Eric Friedman
Head of Expa Labs
Discussion
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Eric Friedman
@ericfriedman · Head of Expa Labs
Hi - I am Eric Friedman, Head of Expa Labs and I am excited to be here and answer your questions. I have been working with startups my entire career and I love investing and operating at the earliest stages of company creation. I was previously at Foursquare for nearly 6 years, and before that I was at Union Square Ventures. I am here to answer questions about the program I run called Expa Labs. Expa Labs is not your typical accelerator or incubator -- it is an early early stage program that invests $250K to $500K in companies giving space to create, learn, and grow. I am looking forward to a good discussion.
**EDIT**
Thanks ProductHunt community for your great questions - I am excited for the future of Expa Labs - thanks for taking the time, now its time to review applications - quick reminder the deadline for Expa Labs 2017 is 3/31!
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Scott Hirsch
@scott_hirsch · CTO, TalentMarketplace
Hi Eric, for the new Vancouver Expa Labs location, what are the top 3 things you are looking for in a business/team to join the program?
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Eric Friedman
@ericfriedman · Head of Expa Labs
@scott_hirsch this is true for any, but coachability matters - working with a team that wants to work with us. Working there with our partner Milun Tisovic present gives a great foundation and office space where we hope a company will thrive. To address my top 3; 1. Coachable team, 2 people willing to spend 10 years on solving their problem or need, 3 a large scale opportunity
Saba Mohebpour
@saba_mohebpour · CEO/Founder at Spocket - TNBT Fellow
What early stage means to Expa? Idea only, team formation or traction ? @EricFriedman
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Eric Friedman
@ericfriedman · Head of Expa Labs
@saba_mohebpour Thanks for asking - hoping to get great questions about Expa Labs and provide perspectives on my experiences and how companies can be successful.
Saba Mohebpour
@saba_mohebpour · CEO/Founder at Spocket - TNBT Fellow
@ericfriedman Was hoping to get an answer to what Early-stage means to Expa? Thanks
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Eric Friedman
@ericfriedman · Head of Expa Labs
@saba_mohebpour Sorry looks like your question was edited I think I answered here: https://www.producthunt.com/live...
stuart
@soppstu · CEO Current
being a native new yorker, what is your favorite bagel? And how can a decision on a bagel be attributed to picking a potentially great founding team and idea?
stuart
@soppstu · CEO Current
@bplewis Boston Creme, like Current is solves the problem of 2 amazing forces, and making them agree in a palatable construct. Parent/Teen debit card and app coming out later this month!
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Eric Friedman
@ericfriedman · Head of Expa Labs
@soppstu Thank you Stuart from Current :) Here is my answer: http://www.ericgfriedman.com/200... this is also the post that got me banned from Hacker News http://www.businessinsider.com/e...
Christopher Spiller
@christopher_spiller · Leading @Bizy. Ex-RosettaStone, CMU, UVA
Thanks for chatting here on PH. What intangible elements of new products have you seen make the greatest positive impact in early attempts at product-market fit? (i.e. the kinds of things that are hard to precisely plan or measure but that matter nonetheless).
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Eric Friedman
@ericfriedman · Head of Expa Labs
@christopher_spiller The first 10 people matter most. After that, the stickiness of the product that solves a real problem, not a solution in search of a problem. The best companies I have seen have the core group of people identified charging towards a unified vision and excited to tackle the problem. I also firmly believe that if you are not embarrassed by your first version, you didn't launch early enough.
Christopher Spiller
@christopher_spiller · Leading @Bizy. Ex-RosettaStone, CMU, UVA
@ericfriedman Agree, no substitute for a passionate team solving real problems. Thanks!
Alex Chuang
@alexchuang72 · Managing Director, Launch Academy
What kind of support do startups get after the six-month program? Can you give us an example?
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Eric Friedman
@ericfriedman · Head of Expa Labs
@alexchuang72 Companies get a few things that are both structured and unstructured. We provide some software they use (think wiki) where they can communicate with their team and ours, Slack for the community (all Expa + Expa Labs), and events that we host. Another component is ongoing help that doesn't end when the program does - a good example is I am doing a final interview for a senior sales hire for one of the Expa Labs 2016 companies tomorrow. Knowing the team (culture fit), the product (expertise), and my background building and scaling sales I can offer insight through a interview. I assist with launches (see Radar and Dovetale on PH in the last 30 days!) and we help with as much as we can.
Vitor
@vit05 · tapan.ga
@ericfriedman How is the interaction between the funded founders teams in Expa. Do you think you are building a great community that would generate business that goes beyond the time spent on the program?
Adam
@nextbigtechidea
How best to decide to apply for $250k vs $500k? Are there different requirements / stage of maturity you'd like to see? For many pre-seed stage startups that have evidence of traction (like mine - playvici.com), more capital simply means iterating prod-mkt fit faster for longer. Thanks for the guidance.
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Eric Friedman
@ericfriedman · Head of Expa Labs
@nextbigtechidea Different companies have very different capital needs, which is why we have multiple investment tiers. Depending on the stage of the business, you may want to have more runway (also more dilution) or if earlier stage $250K to get to a launch, growth, and early team members. It is also dependent on the category - hardware companies obviously need more runway earlier.
Adam
@nextbigtechidea
@ericfriedman Appreciate the response. Look forward to continuing the conversation.
Emily Hodgins
@ems_hodge · Community and Marketing, Product Hunt
Hi Eric, thanks for joining us today. What advice do you most often find yourself giving to founders you work with at Expa?
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Eric Friedman
@ericfriedman · Head of Expa Labs
@ems_hodge I like to calibrate my answers based on the experience level and knowledge base of a founder and life stage of the company. It usually ends up being the following; shipping earlier, changing plans (and being ok with it), fundraising (and the difficulty of it), and how they can continue to learn - outlined these in more detail here: https://medium.com/@ericfriedman...
Ben Tossell
@bentossell · Community Lead, Product Hunt
What do you think the biggest benefits are to founders and investors with the startup studio model?
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Eric Friedman
@ericfriedman · Head of Expa Labs
@bentossell There are a number of things that benefit a company best served by an example. Once of our companies announced new funding for Current.com - providing collaborative banking services for families with a smart debit card + app. Our model provides more runway, deeper hands on help, less potential risk for partners (think banks, payments, fintech in general), longer time horizon to tackle a huge market and working alongside other early stage companies. You never know what crossroads another CEO has had experience with, and sitting alongside someone who has been through it before can help. Whether a company is 6, 8, or 12 months ahead in startup time that is forever.
Saba Mohebpour
@saba_mohebpour · CEO/Founder at Spocket - TNBT Fellow
What early stage means to Expa? Idea only, team formation or traction ? What else are you looking for in the teams specifically?
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Eric Friedman
@ericfriedman · Head of Expa Labs
@saba_mohebpour answering through the lens of Expa Labs and what we look for; early stage can mean idea stage (before forming an entity), post idea where there is a demo or a working product, a venture scale idea that has initial investment (from angels or similar), or a company that needs the right help to launch or continue to grow. Its a hard thing to define perfectly but in my experience this has meant <10 people, <1MM in funding, pre-product market fit.