Mike Casey :: Random thoughts on Startups

Most people think that successful startups are born from an idea, an idea that someone had, implemented and then sold for millions. 

My experience has been different though. My company has only grown to the point it has now because of Dave Jenkins and Dan Purchas; the two other awesome guys I started GradConnection with. My team combined with our partners and the friends have given us everything we need to build a pretty cool product.

The startups that I have seen become successful have done so because of the people involved. The startups that I have seen fail have done so because of the people involved.

Make sure your team dynamic is right. Surround yourself with the right people and the ideas will come naturally.

One thing that is becoming more apparent as I move slowly through the world of entrepreneurship is that I often have to present in front of a crowd either to promote what my start up does or to give others tips and ideas on starting and progressing a company.

What I have noticed is that I am generally okay with presenting in front of a crowd, but I would like to be more articulate than what I am. Just like on the phones, the only real way to do this is with practice.

When a promo girl came up to me the other day and asked if I could be apart of the Mitsubishi ASX promotion, test drive the car and then record a video about what I thought I jumped at the idea. Perfect chance to lose the comfort zone and get some much needed practice.

Here is the end result : http://mitsubishiasx.com.au/mike

Please let me know what you think. I say “Ah” quite a bit, but that is because its unscripted. If you could vote for me too that would be great!

Mike

It seems I am developing a bit of a knack for encouraging people to start companies, which to be honest, I am kind of proud of.

I used to coach Tim Robinson in underwater hockey back in 2002 - 2006 when he was in high school and I was slacking my way through my university degree.

When I was in Wellington a couple of weeks ago I saw him randomly in a car park and ended up having a quick 10 minute conversation about starting companies. It turns out he knew a bit about GradConnection from our advertising in New Zealand, so I was stoaked about that.

To cut a long story short, he was thinking of taking the plunge himself. So a couple of days later I sat down and gave him a crash course in how to run an online company. This crash course involved

• Google (SEO)
• Google Analytics
• Google Adsense
• Google Webmaster Tools
• Woopra
• Wordpress

My advice was simple. Release something straight away, whether it be a blog or a splash site. This way google can find out about it sooner and will increase your google love when the time comes to release it properly. To summarise, this is how I would do things in Tim’s shoes

1. Register a domain
2. Release a splash site
3. Start a personal blog
4. Install Analytics / Woopra
5. Start cold calling
6. All the other admin crap like registering a company, getting a TFN (These are important once you have something, but don’t get bogged down in this stuff until you are certain you are going to have something valuable)

Good luck Tim, I know you are going to nail it.

All the guys involved in GradConnection have just finished a big two day work shop to define our strategy for the next financial year. To be honest it was great fun, having a good laugh, with a good bunch of mates. I have never associated business with pleasure nearly as much as I have over the last couple of days.

The big topic of discussion was around when we should look at expanding our technology beyond the current New Zealand and Australian markets that our company operates in. Something I never thought I would be doing a couple of years ago when I was still a graduate myself.

Essentially there is a big carrot. Overseas markets are larger and the budgets are bigger. Here are some key points we came up with

• Brand Penetration - look after the market you are in, they should always come first no matter what. Only expand when your brand is strong enough not to require a founder 100% of the time.
• Business Development, by team members that are not founders of the company only works well when your brand is known and established.
• Overseas markets are hard. Just because you are established in one market does not mean you have a greater chance of success in another market.
• Never use operational budget in one market for expansion into another.
• Companies that operate in different markets are much more valuable to investors and acquirers. This is because your model is proven to work with different establishments, cultures and currencies. It makes the potential for further expansion much more realistic.
• A sale in one market can directly lead to a sale in another market, especially when dealing in B2B sales with international organisations.

If you have ever read Crossing that Chasm you will know about early pragmatists vs conservatives. I would suggest that you would only want to look at overseas expansion once you are well etched into the conservative part of the market.

All in all I am incredibly fond of the market in Australia, and the people I have met during my time on GradConnection. These sorts of decisions are not all about money. They include lifestyle, friends, family and personal growth.

