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Dan Siroker at Startup School 2013
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Dan Siroker at Startup School 2013
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The Journey Begins
Dan Siroker shares the beginnings of his entrepreneurial journey, starting from his college days at Stanford where he researched machine learning and sentiment classification. He discusses his initial attempts to apply this technology to the stock market and the challenges he faced as a solo founder, emphasizing the importance of having paying customers.
"thank you uh I have the privilege of saying this is my sixth startup School uh and uh the first time as a presenter and today I'm going to be sharing with you what I would have wanted to hear the firs..."
Lessons from Google
Siroker reflects on his time at Google, where he learned critical lessons about product management and the importance of feedback loops. He highlights his role in developing Google Chrome and how the strategy of leveraging the Google brand helped in product distribution and customer feedback.
"of research dot dot dot profit and um we didn't quite achieve profit uh by we I mean me because I was by myself uh this is a graph that shows the amount of time between when I first wrote a line of co..."
Inspired by Obama
Dan recounts a pivotal moment when he attended a talk by Barack Obama at Google in 2007. Inspired by Obama's vision of using data and evidence in governance, Siroker decided to volunteer for Obama's campaign, marking a significant shift in his career path.
"the value of a feedback loop this is one critical thing I was missing at sentiment Solutions because I didn't have any customers to tell me what they liked or they didn't like I didn't even try to sel..."
Data-Driven Campaigning
During his time on the Obama campaign, Siroker discusses his role in the New Media team and the importance of A/B testing in making data-driven decisions. He shares insights on how they utilized analytics to improve campaign strategies and the challenges they faced in the process.
"his campaign what is the most efficient way to sort a million 32-bit integers well uh I'm maybe I'm sorry maybe I I I I think uh I think the uh the bubble sort would be the wrong way to [Applause] go ..."
The Birth of Optimizely
After the campaign, Siroker and his co-founder Pete Kumin launched their first startup, Carrot Sticks, which aimed to make learning math fun for kids. They learned valuable lessons about product-market fit and distribution challenges, which ultimately led to the creation of Optimizely.
"and New Media was the phrase the campaign used to describe everything they didn't really understand uh so if it wasn't TV or radio you fit in New Media and we had the most monitors per square inch of ..."
Building for the User
Siroker discusses the evolution of their startup journey, focusing on the importance of building products that they themselves would want to use. He emphasizes the significance of understanding customer needs and the iterative process of improving their offerings based on feedback.
"stories after the campaign um I came back to San Francisco I convinced a good friend of mine Pete kumin who is a product manager at Google as well to quit his job and to start a company with me the fi..."
The Spradley Experience
Siroker shares the story of Spradley, a startup aimed at solving distribution problems. He reflects on the lessons learned from their initial attempts and the realization that the social capital required for customer referrals often outweighed the incentives offered.
"prioritize we also had a really big challenge with distribution it's very difficult to get parents and teachers to adopt your technology and if you do you have to do it one at a time there's no scale ..."
The Optimizely Breakthrough
Siroker recounts the founding of Optimizely, driven by the need for a user-friendly A/B testing tool. He describes how they quickly gained traction and their first paying customer, highlighting the importance of building a product that meets real user needs.
"into was distribution so uh getting people to use the software getting people to talk about the software with their friends and so we started thinking very hard about that problem and how we would try..."
Rapid Growth and Feedback Loops
As Optimizely grew, Siroker discusses the importance of maintaining a feedback loop with customers to continuously improve the product. He shares how their approach to sales and customer interactions evolved, leading to significant growth in their user base.
"what are some other products we wish we would have had this is a lesson we learned with Spradley boy it was easy to build Spradley because we would have wanted that in carot 6 and so we learned that w..."
Scaling Up
Siroker reflects on the challenges and successes of scaling Optimizely, including hiring practices and the importance of building a strong team. He emphasizes the need for continuous improvement and adapting to customer feedback as the company expanded.
"you so that weekend I built the first prototype and that Tuesday at dinner I showed it to Paul Graham he looked at it got really excited pointed at this and said this this is it this is it this is AB ..."
Navigating the Media Landscape
Dan discusses how Optimizely leveraged media coverage and the narrative of being a 'David' against larger competitors like Adobe. He shares how this strategy helped them gain visibility and attract customers during a critical growth phase.
"increase in in revenue and this year uh was first time we hired a salesperson so we had been doing all the selling for the first year and a half and one of the things I learned this year which I think..."
Innovating for the Future
Siroker outlines the current state of Optimizely and their vision for the future, focusing on continuous innovation and the importance of customer feedback. He emphasizes the need for startups to define their own algorithms for success rather than following traditional paths.
"the time had a product called omniture test and Target which I used a lot in the Obama campaign this story uh was very popular and it actually stoked some fires with Adobe which is we're really proud ..."
The Universal Startup Algorithm
In his closing remarks, Siroker presents what he calls the 'Universal Startup Algorithm,' emphasizing the importance of feedback, continuous improvement, and the need for entrepreneurs to define their own paths. He shares insights on how this approach has been fundamental to Optimizely's success.
"2013 that I think is pretty unique is the process we used to raise our series a the process we used looks something like this we would host a mock board meeting with potential investors so we had tryo..."