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Stephen Randall!An Entrepreneur’s Perspective!
!Wellesley High School, Seminar Day, March 4th 2015!
www.slideshare.com/stephenrandall [email protected]!
!
Doing the impossible might just be possible if you have that entrepreneurial spirit, the spirit to recognize an opportunity, evaluate and face risks, know what you don't know and learn from mistakes.!
What it says on the packet…!
My Goals For Today…!1. Encourage budding entrepreneurs!2. Share lessons from 3 of my startups!
3. Hopefully keep you interested for an hour!!!
!PLEASE feel free to ask questions, interrupt, participate…!!!
THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS A STUPID QUESTION.!
en·tre·pre·neur!A person who organizes and operates a business or
businesses, taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so.!
en·tre·pre·neur!Seeing the opportunity, challenges, ignoring (or not being
afraid of) the risks, impossibility of the tasks ahead….!
The first challenges!“It’s been done before”!
“Why hasn’t it been done already?”!
“People, money, time… ”!
“Competitors will crush you”!
It’s not always about new ideas.!
!!Don’t be put off if
someone’s done it first.! !
That didn’t stop Google, Facebook or Apple…!
Aha moment !Opportunity!Challenge !Outcome!
Lessons +ve!Lessons –ve !Favorite story!
!
BRIEF HISTORY OF MY STARTUPS!
Stepp > Symbian > LocaModa!
!!
The Stepp AHA Moment?!Why aren’t there guitars that can do what synths can do
(and more)? !
STEPP!!
Aha moment - I couldn’t play keyboards, but wanted all those sounds. Guitar synths didn’t deliver (and still don’t).!!
Opportunity - First real digital musical instrument since synth.!!
Challenge - Lots of tech to capture guitar nuances and translate into MIDI. And keep costs down.!!
Outcome – We did it! And the Stepp got a British design award by HRH. Company was aquired.!!
Lessons +ve –Sold to top guitarists, producers and recording studios. !
Lessons -Ve - Too expensive. Compromised some playability. not enough long term investment to keep refining.!!
Favorite Story: The day we demoed to Paul McCartney!!!
Most of us suck… at first.!
"Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we
fall.” ~ Confucius!
Stepp > Symbian > LocaModa!
!!
The Symbian AHA Moment?!The threat of Microsoft doing to
mobile devices what they did to PCs!
SYMBIAN!!
Aha moment - Psion was going to close us down. We we’re already licensing to Nokia, the largest phone manufacturer…!!
Opportunity - Create the global standard OS for phones.!!
Challenge - Working with LOTS of investors and shareholders, with different agendas. Creating a global standard and growing from 80 to over 600 employees in 2 years!!
Outcome - Nokia acquired Symbian, then MS acquired Nokia.!!
Lessons +ve We did it! Sold over 100 million devices and enabled over 1 billion!!!
Lessons -ve - Difficult to manage different competitors. Politics prevented us establishing a common UI like Android.!!
Favorite Stories: MS is coming ”get out the effing way”!!
Stepp > Symbian > LocaModa!
!!
The LocaModa AHA Moment?!
“The Web Outside”!
LOCAMODA!!
Aha moment – Screens everywhere + Txt messaging growth. !!
Opportunity - Create standard for “The web outside” !Become the Google of the outdoor industry.!!
Challenge - Millions of screens, hundreds of operating systems, slow and traditional billboard companies.!!
Outcome – Monster Media aquired LocaModa in August 2013. The patents LocaModa developed are now granted and are being licensed to all the major companies in the industry.!!
Lessons +ve - We did it! Licensed to major networks for screens in Times Sq and all over the world. !!
Lessons -Ve - Too early. The market was/is very fragmented !!
Favorite Stories: How schools started using our tech!!!!
KEY LESSONS – IN A NUTSHELL!!
#1: Things RARELY go according to plan!!!!
##2: Doing the impossible isn’t impossible (naivety helps). But doing it efficiently and repeatedly is really difficult.!!
#3: The right tech at the right time.!!
#5: Persevere. !!You need some talent, access to !people (for investment and/or market),!good timing/vision, and !stubbornness to be an entrepreneur!!!GOOD LUCK!!!
