Founder of startups worth more than $ 2,000,000,000, Founder of the Founder Institute Adeo Ressi: “Fabulous talented guys in the CIS!”
An exclusive interview with Adeo Ressi, founder of The Founder Institute and creator of startups worth $ 2 billion . The conversation was conducted by Igor Shoifot , a serial entrepreneur from San Francisco, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Happy Farm Incubator, a representative of the TMT Investments venture fund and a professor at Berkeley, the University of San Francisco and New York University.
- Adeo, we met with you ... when was it - in 1999 or in 1998? I was then vice president at Octet, in New York, remember the Octet? I just finished an MBA then, I was naive and ...
- Well, how can I forget the Octet! Cool guys!
- And then, remember, several years passed, and the next time we met - you already headed GameTrust , and I brought several Russian friends with startups to you, and you spent a lot of time with them, thank you. Remember, you had such a huge office?
- Yeah! I remember well. Yes, our office was huge - when you came, it was almost empty.
- Well then filled the same?
- You will not believe, not only filled, but we outgrew it, there was simply nowhere for the apple to fall. Do you remember what we had giant squares?
- Yes, incredible. I'm glad to see you. You are a celebrity. But still let us tell readers about you from the very beginning.
- Ok, let's start over. I am a serial entrepreneur - in the amount, the startups I created earned shareholders $ 2,000,000,000. Now 99% of the time I spend on The Founder Institute and, probably, 1% on TheFunded . The times, of course, have seriously changed! Earlier, in the days of Octet, it was super easy to start a company - nobody gave anyone any options, there was only financing from angels, there were few angels, everything was simple. On the other hand, in 19 years, during which I have been building startups, it has become much easier to develop products: all these tasks — building a server, hiring a team, launching a prototype and a product — have been simplified incredibly. Now just hundreds of thousands of startups building applications, sites, services. The bulk of them, of course, go bankrupt quite soon - and, more often within a few months. So with The Founder Institute, we decided to make it so easy for entrepreneurs to build companies as it is to build products - and I hope that with our help, entrepreneurs will be able to build companies the size of Facebook and Twitter, and not only in Silicon Valley, but and around the world. Returning to the companies I built - you mentioned GameTrust, I also founded companies that later became AOL Digital City, Exceed (which became a public company on NASDAQ), I was one of the members of the board of directors and investors of the X Prize Foundation , which sends people to space. Well, there were also a number of successes and failures, and I had many interesting startups, for example, eBusiness.com. And I have been doing incubators for quite a few years. Now many people say that here, they say, the fashion word “incubator” - well, listen, I have been doing this “fashionable” business for many years - 13?
- So you did it in those times when you didn’t have to explain that the word “incubator” was something related to the Internet, right?
- Well, business incubation is not a new thing at all. Many years ago there were already industrial zones for incubation. In America, there was a mass of government initiatives that transformed the old warehouses into industrial incubators. But, probably, in a more or less modern sense of the word, the first innovative incubator was Idealab in the late 1990s - although it was also not quite, because Bill Gross and his brother Larry came up with most of the ideas and found leaders and interesting teams for them, and financed them and also led additional investors. But the truly modern incubators began with the Y-Combinator . Still, the very idea of an incubator in its current sense - it went with Paul Graham . Basically, modern incubation of ideas is based on the ideas of Paul. But for all these years, the idea of Internet incubators has come a long way.
- Great just! Moreover, both positive and negative, is it true?
- Yes, it's amazing how everything has changed in recent years, and it's amazing how incubators change the world. Because experienced people with money, connections, knowledge - they also help startups tremendously! Very cool that such a fashion for incubators has gone all over the world. Remember what happened in the 1990s! How many were predators. How many cases have there been when accountants, team members, investors - how many of them literally got into their pockets for startups, stole money, ideas, and anything ... And now there is no such thing.
- Yes, remember High Stakes, No Prisoners - Charles Fergusson wrote about that, after all.
- I did not read it, but I heard a lot about this book.
- This is the guy who invented the Front Page . Very well written book.
