Slides as PDF - ETHZ - Computer Vision Lab
Slides as PDF - ETHZ - Computer Vision Lab
Slides as PDF - ETHZ - Computer Vision Lab
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4. Team
Learnings from founding a <strong>Computer</strong> <strong>Vision</strong> Startup<br />
Part 1: Founders<br />
Flickr: zacharyparadis
Learnings from founding a <strong>Computer</strong> <strong>Vision</strong> Startup<br />
How many<br />
1-4 “re<strong>as</strong>onable” size of founder team<br />
1 founder: total control but expensive, lonely and slow<br />
2 founders: the magic number. “one builds, one sells”<br />
3-4 founders: can make a great dev team but leader needed<br />
>4 founders: crazy unless some are “p<strong>as</strong>sive”<br />
“Everyone obsesses with dilution from investors.<br />
The biggest dilution comes from co-founders.”<br />
– @msuster
Learnings from founding a <strong>Computer</strong> <strong>Vision</strong> Startup<br />
2 founder dynamics<br />
Flickr: oskay<br />
“The ideal founding team is two individuals, with a<br />
history of working together, of similar age and financial<br />
standing, with mutual respect. One is good at building<br />
products and the other is good at selling them”<br />
– @venturehacks<br />
Jobs and Wozniak<br />
Allen and Gates<br />
Hewlett and Packard<br />
Larry and Sergei<br />
Yang and Filo<br />
http://venturehacks.com/articles/pick-cofounder
Learnings from founding a <strong>Computer</strong> <strong>Vision</strong> Startup<br />
Finding founders & early employees<br />
Share ide<strong>as</strong>, be open<br />
Co-founders need to be people you trust, preferably people you<br />
worked with before<br />
You want broad skills and doers<br />
Controversial but interesting:<br />
vesting founder shares (VCs will <strong>as</strong>k for this)
Learnings from founding a <strong>Computer</strong> <strong>Vision</strong> Startup<br />
Size matters<br />
Output is not linear in # employees<br />
Most efficient (development) team is ~4<br />
Over ~15 “formal” organization and information channels becomes<br />
incre<strong>as</strong>ingly important<br />
Avoid hiring admin staff or positions that don’t “produce” anything<br />
(non-coding proj manager, office manager...) <strong>as</strong> long <strong>as</strong> possible.<br />
Ideally, never hire such persons.
Learnings from founding a <strong>Computer</strong> <strong>Vision</strong> Startup<br />
Part 2: Hiring staff<br />
Flickr: yodelanecdotal
Learnings from founding a <strong>Computer</strong> <strong>Vision</strong> Startup<br />
Where to find them<br />
1. By recommendation (both ways!)<br />
2. Events and conferences<br />
3. LinkedIn!<br />
Avoid recruitment agencies at all cost.<br />
W<strong>as</strong>te of time and money.<br />
Never hire unless you absolutely must.<br />
Are you sure you need to hire now<br />
Flickr: bouldair
Learnings from founding a <strong>Computer</strong> <strong>Vision</strong> Startup<br />
Interviewing and testing<br />
Early on, look for people that are bright, broad with potential to grow<br />
Always test developers<br />
Don’t underestimate team fit (personality)<br />
Never hire without trial period<br />
<strong>Computer</strong> vision team should have a mix of skills<br />
“theoretical”-”practical” and people that can make demos.
Learnings from founding a <strong>Computer</strong> <strong>Vision</strong> Startup<br />
Stock options and motivation<br />
Motivation<br />
Money is not motivation (competitors ALWAYS pay more)<br />
Good motivators are similar to founders’ motivators (build something, dynamic<br />
organization, make a difference, ...)<br />
Warning: people with “big-co” motivation (titles, salary, career, benefits, “security”)<br />
Stock options<br />
Good idea if exit is the goal<br />
If possible create options pool post investment<br />
Beware: rules and taxes vary a lot between countries!
What is special about <strong>Vision</strong><br />
In terms of building teams
Learnings from founding a <strong>Computer</strong> <strong>Vision</strong> Startup<br />
What’s special about <strong>Vision</strong><br />
Academic research groups can be a great “extension” to your R&D<br />
team<br />
Small vision teams can go far, no need to overstaff
How we did it
Learnings from founding a <strong>Computer</strong> <strong>Vision</strong> Startup<br />
Polar Rose: How we did it<br />
1. Founder + key early employees<br />
2. Built 2 dev teams (vision + infr<strong>as</strong>tructure)<br />
Hiring process:<br />
Initially friends and connections from university<br />
Networks of a few key employees (especially France and Poland)<br />
LinkedIn - search, search, search<br />
Trial period in ALL contracts<br />
Stock options (legal & tax mess with multi-national team)
Learnings from founding a <strong>Computer</strong> <strong>Vision</strong> Startup<br />
Kooaba: How we did it<br />
Founders + 1 key early employee (first employee needed to be changed, lost lots of time)<br />
Built two dev teams (vision + interfaces (web, mobile))<br />
W<strong>as</strong> hard to find initial employees<br />
Work permit problems<br />
Hiring process:<br />
Initially friends and connections from university<br />
Networks of a employees<br />
LinkedIn - post job offer (299 is cheap)<br />
Sales & Marketing hired from customer (EMI Music)<br />
Employees are involved in interviewing process<br />
Recently: testing day<br />
Stocks (promised, formalized these days)<br />
We are hiring later this year!!
Q & A
Learnings from founding a <strong>Computer</strong> <strong>Vision</strong> Startup<br />
Resources<br />
Founders:<br />
http://venturehacks.com/articles/pick-cofounder (Picking co-founders)<br />
Hiring:<br />
xxx
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