3 Necessities For Startup Success – Marc Andreessen
Marc Andreessen recently gave a presentation at Stanford’s Entrepreneurial Ventures program (I’ll definitely have to check that out when I get there :)). Marc is somebody I truly look up to and who I consider a legend in Silicon Valley, having started, not one, but, TWO billion dollar companies. So when he speaks, it’s worth listening to.
In this clip, he talks about the key components needed for a startup to be successful. Marc’s advice was very useful as I’m currently in the middle of launching a web startup myself. Enjoy:
To summarize, the three necessities for startup success are:
1. A Big Market
This can be broken down into two parts:
- Is there a big existing market that you think you can go after and displace incumbents?
- Or do you believe there is a new market that will be big?
2. A Killer Product That’s 10 Times Better
It must be a 10x leap happening in the technology landscape. So is your product 10x faster? 10x cheaper? 10x better? In order words, is there a fundamental technology or economic change that causes you to justify having a new company?
3. An Outstanding Team
You need a founding team of complementary skill sets. This usually includes one or more super-strong technologist as well as a market/salesperson who has a good understanding of business.
You can watch the full one hour presentation Marc gave at Stanford here.
Discussion about this post