- Well yes. So - now everything is different. Incubators try to help, not steal - and this is great - experienced people with connections, money, and knowledge.
- And your The Founder Institute is one of the largest incubators, yes, somewhere in the top five?
- No, we are not just among the five, we are the world's largest incubator.
- Wow!
- Look, why I think so - these are not just words: we are in 42 cities in 26 countries. For example, we are in two cities in Vietnam and in two cities in Colombia. Across America. I think we will reach 50 in the next three months, and by the end of 2013 we will be in 75 cities. But in general, we are represented in places where no one else ever got from the incubators - in Colombia, in Saudi Arabia, in Egypt. Plus, we are the biggest in terms of the number of startups - we have about 1,000 companies in the near future should finish The Founder Institute. And by the end of 2013 there will be another 1,000. And we intend to continue to release 1,000 companies each year. And we helped create 10,000 jobs around the world, can you imagine?
- You really have something to be proud of, guys!
- But in terms of financing, we are not the biggest yet - but nothing, we still get there!
“My friend John Nordmark ...”
- Awesome guy!
- Yes, very cool. One of those people who are talking about a “wonderful guy” - and you don’t have anything to do with your soul.
- Absolutely! And you know - just such people need to be attracted to the incubators! Because he really wants to help start-ups, an amazing person.
- So, John told me how you started in Colorado, and Bogdan Kupich told me about The Founder Institute in Kiev. So I understand about how you work. But still: the most important thing is what distinguishes The Founder Institute from all the others?
- You know, I will now tell something that I have never publicly said.
- Is it between us? Do you want me to stop recording?
- No, no, I just say this for publication - print. We are absolutely unique in the ecosystem of innovation. Look - there are, for example, Startup Weekend , they help to set entrepreneurial hopes in the heart - but we attract people who have the desire to be entrepreneurs - but they still don’t know how. We are like a young fighter's course for them. And this is what we do - turning them into guys who fall into the best incubators. So I’ll call you the numbers that I haven’t mentioned anywhere else - our TechStars graduates make up to 20%, and in 500 Startups right up to 25% of startups - that is, every fourth company at McClure and Cohen is our graduates. Forbes has written an interesting article about how we test entrepreneurs. For example, basketball players - tall people have advantages in basketball - but they need to be trained, and not every one of them is able to play well at all. So, we have developed such tests that help us predict how successful these guys will be as entrepreneurs. And all their work with us is such a simulation of the startup atmosphere (working with the team, with the board of directors, with the product, with a lot of complex work, and so on) that our startups go through the situation of the startup as close to reality. And, you know, in the end, the guys start behaving like successful entrepreneurs. And not everyone maintains this course of a young fighter. Many, alas, we help to understand that entrepreneurship is not for them. We have cities where up to 75% do not complete our studies. Do you know what we did? We made such a huge button - EXIT FROM THE PROGRAM - if you don’t want it - leave!
- Leave?
- Leave. Moreover, sometimes they mistakenly press it - so we set up another “fuse” there - “are you sure you want to go out?” Because we will not accept it back.
- Cool! This one is like an American marine corps.
- Well, how do you want? Listen, you know how much nonsense there is, which you need to do and I do every day - and work with employees to check what they have done, and finances, and work with lawyers, and anything, but alas - that's all need to do. Not everything is interesting, not everything is pleasant. But what to do? And we just force them with our such structural approach to do all this for 4 months. And they must constantly make important decisions in these conditions. And look, we have 45% of graduates in the end receive funding. We ourselves do not finance startups, but we are preparing them to ensure that they are successful in raising money. In fact, we take money - from 500 to 1000 dollars. And this is very important, because we want the guys to feel that this is not a free program, that it is something valuable, in which they invest their money. But we want the market to decide who will raise the money and who will not. In Colombia, we have 9 companies completed the first semester - and 7 of them raised money later, and one of them raised a million. And for Colombia it is a lot of money. That is, the success of our approach is obvious. We believe that good companies are the basis of a startup ecosystem. Do you understand? This is such a chicken and egg problem - there is no innovation, because there are no startups, because there are no investments, because there are no startups, and so on. So, the first step is good startups. I am sure about that. We created them, for example, in Colombia - and investments went and innovations began.
