, с которыми вы разговариваете, даже на стадии ангела, говорят: «Нам нужно оптимизировать, чтобы получить какую-то нелепую оценку прямо за дверью». And then they end up with some VC firm they don't have a lot in common with and they don't get along, and bad things happen. It's all about the people. And I think that's what you have to remember when you're going out to raise money. Find the people that believe in what you're doing, that are going to give you the capital to achieve your goals. The other point here is you can go off and raise $40 million in a Series A, but it turns out you don't need a lot of money to get off the ground these days. النقطة الأخرى هنا هي أنه يمكنك البدء وجمع 40 مليون دولار في السلسلة A، ولكن اتضح أنك لا تحتاج إلى الكثير من المال للبدء في هذه الأيام. We spent like 60K to launch our first version of Instagram. Sixty K. We had raised 500 and we were kicking ourselves the second day after... not after we raised, but after things started taking off. ستون ك. لقد جمعنا 500 وكنا نركل أنفسنا في اليوم الثاني بعد... ليس بعد أن رفعنا، ولكن بعد أن بدأت الأمور في الانطلاق. We were like, 'We have all this money left over and we got this far.' وكنا نقول: "لقد بقي لدينا كل هذه الأموال وقد وصلنا إلى هذا الحد". It turns out you can bootstrap yourself with Amazon Web services. اتضح أنه يمكنك تشغيل نفسك باستخدام خدمات Amazon Web. You need two engineers these days to do things well. And it turns out that you can get a lot done on a shoestring budget, especially with all these incubators and things that are happening these days. It's something to remember. So the main takeaway here is, optimize for people, don't optimize for evaluation. لذا فإن الفكرة الأساسية هنا هي التحسين من أجل الأشخاص، وليس التحسين من أجل التقييم. Because if you have a great idea, it's going to get a great evaluation, you're going to do well. But those people are what make the difference.

The second point on this slide I just want to make very quickly is that bringing a prototype into a pitch meeting is so much more powerful than a bunch of graphs that say you're going to make lots of money in the future. النقطة الثانية في هذه الشريحة التي أريد أن أشير إليها بسرعة كبيرة هي أن إحضار نموذج أولي إلى اجتماع عرض تقديمي هو أقوى بكثير من مجموعة من الرسوم البيانية التي تشير إلى أنك ستجني الكثير من المال في المستقبل. Prototypes are tangible. Prototypes are things that people can sink their teeth into and use and react to and ask questions about. النماذج الأولية هي أشياء يمكن للناس أن يغرقوا أسنانهم فيها ويستخدموها ويتفاعلوا معها ويطرحوا أسئلة عنها. We have yet to create a pitch deck for Instagram. لا يزال يتعين علينا إنشاء عرض تقديمي لـ Instagram. We don't have a pitch deck anywhere. It was always a prototype that we brought in and we showed. I think that while you should probably create a pitch deck, and that's probably not a lesson to learn from us, what's more important is that I think people really attach themselves to prototypes. Я думаю, что, хотя вам, вероятно, следует создать презентацию, и это, вероятно, не урок, чтобы учиться у нас, что более важно, так это то, что я думаю, что люди действительно привязываются к прототипам.