The recommended reading from the final slide:
- The Hard Thing About Hard Things
- Zero to One (CS 138A)
- The Facebook Effect
- The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership
- The Tao of Leadership
- Nonviolent Communication
Lecture 1 – How to Start a Startup [video]
81–90 of 191 posts
Re: Lecture 1 – How to Start a Startup [video]
#82I've been watching it for 8 minutes as of now and despite the fact that the content looks good it really bores me to death that he is reading the whole thing like a robot. It does not sound like a natural converstation or presentation. Does anyone else share this feeling?
I disagree. The content is great and communicated well. Some people prefer making presentations having only some general idea of what they are going to say before hand. Other people spend a good deal of time thinking about exactly what they want to say and how they want to say it. Both presentation styles are perfectly valid.
Agreed that both presentation styles work. That said, regardless of the "strategy", the delivery needs to be clean to be seen as authoritative (unless a tremendous amount of respect as been pre-built). Imagine your CEO delivering an all-hands with 47 ums and reading from a script -- how much confidence would that instill?
Re: Lecture 1 – How to Start a Startup [video]
#83I've been watching it for 8 minutes as of now and despite the fact that the content looks good it really bores me to death that he is reading the whole thing like a robot. It does not sound like a natural converstation or presentation. Does anyone else share this feeling?
100% agree.
Re: Lecture 1 – How to Start a Startup [video]
#84I've been watching it for 8 minutes as of now and despite the fact that the content looks good it really bores me to death that he is reading the whole thing like a robot. It does not sound like a natural converstation or presentation. Does anyone else share this feeling?
it really bores me to death that he is reading the whole thing like a robot
Give the guy a break. It's Lecture 1, I'd imagine he was nervous.
Re: Lecture 1 – How to Start a Startup [video]
#85Dustin talks about Financial Reward and Impact of "why to do a startup" for examples like Facebook and Dropbox here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBYhVcO4WgI#t=2161 Are these values correct? If you join Dropbox as employee #100 with 10bp, you're 10bp is going to get massively diluted through subsequent rounds, no? Isn't it more like $1-2mil? And also this is wealth on paper, which means that you don't all of the s…
Based on the holdings disclosed at the time of Facebook's IPO, and even accounting for the rise in the company's stock, I doubt very much that employee #100 at Facebook is sitting on $200 million in gains from his or her options or RSUs. In the case of Dropbox, looking at what the Box founders own according to Box's S-1[1] probably provides a more realistic comp. One thing worth noting is that Dustin's slide apparent…
> As an example of this, consider that Facebook had sold shares at a $15 billion valuation just three years after the company was founded.
That is not the entire story.
Microsoft invested $240 million in exchange for certain number of shares (constituting 1.6% of total Facebook shares issued) at the time plus a 3-year exclusive right to sell banner ads on Facebook through Microsoft AdCenter.
The $15 billion valuation is only correct if:
1) Microsoft bought common stock with no liquidation preferences or special dividends.
2) An exclusive 3-year right to sell banner ads on Facebook is worth $0.
Re: Lecture 1 – How to Start a Startup [video]
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
Based on the holdings disclosed at the time of Facebook's IPO, and even accounting for the rise in the company's stock, I doubt very much that employee #100 at Facebook is sitting on $200 million in gains from his or her options or RSUs. In the case of Dropbox, looking at what the Box founders own according to Box's S-1[1] probably provides a more realistic comp. One thing worth noting is that Dustin's slide apparent…
When Google went public the valuation was ~$23 Billion (they raised just under $2 billion in the IPO) [1]. However to your point this was around 6 years after founding, whereas Facebook was valued at ~15 billion by Microsoft in 2007, 3 years after it was founded. I had a friend who turned down a job at Facebook in late 2008 because he felt the 15 billion valuation was very high and it limited his upside. And before a…
> I had a friend who turned down a job at Facebook in late 2008 because he felt the 15 billion valuation was very high and it limited his upside.
