Join Kelley’s own, Professors Todd and Kim Saxton, for a spirited discussion of their research into the unforeseen circumstances that sink startups. They will share their framework in an interactive discussion with entrepreneurs and investors, Will Pearson of Scalero and Julia Lam of Tara&Co.
Don’t Let The Titanic Effect Sink Your Startup
The Titanic represents the iconic tale of what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. The tragedy is embodied in that instant when The Ship struck The Iceberg, killing over 1,500 passengers and crew. But while the iceberg may have represented the killing blow, what many do not realize is that the demise of the Titanic was in fact a result of a series of small decisions and missteps across a number of dimensions.
Tales of venture failure also often focus on the defining moment when a lost customer, a lack of investor dollars, or a product malfunction results in the death of a promising startup. But that failure is nearly always the result of a series of errors that were not obvious—problems that lurked beneath the surface—that were a consequence of navigating uncertainty in the early stages of development. These errors take the form of hidden non-financial debts that gradually weigh down the budding enterprise. While financial debts are obvious and easy to measure, the hidden debts we explore are obligations and barriers to success that are not as easy to identify.
In this session, we will explore the defining and pivotal decisions that “make or break” successful startups with insights from local entrepreneurs/investors. You will walk away with practical ideas about how to improve the likelihood of success.
Speaker Bios
Julia Lam is an early Facebooker, award-winning entrepreneur, and founder at Tara&Co. Tara&Co re-imagines products for women on-the-go and builds tools for direct-to-consumer companies for growth and conversion. They name all of their products after inspirational women and been featured in Fast Company, Techcrunch, Brit + Co and more.
She was previously the Co-founder and CEO of a venture-backed innovative trip technology, Bucket, which sold in 2016. They used NLP and machine learning to solve trip planning.
She also doubles as a Co-founder for the A3 Foundation, a nonprofit supporting emerging Asian American artists in the media which is in its 7th year of partnership with the Sundance Institute, and serves as an advisor for innovation and entrepreneurship at UCLA.
Prior to joining the startup foray, Julia was an early Facebook employee (2007-2011) where she led and worked on many high impact developer marketing initiatives including the Facebook Developer Garage program, the original Facebook Connect (Login with Facebook) partner team, Facebook Presence, and the f8 Developer Conference.
Julia also worked on the Facebook's $10MM fund, fbFund, which was capital from Founders Fund and Accel Partners, but administered by Facebook with Josh Kopelman (First Round), Reid Hoffman (Linkedin), and Rajeev Motwani (early Google employee) on the board. She was on the internal two-person team that helped choose and mentor over 50 startup teams including Wildfire (acq. by Google), Zimride (now Lyft, IPO-ed), Taskrabbit (acq. by Ikea), and Life 360 (IPO-ed). Julia holds her B.A. in Communication Studies from UCLA.
Will Pearson graduated from the Kelley School of Business in December 2011 with a focus on Entrepreneurship and Corporate Innovation and a minor in Spanish. He began his career at Target Corporation in Minneapolis where he held a number of roles within the Merchandising division. After Target, Will moved to San Francisco to lead operations for Vivino, a wine app that was building its ecommerce business. Will was responsible for growing Vivino to $150mm in annual revenue, launching operations in 16 countries across the globe while building a multi-national team. In August of this year, Will left Vivino to found Scalero, a new venture to help ecommerce companies scale their retention marketing, with a focus on email.
Dr. Todd Saxton, Associate Professor and Indiana Venture Faculty Fellow at the IU Kelley School of Business, is an award-winning professor of strategy and entrepreneurship. Todd has advised, helped launch, and invested in hundreds of startups spanning life sciences, software, sports, consumer products, and services. Todd serves on the board of multiple entrepreneurial ventures, including VisionTech Angel Partners, the largest angel investing group in Indiana, and Diagnotes, a venture- funded health IT firm he helped found. Todd co-founded the Indiana Chapter of SoPE in 2018, and took on the role of Vice President of Business Development for the Regenstrief Institute in 2019.
Dr. M. Kim Saxton, Clinical Professor of Marketing at the IU Kelley School of Business, has over 30 years of marketing and market research experience, working with large corporations, startups and medium-sized businesses. Her research on market segmentation, branding, and venture ecosystems has received national recognition. Kim has won numerous school-wide teaching awards including the President’s Award for Teaching Excellence for all of the IU system. Currently, she is an Associate Editor on the Journal of Advertising Research. Kim has co-founded several startups including Diagnotes, a healthcare IT firm. Kim is also an active angel investor and advisor to high-potential startups. She is a member of the advisory board for PERQ and The Startup Ladies.
Questions?
Contact Brennan Woodruff at sanfran@alumni.iu.edu.