- In Europe, innovation is largely initiated by governments. You and I live in America, where mainly innovation is a private matter. How do you comment on this?
- We quite often in different countries meet governments that are actively involved in innovation. In Chile and in Singapore, for example. And this is very important and very healthy. Sometimes they give us funding, pay for tickets and accommodation, and pay salaries to employees, and give free premises too.
- And what is your policy towards governments?
- Very simple - they often help us, but we behave the same everywhere - we do what we do, and you, if you like, connect, help.
- You mentioned that you still have TheFunded - tell me about it?
- Yes. This is a fairly large site for entrepreneurs, where they evaluate investors. The project was born of itself at a time when the Internet bubble burst in America, and investors became so tough that, for example, draconian liquidation preferences appeared .
- On the Eastern Shore, they were especially terrible ...
- Yes, I saw there even 6-fold! But even here (in California) they were also pretty scary, not 6-fold of course, but still unpleasant. In general, such a culture was that it seemed that businessmen could never earn anything at all. And the pendulum seemed to swing too far in the direction of investors. Now a bit of the opposite is happening - entrepreneurs have become so spoiled that, for example, in Chile, the government just gives you $ 50,000 for going there to start up. The situation now for entrepreneurs is so favorable that I just don’t remember this - when it was so great. But I’m pretty sure that it’s not going to last so long. I am sure that the pendulum will swing again in the other direction. We want The Founder Institute to be ready for any crisis - and we are preparing our startups for the same. I want us to exist at least 50 years.
- How old are you now?
- Little. Just over 3. But you know: we were born in 2009 - after one of the worst crises. So our ship is built to survive the storm.
- What are your plans - what will happen next with TheFunded, and what will happen with The Founder Institute?
- With TheFunded - we make it more like a question and answer portal, since its main role - protecting entrepreneurs from investors - was played. Time cruel investors behind! As for The Founder Institute, we are still just accelerating with it, the task, and I think we will solve it this year, to release 1,000 people a year. Now in the world, probably, 50,000 technology startups appear each year, and we want to play a significant role in this. In general, a lot of positive things happen - Steve Blank and Bob Dorf help to understand customers and develop them and their relationship with them. Erik Reese helps to do lean startup. And I like it a lot, it's great that they develop products and customers. But our methodology develops the people themselves in a startup - entrepreneurs. I hope that the main thing that we do is the education of entrepreneurs - the creation and cultivation of people capable of creating startups. And I hope that someday The Founder Institute will create not 10,000, but 100,000 jobs. This will be a real success.
- You are one of the very few people who rarely have to smile crookedly, remembering their start-ups. You're currently busy with The Founder Institute and TheFunded ...
- And another X Prize.
- And that's all - you do not invest more? Do not go to the advisers?
- (sighs). I want to! Sometimes you really want to - you meet a startup and you just feel that it will be great - but I think that this is not permissible for me, otherwise I will have favorites. And this is wrong. Mike Arrington, when he was the owner of TechCrunch, actively invested. And I'm very good to Mike. But it seems to me that this is not entirely correct. (Sighs again). It is impossible. Although I am sure that 6-7 companies are with us - they will reach hundreds of millions of dollars, or even more. The only exception is that if we have some directors at The Founder Institute who want to invest, then we have nothing against it. But I can't.
- But the fact that other directors are investing - does this help start-ups?
- Yes, definitely.
- If they do not just invest, but help start-ups to learn, develop, then this is great.
- Sure. For example, we have such a partnership in Singapore - we have Golden Gate Ventures there actively cooperating with The Founder Institute, and actively investing in our graduates.
- Yes, quite organically - an investor who teaches and invests. In parting: what do you wish for startups from the CIS countries?
- You know, in the CIS - amazingly talented guys. Well, I also noticed that in general, natural skepticism is quite common there. So I would tell the readers the following: if you have a dream, no matter where you are - in Ukraine, Russia, Saudi Arabia, anywhere - you can make it a reality, and if you do not believe in yourself, no one will believe in you!
