Startup School 08, Greg McAdoo, Sequoia Capital
2008 May 24
Greg McAdoo discusses evaluating startup companies for investment at Sequoia Capital and how to create a great company.
Key Takeaways & Notes
Elements of a sustainable company
- Clarity of purpose
- Spectacular market
- Alleviate customer pain
- Team DNA
- Incredible Product focus
- Real operating margins
- Frugality
- Inferno with a single match
Common Mistakes
- Cluttered Markets
- Too much money
- Too early or too late
- Not addressing a true pain
- A feature and not a product
- A product and not a business
- No business model
How to build a great company
- Compelling offering:
- Focus on people with their hair on fire
- The message matters
- You should be able to sum your business up in one short simple sentence
- Market Insight:
- What is the total addressable market?
- What is the service addressable m market?
- What is the share of the market?
- Understand the dynamics of the market
- Unfair Advantage:
- Build up unfair advantage over time
- Use speed and stealth
- Iterate rapidly
- Get your product our there quickly
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I would caution anyone from sharing any IP or doing business with Greg Mcadoo without a very detailed NDA. He personally misrepresented himself to our company, viewed our IP and helped his firm Sequoia Capital invest in one of our competitors.