He was way off and probably did not ask the recruiter proper questions. Common stock issued to employees is a different class from preferred stock issued to Microsoft.
Re: Lecture 1 – How to Start a Startup [video]
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
When Google went public the valuation was ~$23 Billion (they raised just under $2 billion in the IPO) [1]. However to your point this was around 6 years after founding, whereas Facebook was valued at ~15 billion by Microsoft in 2007, 3 years after it was founded. I had a friend who turned down a job at Facebook in late 2008 because he felt the 15 billion valuation was very high and it limited his upside. And before a…
Yes, you are correct. Your friend didn't necessarily make a bad decision. Facebook traded as low as ~$18/share in 2012 and didn't get back to its IPO closing price until mid-2013. According to a media report[1], at one point, even employees who joined the company as late as the end of 2010 were underwater. So anybody (you, me, your friend) could have purchased FB shares with a cost basis lower than that of many emplo…
> even employees who joined the company as late as the end of 2010 were underwater
That is not correct usage of the term. According to external report, Facebook stopped issuing stock options to employees as of 2007. People joining in 2010 would be receiving RSUs, whose "strike price" is $0. While the monetary value of the shares at IPO was different than the value they imagined, they would not be underwater (having a strike price above market price, thus rendering options meaningless).
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/technology/for-founders-to...
Re: Lecture 1 – How to Start a Startup [video]
#88I've been watching it for 8 minutes as of now and despite the fact that the content looks good it really bores me to death that he is reading the whole thing like a robot. It does not sound like a natural converstation or presentation. Does anyone else share this feeling?
I disagree. The content is great and communicated well. Some people prefer making presentations having only some general idea of what they are going to say before hand. Other people spend a good deal of time thinking about exactly what they want to say and how they want to say it. Both presentation styles are perfectly valid.
> Both presentation styles are perfectly valid.
Where did the parent claim that this was an 'invalid' presentation style?
Re: Lecture 1 – How to Start a Startup [video]
#89@3:12: "There are much easier ways of getting rich." Could I get some examples? Thank you!
So here is a simple idea. If you're going to work 80h/week anyway and you're a talented coder: source one contract job billing hourly in London and another in SF. Working out of EST you work 5AM-9PM on a 10-6 in both places -- Billing $80/hr with a good corporate setup and working 4000 hours/year you can get 320,000/year, if you have EU citizenship (potentially from one of the return countries) and US citizenship you…
While I agree with the idea that working like crazy is likely to net more than a failed startup, a couple of comments:
> If you're going to work 80h/week anyway and you're a talented coder: source one contract job billing hourly in London and another in SF. Working out of EST you work 5AM-9PM on a 10-6 in both places -- Billing $80/hr with a good corporate setup and working 4000 hours/year you can get 320,000/year
I seriously doubt most people can produce 40 billable, quality architecture/programming hours a week, let alone 80 -- especially over a long period of time. Anyway 80/hour is way low for quality work as a consultant; 100 usd/hour should be a minimum. Target a more manageable 2300 hours a year (6 day work week or 5 long days) and invoice 230 000/year.
> if you have EU citizenship (potentially from one of the return countries) and US citizenship you can probably setup a decent double irish and keep about 280,000+ of that in offshore money.
Yeah, stealing (or tax evasion) is an easy way to get rich. If you want to break the law, you might want to look into smuggling or credit card fraud/skimming as well...
Re: Lecture 1 – How to Start a Startup [video]
#90There are easier ways to get rich? For Stanford Graduates, maybe. For those who don't have a degree in an ultra-paying job, I'd really like to know an easier way.
I'm usually sceptical about start-up chances, I know how much work it means, and I know that a lot of early-stage employees get rich, too. Yet, I don't think you can get rich this fast/easy with a modest degree... Even as early-stage employee often you'll still get a raw deal or you overestimate their chances of success.