“ And this is what you teach in The Founder Insitite, right?” Believe in yourself. Do not be afraid. Build a dream.
- Yes, that's what we teach. Do not be afraid to take the first step.
- Adeo, we met with you ... when was it - in 1999 or in 1998? I was then vice president at Octet, in New York, remember the Octet? I just finished an MBA then, I was naive and ...
- Well, how can I forget the Octet! Cool guys!
- And then, remember, several years passed, and the next time we met - you already headed GameTrust , and I brought several Russian friends with startups to you, and you spent a lot of time with them, thank you. Remember, you had such a huge office?
- Yeah! I remember well. Yes, our office was huge - when you came, it was almost empty.
- Well then filled the same?
- You will not believe, not only filled, but we outgrew it, there was simply nowhere for the apple to fall. Do you remember what we had giant squares?
- Yes, incredible. I'm glad to see you. You are a celebrity. But still let us tell readers about you from the very beginning.
- Ok, let's start over. I am a serial entrepreneur - in the amount, the startups I created earned shareholders $ 2,000,000,000. Now 99% of the time I spend on The Founder Institute and, probably, 1% on TheFunded . The times, of course, have seriously changed! Earlier, in the days of Octet, it was super easy to start a company - nobody gave anyone any options, there was only financing from angels, there were few angels, everything was simple. On the other hand, in 19 years, during which I have been building startups, it has become much easier to develop products: all these tasks — building a server, hiring a team, launching a prototype and a product — have been simplified incredibly. Now just hundreds of thousands of startups building applications, sites, services. The bulk of them, of course, go bankrupt quite soon - and, more often within a few months. So with The Founder Institute, we decided to make it so easy for entrepreneurs to build companies as it is to build products - and I hope that with our help, entrepreneurs will be able to build companies the size of Facebook and Twitter, and not only in Silicon Valley, but and around the world. Returning to the companies I built - you mentioned GameTrust, I also founded companies that later became AOL Digital City, Exceed (which became a public company on NASDAQ), I was one of the members of the board of directors and investors of the X Prize Foundation , which sends people to space. Well, there were also a number of successes and failures, and I had many interesting startups, for example, eBusiness.com. And I have been doing incubators for quite a few years. Now many people say that here, they say, the fashion word “incubator” - well, listen, I have been doing this “fashionable” business for many years - 13?
- So you did it in those times when you didn’t have to explain that the word “incubator” was something related to the Internet, right?
- Well, business incubation is not a new thing at all. Many years ago there were already industrial zones for incubation. In America, there was a mass of government initiatives that transformed the old warehouses into industrial incubators. But, probably, in a more or less modern sense of the word, the first innovative incubator was Idealab in the late 1990s - although it was also not quite, because Bill Gross and his brother Larry came up with most of the ideas and found leaders and interesting teams for them, and financed them and also led additional investors. But the truly modern incubators began with the Y-Combinator . Still, the very idea of an incubator in its current sense - it went with Paul Graham . Basically, modern incubation of ideas is based on the ideas of Paul. But for all these years, the idea of Internet incubators has come a long way.
- Great just! Moreover, both positive and negative, is it true?
- Yes, it's amazing how everything has changed in recent years, and it's amazing how incubators change the world. Because experienced people with money, connections, knowledge - they also help startups tremendously! Very cool that such a fashion for incubators has gone all over the world. Remember what happened in the 1990s! How many were predators. How many cases have there been when accountants, team members, investors - how many of them literally got into their pockets for startups, stole money, ideas, and anything ... And now there is no such thing.
- Yes, remember High Stakes, No Prisoners - Charles Fergusson wrote about that, after all.
- I did not read it, but I heard a lot about this book.
- This is the guy who invented the Front Page . Very well written book.
- Well yes. So - now everything is different. Incubators try to help, not steal - and this is great - experienced people with connections, money, and knowledge.
- And your The Founder Institute is one of the largest incubators, yes, somewhere in the top five?
- No, we are not just among the five, we are the world's largest incubator.
- Wow!