GradConnection is taking over the lease from Tjoos in the coming weeks and we plan to create a very informal incubator where a number of small to medium sized start ups share office space, ideas and grow together.

I’m pretty excited about it, as we will have a few new startups coming in with members who are experts in

• International Outsourcing
• Hosting
• Web Marketing
• Programming
• Sales

The goal is simple, to outgrow the space. Then perhaps we look for something bigger and better.

Keep you posted.

Mike

Today was a first for me, as we were contacted for the first time by a VC firm in California to talk about our company. It was a pretty interesting experience, and one that I am hoping we will get to repeat a few times this year. To summarise, they really liked what we were doing and where we are heading at GradConnection but it is still too early for them to invest in us.

What it did make me realise was 

• The VC market is huge, this VC fund had 800 million USD alone and there are hundreds of similar firms
• Private equity VCs are the best - not at mercy of interest rates
• Be responsible with your growth - don’t jump before you can swim

When it comes down to it, if you run your company well, people will want to invest. The point is that you must have a well defined strategy for this investment. It is easy to bleed money and when you are being offered lots of money it pays to have thought about how you are going to spend it.

 

I met Andrew Morris when I started playing rugby for St Ives (Suburb in the North of Sydney). We immediately had a great series of conversations about starting tech companies on a rugby trip down to the sticks of New South Wales.

I am proud to see that Andy has come a long way in the last couple of months, and as of yesterday, he has resigned from work to start his own company. What I admire most about his move is

• He has not idea what he is going to do - he just realises that you have to commit to something in order to make it happen.
• He has given his employer 3 months notice, which gives him plenty of time to adjust while still making the commitment and he is not going to burn any bridges.
• He can see that there is really no risk in quitting your job, he can always find a new one if things don’t work out.
• He listens to me nag him so much that he eventually takes the plunge.

Good shit Andy! Wish you all the best.

Andy is going to blog about his startup adventure on his tumblr.

So my mate Elias moved to San Francisco and, in the process, put the tech startup community in Australia back a few years. He is missed because of his innovation, his energy and his enthusiasm.

Exibit A: Elias’s Blog

Elias has started the startup bus. A concept where 12 random strangers hop on a bus and travel over 2 days, and create 3 startups to be launched at the biggest SXSW party of 2010. I think its a fantastic idea, but more importantly, so did TechCrunch. Elias has been flooded with sponsorship requests since this article went live.

Elias, with out a doubt, got his inspiration from Startup Camp. A awesome event where Australian entrepreneurs build a company in a weekend and then auction it off to the highest bidder. A concept grown by Bart Jemella and Kim Chen, founders of Tjoos.com.

I will post more about how the next start up camp goes in the coming weeks.

Sportsmen and woman don’t get sponsored until they show promise, and its the exact same way with business. Its amazing the number of potential entrepreneurs that think that the key to success is to go and gain funding. The best thing you can do is have funding come to you.

How do you do this?

Make some money. Do what you need to do to get a couple of invoices under your belt. Once this is done, its much easier to explain your potential. You have a proven concept.

Angel investment should never be about starting a company, it should be about growing it.

I have had a great long rest over the xmas and new year break and have had the chance to catch up with a lot of old friends and friends of friends. A lot were very interested to hear about my company and how it was going, which was cool as I enjoy talking about startups.

During this time I lost count of the number of times I heard someone say to me “I want to start my own company one day…”, to which I would always reply, “Why not start it today then?”.

The same old reasons always come up.

• “I want to gain more experience first”
• “The economy is still not right”
• “I would, but I need to save money”
• “I don’t want to rush, I want to do it just right”

While all of these excuses, except the last one, are all sensible they are really self inflicted hurdles.

• All the valuable experience is gained when you start a company for the first time
• Some of the most successful companies started in rough economic times. Best way to keep new competition at bay, and make ground on existing and larger companies that are consolidating.
• Bootstrap. Don’t spend any money outside of rent and food until you make money. If you need to lose a few christmas kilos, then stop spending money on food :D
• Your company will never be just right. It will always change in ways you can never predict.

If this decade is your decade then its time to make things happen. People often never get where they want to go because they never start.