Lessons Learned: A Year Running a Dev Shop at MarsBased
Transcript of Lessons Learned: A Year Running a Dev Shop at MarsBased
Company culture• Remote working.
• High specialisation.
• Transparency.
• Quality over quantity.
• Simpler is better.
• Work local, think global.
Reasons to fail
• We were not 100% committed to it.
• We didn’t know the customers.
• Too many dependencies & unknowns.
Pivoting
• September 2013: Defined company culture.
• January 2014: Turned into a dev shop.
• March 2013: Rebranded.
What you need
• Will to work
• Something that feeds you
• A computer + internet
• Optional: a co-founder
Rallying the troops
• Unaligned -> Set priorities
• Uncommitted -> Set goals
• Unresponsive -> Set rules
Team
• Want a team? Try this:
• Developer
• Sales
• MFIC
Sell MVP while it’s being built
Bootstrap FTW
Sales from day one
• Kick your sales guy out of the cave…
• … and lock him out (feed him from time to time).
• Events, cold email, LinkedIn…
Must have• Business cards • Elevator pitch • Dress accordingly
Nice to have• Evangelists • Good content • A website
Think big
• Actually, not that big: MVP
• Global or local? Get advise
• Expect the worst, prepare for the best
NEVER TRUST
• Always with contract.
• No favours on day one.
• Avoid these words: partnership, strategic/investment project, synergies.
Focus• Don’t multitask.
• The more hats, the less credibility.
• Focus drives the team together.
• Is X helping me succeed?
• Yes: Merge with current business.
• No: F*ck it!