- Look, why I think so - these are not just words: we are in 42 cities in 26 countries. For example, we are in two cities in Vietnam and in two cities in Colombia. Across America. I think we will reach 50 in the next three months, and by the end of 2013 we will be in 75 cities. But in general, we are represented in places where no one else ever got from the incubators - in Colombia, in Saudi Arabia, in Egypt. Plus, we are the biggest in terms of the number of startups - we have about 1,000 companies in the near future should finish The Founder Institute. And by the end of 2013 there will be another 1,000. And we intend to continue to release 1,000 companies each year. And we helped create 10,000 jobs around the world, can you imagine?
- You really have something to be proud of, guys!
- But in terms of financing, we are not the biggest yet - but nothing, we still get there!
“My friend John Nordmark ...”
- Awesome guy!
- Yes, very cool. One of those people who are talking about a “wonderful guy” - and you don’t have anything to do with your soul.
- Absolutely! And you know - just such people need to be attracted to the incubators! Because he really wants to help start-ups, an amazing person.
- So, John told me how you started in Colorado, and Bogdan Kupich told me about The Founder Institute in Kiev. So I understand about how you work. But still: the most important thing is what distinguishes The Founder Institute from all the others?
- You know, I will now tell something that I have never publicly said.
- Is it between us? Do you want me to stop recording?
- No, no, I just say this for publication - print. We are absolutely unique in the ecosystem of innovation. Look - there are, for example, Startup Weekend , they help to set entrepreneurial hopes in the heart - but we attract people who have the desire to be entrepreneurs - but they still don’t know how. We are like a young fighter's course for them. And this is what we do - turning them into guys who fall into the best incubators. So I’ll call you the numbers that I haven’t mentioned anywhere else - our TechStars graduates make up to 20%, and in 500 Startups right up to 25% of startups - that is, every fourth company at McClure and Cohen is our graduates. Forbes has written an interesting article about how we test entrepreneurs. For example, basketball players - tall people have advantages in basketball - but they need to be trained, and not every one of them is able to play well at all. So, we have developed such tests that help us predict how successful these guys will be as entrepreneurs. And all their work with us is such a simulation of the startup atmosphere (working with the team, with the board of directors, with the product, with a lot of complex work, and so on) that our startups go through the situation of the startup as close to reality. And, you know, in the end, the guys start behaving like successful entrepreneurs. And not everyone maintains this course of a young fighter. Many, alas, we help to understand that entrepreneurship is not for them. We have cities where up to 75% do not complete our studies. Do you know what we did? We made such a huge button - EXIT FROM THE PROGRAM - if you don’t want it - leave!
- Leave?
- Leave. Moreover, sometimes they mistakenly press it - so we set up another “fuse” there - “are you sure you want to go out?” Because we will not accept it back.
- Cool! This one is like an American marine corps.
- Well, how do you want? Listen, you know how much nonsense there is, which you need to do and I do every day - and work with employees to check what they have done, and finances, and work with lawyers, and anything, but alas - that's all need to do. Not everything is interesting, not everything is pleasant. But what to do? And we just force them with our such structural approach to do all this for 4 months. And they must constantly make important decisions in these conditions. And look, we have 45% of graduates in the end receive funding. We ourselves do not finance startups, but we are preparing them to ensure that they are successful in raising money. In fact, we take money - from 500 to 1000 dollars. And this is very important, because we want the guys to feel that this is not a free program, that it is something valuable, in which they invest their money. But we want the market to decide who will raise the money and who will not. In Colombia, we have 9 companies completed the first semester - and 7 of them raised money later, and one of them raised a million. And for Colombia it is a lot of money. That is, the success of our approach is obvious. We believe that good companies are the basis of a startup ecosystem. Do you understand? This is such a chicken and egg problem - there is no innovation, because there are no startups, because there are no investments, because there are no startups, and so on. So, the first step is good startups. I am sure about that. We created them, for example, in Colombia - and investments went and innovations began.
- In Europe, innovation is largely initiated by governments. You and I live in America, where mainly innovation is a private matter. How do you comment on this?
