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2020 | Buch | 1. Auflage

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The Startup

Navigating Chaos to Elevate Your Career and Achieve Entrepreneurial Success

verfasst von: Jesko von Windheim

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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Über dieses Buch

This highly readable volume tells the true story of a venture that achieved more than 400,000% return for its founders and investors. The book follows one of the principals in the startup as he navigates a series of extraordinary twists and turns becoming an entrepreneur and building a company. The turbulent journey educates and entertains as the author recounts his own learning experiences—providing a practical education on the fundamentals of customer discovery, sales, marketing, business development and entrepreneurship. This personal story conveys the substance of content taught in the classroom in a compelling and easy to read style. With learning experiences ranging from opportunity identification to customer acquisition and raising money and exiting a company, the book presents a collection of topics carefully curated to answer fundamental questions about innovation, entrepreneurship, and career success.

The book serves as an essential guide for those who wish to innovate to create value and wealth for themselves and others. Readers will gain a gritty, yet inspiring, view of the trials and tribulations inherent in any entrepreneurial endeavor, and will walk away from the book with practical tools and techniques for career success, whether it is with a brand-new startup or an established corporation.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Turbulence

Abstract

At 33,000 feet in the air, we were in the thick of it, causing even a seasoned traveler like myself to grip my armrests in forgotten prayer. Ignoring the twists and turns of the plane, I leaned my forehead against the window, trying to get some sort of relief. The cold felt good, easing the headache that was about to explode, taking my mind off the nausea building in my gut.

Jesko von Windheim

Opportunity Knocks

Abstract

An entrepreneur doesn’t think this way. The entrepreneur says: “Well if you know there are two birds in the bush, who’s to say there aren’t a lot more? How do I catch them all? And how about when I catch one, I sell it to you—think of it: for you, a guaranteed bird in hand! Now that’s convenience!”

Jesko von Windheim

Planning to Lead

Abstract

It’s quite possible to succeed in life through luck and happenstance alone; but, for most of us, it’s much better to have a plan.

Jesko von Windheim

The One that Got Away

Abstract

Nowhere was the gap between current technology development and emerging market demand more evident than in MCNC’s networking services group. I vividly remember a conversation with one of the group’s managers. As part of the market audit, I asked him to define what products or services they offered their customers.

Jesko von Windheim

The North Star

Abstract

The Proserve incident was a mistake I was determined never to make again. I vowed that my primary criterion for a new technology venture would be a strong technical founder who would accept my guidance in business and marketing as I would accept theirs in technology. When things go bump—and with startups it’s not a question of if things will go bump, it’s a question of when—I want a team or, at the very least, a person, that I can rely on. I want to be working with someone who is indispensable to the technology development, who sees me as a partner, and who has my back as we work through the inevitable challenges.

Jesko von Windheim

Customer Call

Abstract

I bridged the research/sales divide at MCNC by seeking out research group leaders who embraced purchase orders (like Vera) and by focusing on projects where financial pressures encouraged a more mercenary approach. My simple goal was to avoid any Ferengi name-throwers. It’s a rule I still abide by to this day: Don’t go where you are not wanted; there are plenty of other fish in the sea. I was fortunate that MCNC was an independent nonprofit organization that did not limit which opportunities could be pursued (like at Kobe Steel). With the anticipated loss of state funding, paying customers would be welcome as long as I could find things to sell and research groups willing to deliver.

Jesko von Windheim

Technology Overload

Abstract

Even as solder bumping became my most pressing assignment, it was not my only one. As much as Shelby wanted me to support the solder bumping group, he was most excited about another MCNC innovation: an electromechanical microrelay.

Jesko von Windheim

Mining for Prospects

Abstract

It’s no secret that focusing on customer needs is the key to success in building any business. As entrepreneurship has become an increasingly important part of the U.S. educational curriculum, this aspect has become a mainstay of the courses students take, and the federal government even awards grants for business students/budding entrepreneurs to go out and talk to customers. Sometimes the advice goes a bit overboard. “Make one hundred phone calls to prospective customers and find that crucial need and then fill it!”

Jesko von Windheim

Striking Gold

Abstract

When we lived in Canada, my wife worked for the public library system and became friends with Jill Carney, a colleague who was similar in age, marital status, and who was also raising kids. But what they had most in common was that, unbeknownst to each other, they both independently moved to Raleigh from Canada at almost exactly the same time.

