3 ms·

Good way to find a passionate early stage startup looking for innovation help?

3 points by SVPMguy 13y ago

The last few years I've been working for a major Silicon Valley software company, but have become frustrated by the relatively slow pace of innovation and lack of passion among co-workers. I'm itching to get back in at the ground floor at a startup (I've had previous success), but not sure where to start as most of the "small" company opportunities that come my way are pre-IPO companies that are already hundreds of employees deep. Due to previous career success, I am in a position where immediate compensation is not as important to me as finding an opportunity I am passionate about. I want to be given a mandate to help shape innovation strategy at a very early stage. What I have to offer is three-fold: 1. Nearly fifteen years of technology Product Management experience, including the perspective and lessons that come from helping build a successful startup in the past, as well as managing successful enterprise products and most recently a $2 billion dollar Consumer software business. 2. I'm really interested in innovation as a discipline and would like to put into practice a framework for discovering the hidden underlying needs that can catapult an 'ok' technology into a world-class success. Net-net, if given the mandate, I believe that I can save a startup from going through years of costly 'fail-fast' pivots. 3. Because of previous startup success, I'm in a position that I can accept some ownership in lieu of initial salary, if the situation is right: i.e. focus on innovation is a major priority and I believe in the cause. How might I find early stage startups in the Bay Area who'd be interested in exploring a potential relationship?

benologist 13y ago
You have: - no particular financial pressure - deep technical skills - loads of experience - confidence you can succeed Why waste all of that on a 'relationship' with someone else's startup vs. doing something yourself? It sounds like you should be building something and then looking for people to fill in your gaps not a startup that needs technological-saving (which is unlikely vs. needing users/a valid business model/revenue etc much more than 'perfect code').
- SVPMguy 13y ago
  Appreciate the reply and attempted kick in the pants! I'm certainly not interested in helping anyone 'perfect code' and frankly I'm not the person you'd want to technologically save you anyway, trust me on that! I have several of my own ideas, but none that I feel are good enough that I'd want to stick my neck out and seed myself at the moment. I'd rather get on board with someone who already has a vision to change the world and then help make it a success. I'm just not sure where to find early stage start-ups. It seems all my connections point to companies where the strategy is already figured out and they just want executors.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
shawnreilly 13y ago
I commend you for being passionate about innovation. I share the same passion; I firmly believe that innovation drives the future. I think there are a few different ways you can approach this, but it depends on what you want to accomplish. I find the idea of 'Innovation as a Discipline' to be interesting, and perhaps something that might help a large range of Startups spanning multiple industries. Making a comparison to fail-fast pivots alludes to the possibility that 'Innovation as a Discipline' may represent a new approach or methodology towards Product Development. If this is the case, you may find yourself in a position to help a large number of Startups. However, if you are looking to work with a few specific Startups and develop Products (not methodologies), then my recommendation is to get involved with the Local Startup Ecosystem. Specifically, events like Hackathon's or Startup Weekend types of Events. Those are the types of Events where you will find a large number of Groups/Teams working on Ideas and Products at the Ground Floor. I imagine you could easily find a few different Groups/Teams working with Ideas and products that you find interesting. I recently decided to try an IdeaLab approach (or something close). My new approach is to conceptually design new and innovative products, validate the conceptual products with potential customers, and then build teams to execute the conceptual products. So it's kind of backwords, you are working on the product before you build the team. But then you build the team and work on the product. I'm interested to see how this turns out!
- SVPMguy 13y ago
  I have what I believe to be an excellent innovation methodology, but it's tailored to more established organizations with significant means. The methodology involves talking to potential customers before you hire a team of developers and even before you brainstorm ideas or design anything. I haven't tried to apply it at a startup, but there should be no reason why the core concepts can't be leveraged by startups. I suspect there may be certain nuances and limitations specific to applying it at early-stage startups that need to be worked out. So what I'd like to do is help develop a few early-stage product successes to act as a proof-of-concept to iron out these details. I just sort of need a willing participant or two to experiment on. Of course, in return, I think they'll benefit immensely. So, how do I find out about hackathons or startup events?

The best way to get involved with Local Hackathons and Startup Events is to get involved with the Local Startup Ecosystem. The last time I was in The Valley, I found Meetup.Com to be an awesome source of Startup Related Events and Functions. That might be a good place to start (filter by technology or language). You'll also find that some of the more popular Hackathons or Non-Profits have their own Website, such as the TechCrunch Hackathon (http://techcrunch.com/events/ http://techcrunch.com/events/), the Launch Hackathon (http://hackathon.launch.co/ http://hackathon.launch.co/), or Startup Weekend (http://www.startupweekend.org http://www.startupweekend.org). These are just a few examples, I'm sure there are many more across the World that I don't even know about. Regarding product methodologies, what you describe sounds somewhat similar to Eric Ries' Lean Startup. I hope it's not offensive to make a comparison, but I think it's good food for thought. The concept of involving customer feedback into the product development process (or any process) is extremely powerful. But I wouldn't doubt that there are different ways to apply that Approach. The Lean Startup is based on a Build, Measure, Learn methodology. What you describe sounds somewhat like a variation; maybe closer to Measure, Learn, Build. Expanding on that, other variations could relate to the number of cycles you consider and the possibility that they can be in different orders to achieve different results. For example; Build, Measure Learn might be a great process for an existing Team to develop a Product based on an existing idea. Another example; Measure, Learn, Build (cycle 1) and then Build, Measure, Learn (cycle 2) might be a good 2 cycle process for an existing Team to develop a Product that does not initially have an idea or direction. And yet another example; Build, Measure Learn, (cycle 1) and then Build, Measure, Learn again might be a good 2 cycle process for Building a Team to develop a Product based on a validated idea. These are all hypothetical of course, but it's interesting to consider. I'm sure there are many different possibilities based on how you apply the concepts. In any event, I wish you well in validating your methodology!