- We quite often in different countries meet governments that are actively involved in innovation. In Chile and in Singapore, for example. And this is very important and very healthy. Sometimes they give us funding, pay for tickets and accommodation, and pay salaries to employees, and give free premises too.
- And what is your policy towards governments?
- Very simple - they often help us, but we behave the same everywhere - we do what we do, and you, if you like, connect, help.
- You mentioned that you still have TheFunded - tell me about it?
- Yes. This is a fairly large site for entrepreneurs, where they evaluate investors. The project was born of itself at a time when the Internet bubble burst in America, and investors became so tough that, for example, draconian liquidation preferences appeared .
- On the Eastern Shore, they were especially terrible ...
- Yes, I saw there even 6-fold! But even here (in California) they were also pretty scary, not 6-fold of course, but still unpleasant. In general, such a culture was that it seemed that businessmen could never earn anything at all. And the pendulum seemed to swing too far in the direction of investors. Now a bit of the opposite is happening - entrepreneurs have become so spoiled that, for example, in Chile, the government just gives you $ 50,000 for going there to start up. The situation now for entrepreneurs is so favorable that I just don’t remember this - when it was so great. But I’m pretty sure that it’s not going to last so long. I am sure that the pendulum will swing again in the other direction. We want The Founder Institute to be ready for any crisis - and we are preparing our startups for the same. I want us to exist at least 50 years.
- How old are you now?
- Little. Just over 3. But you know: we were born in 2009 - after one of the worst crises. So our ship is built to survive the storm.
- What are your plans - what will happen next with TheFunded, and what will happen with The Founder Institute?
- With TheFunded - we make it more like a question and answer portal, since its main role - protecting entrepreneurs from investors - was played. Time cruel investors behind! As for The Founder Institute, we are still just accelerating with it, the task, and I think we will solve it this year, to release 1,000 people a year. Now in the world, probably, 50,000 technology startups appear each year, and we want to play a significant role in this. In general, a lot of positive things happen - Steve Blank and Bob Dorf help to understand customers and develop them and their relationship with them. Erik Reese helps to do lean startup. And I like it a lot, it's great that they develop products and customers. But our methodology develops the people themselves in a startup - entrepreneurs. I hope that the main thing that we do is the education of entrepreneurs - the creation and cultivation of people capable of creating startups. And I hope that someday The Founder Institute will create not 10,000, but 100,000 jobs. This will be a real success.
- You are one of the very few people who rarely have to smile crookedly, remembering their start-ups. You're currently busy with The Founder Institute and TheFunded ...
- And another X Prize.
- And that's all - you do not invest more? Do not go to the advisers?
- (sighs). I want to! Sometimes you really want to - you meet a startup and you just feel that it will be great - but I think that this is not permissible for me, otherwise I will have favorites. And this is wrong. Mike Arrington, when he was the owner of TechCrunch, actively invested. And I'm very good to Mike. But it seems to me that this is not entirely correct. (Sighs again). It is impossible. Although I am sure that 6-7 companies are with us - they will reach hundreds of millions of dollars, or even more. The only exception is that if we have some directors at The Founder Institute who want to invest, then we have nothing against it. But I can't.
- But the fact that other directors are investing - does this help start-ups?
- Yes, definitely.
- If they do not just invest, but help start-ups to learn, develop, then this is great.
- Sure. For example, we have such a partnership in Singapore - we have Golden Gate Ventures there actively cooperating with The Founder Institute, and actively investing in our graduates.
- Yes, quite organically - an investor who teaches and invests. In parting: what do you wish for startups from the CIS countries?
- You know, in the CIS - amazingly talented guys. Well, I also noticed that in general, natural skepticism is quite common there. So I would tell the readers the following: if you have a dream, no matter where you are - in Ukraine, Russia, Saudi Arabia, anywhere - you can make it a reality, and if you do not believe in yourself, no one will believe in you!
“ And this is what you teach in The Founder Insitite, right?” Believe in yourself. Do not be afraid. Build a dream.
- Yes, that's what we teach. Do not be afraid to take the first step.
')
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/192840/
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