Jesko von Windheim

Gathering Clouds

Abstract

Entrepreneurship is a full contact sport. When you have something of perceived value, there are lots of people out there who want to take it away from you: customers who want it for free, competitors who want to steal it from you, peers who are jealous of you, investors who want to own it, and other investors who want to own you. A boss of mine used to say: “Everyone wants to eat your lunch.” Unfortunately, this is true.

Jesko von Windheim

Into the Storm

Abstract

How do the wheels come off in a venture? Often in multiple ways. It was the end of 1997 and with $2 million already cut from our budget, many of the technical groups at MCNC were starting to feel the pressure from the State subsidy curtailment. At the same time, Shelby’s short circuiting of good risk management practices in support of the networking group’s full court press into gaming networks began to show signs of impending doom. Proserve would have been an incremental, low-cost step towards commercial activity for the networking group. In contrast, the gaming network was becoming an increasingly high-cost, all-or-nothing adventure into the unknown. Things got eerily quiet in the fishbowl.

Jesko von Windheim

Pivot

Abstract

The term “pivot” has a special meaning for the startup community. We don’t say: “We failed and now we are desperately trying to do something else.” We say: “We pivoted.”

Jesko von Windheim

Switching On

Abstract

Vera had been very smart in building her business at MCNC. In the 1980s, North Carolina invested over $100 million in MCNC to build a state-of-the-art semiconductor design and manufacturing facility. At its inception, the facility had the capacity to design and fabricate the most advanced semiconductor chips in the world—it was a technological wonder that exceeded the capabilities of industry leaders like Intel and Texas Instruments. MCNC was the first organization in the world—or close to it—to design and fabricate a 1 cm × 1 cm (10 mm × 10 mm) electronic chip with one million transistors!

Jesko von Windheim

The Final Touch

Abstract

While Shelby’s vision of spinning out a company was closer than it ever had been, Shelby was not going to be a part of it. Barely a month after my failed trip to Ottawa to see Gregory Hansen, Shelby resigned from his position as President of MCNC and retired.

Jesko von Windheim

Cash Is King

Abstract

Brian Novak loved to say: “Cash is king!” I agree with him.

Jesko von Windheim

Pitching and Flailing

Abstract

The good news was that, by the time Jack Phillips kicked me out of the negotiations with Gabriel Tanner, I had made pretty much every mistake in fundraising there was to make, all on MCNC’s nickel. How could I possibly ask for more?

Jesko von Windheim

Closing Time

Abstract

While Brian struggled to pitch our deal, Vera was born to it. With her stature in the MEMS industry, she also had connections no one else did. When Vera and I had met with venture capitalists in the early days, our pitch failed not because of her skill, but because we lacked a clear vision for growth, and had no real operational plan to get there.

Jesko von Windheim

Going Large

Abstract

The biggest optical communications conference in the industry was the Optical Fiber Conference (OFC) held in February each year, typically alternating between the East and the West Coast. Early in 1999 we were not yet funded and had no means to attend the conference, but Jake Wilson at Nortel did. He returned with prophetic news.

Jesko von Windheim

Chasing the Unicorn

Abstract

As our marketing efforts accelerated, our main focus was the next Optical Fiber Conference, OFC2000 to be held in Baltimore in early March (just a few months after funding Cronos). Brian was determined to make Cronos the star of the show and was investing unimaginably large amounts to do so. Just the booth for the show, a 100-square-foot structure, cost $75,000! We were also spending enormous sums with Brodeur as we meticulously prepared every detail. We needed slide shows and presentation decks, press releases, product documentation, industry backgrounders, company backgrounders, and executive backgrounders. We lined up interviews with reporters and analysts and new customers. Everything revolved around our new positioning as an internet backbone company, a photonics components leader. The preparation alone was exhausting.

Jesko von Windheim

Epilogue

Abstract

As I wrote this book and as I continue to pursue new entrepreneurial opportunities, I sometimes wonder: Is it just me? Do I live in some crazy, chaotic bubble where strange things happen? Or is this truly how entrepreneurship works?

Jesko von Windheim

Titel: The Startup
verfasst von: Jesko von Windheim
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Electronic ISBN: 978-3-030-45078-6
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-45077-9
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45078-6