Sunday Video: Dave McClure presents ‘Why not to do a startup’

Before you continue reading, be warned by Dave McClure’s own admission: “I know I’m sort of bumming you all out right now.” If you’re not afraid of to be bummed out (and can tolerate a video with a high volume of curse words), I encourage you to take the next 25 minutes to watch the…

Before you continue reading, be warned by Dave McClure‘s own admission: “I know I’m sort of bumming you all out right now.” If you’re not afraid of to be bummed out (and can tolerate a video with a high volume of curse words), I encourage you to take the next 25 minutes to watch the video below. Once finished, instead of bummed, I imagine you’ll be quite motivated.

McClure, a venture capitalist and founding partner of 500 Startups, gave this talk, “Why not to do a startup,” at Seattle 2.0‘s StartupDay 2010. Following the embedded video you’ll find his slides.

I’m not posting this video today to discourage an entrepreneur in our region, or on the flipside, encourage one, but rather to call attention to what McClure has to say — if you’re interested in founding or being involved in a startup this is a very worthwhile presentation to watch. Following its posting on SlideShare, it was posted on Y Combinator’s Hacker News and a lively comments section ensued. In response to one of the comments, McClure clarified the reasoning behind his talk:

to clarify: i was speaking up here in Seattle for Startup Day, and i was asked to do a talk on “Why Do a Startup”.

i wasn’t feeling in a particularly positive mood, and in fact i hate when people do the duplicitous inspirational talk about startups & entrepreneurship… which is usually hard & full of fail.

i thought a more realistic look at the downside of entrepreneurship would be useful, so i offered some experiences from my own early startup consulting business in the late 90’s, which was a lot of stress & hassle for not much return (small exit, <$1M).

i think people who realistically look at the downside of entrepreneurship are more prepared for the journey, and if they still choose the path they at least know the risks.

(note: there are many lightweight forms of prototyping and startup entrepreneurship that don’t have these risks, but in this case i was emphasizing the typical experience).

Note: McClure uses foul language throughout.

Video from Seattle 2.0 on Vimeo

Slides from Seattle 2.0 on SlideShare

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

Channels:

Get the latest news and events from Nebraska’s entrepreneurship and innovation community delivered straight to your inbox every Wednesday.