The HP Way

We have trust and respect for individuals.

We approach each situation with the belief that people want to do a good job and will do so, given the proper tools and support. We attract highly capable, diverse, innovative people and recognize their efforts and contributions to the company. HP people contribute enthusiastically and share in the success that they make possible.

We focus on a high level of achievement and contribution.

Our customers expect HP products and services to be of the highest quality and to provide lasting value. To achieve this, all HP people, especially managers, must be leaders who generate enthusiasm and respond with extra effort to meet customer needs. Techniques and management practices which are effective today may be outdated in the future. For us to remain at the forefront in all our activities, people should always be looking for new and better ways to do their work.

We conduct our business with uncompromising integrity.

We expect HP people to be open and honest in their dealings to earn the trust and loyalty of others. People at every level are expected to adhere to the highest standards of business ethics and must understand that anything less is unacceptable. As a practical matter, ethical conduct cannot be assured by written HP policies and codes; it must be an integral part of the organization, a deeply ingrained tradition that is passed from one generation of employees to another.

We achieve our common objectives through teamwork.

We recognize that it is only through effective cooperation within and among organizations that we can achieve our goals. Our commitment is to work as a worldwide team to fulfill the expectations of our customers, shareholders and others who depend upon us. The benefits and obligations of doing business are shared among all HP people.

We encourage flexibility and innovation.

We create an inclusive work environment which supports the diversity of our people and stimulates innovation. We strive for overall objectives which are clearly stated and agreed upon, and allow people flexibility in working toward goals in ways that they help determine are best for the organization. HP people should personally accept responsibility and be encouraged to upgrade their skills and capabilities through ongoing training and development. This is especially important in a technical business where the rate of progress is rapid and where people are expected to adapt to change.

From: http://www.hpalumni.org/hp_way.htm

A Hierarchy of Pitches

Printing money
Key questions: are those numbers real? how big is the market? can your team execute the growth plan?
Most important slide: valuation

Promising results
Key questions: can you monetize that traffic? (or drive traffic to that profitable destination?) do you know why you’ve achieved those results?
Most important slide: hockey stick

Micro-scale results
Key questions: who is the customer, and how do you know? what is the potential market size? what are the business economics?
Most important slide: lessons learned

Working product
Key questions: what does the product do? what’s the launch plan? who’s on the marketing team?
Most important slide: live demo

Prototype product
Key questions: what will it take to ship a working product? how do you know anyone would want it? who’s on the engineering team?
Most important slide: demo (if the product solves an obvious problem), engineering resumes (if the product is nearly impossible to build), “day in the life of a customer” (if neither of the above)

Breakthrough technology
Key questions: who owns the patents? can we make a product out of this technology? are there any good substitutes?
Most important slide: barriers to entry

All-star team
Key questions: has the team made money for their investors in the past? are they domain experts? are they committed to an idea in their domain of expertise?
Most important slide: problem we are trying to solve

Good product idea
Key questions: what kinds of risk does this company need to mitigate (technology risk, market risk, team risk, funding risk)? is it a revolutionary and novel idea? is this team the one to back? can the team bring the product to market? who is the customer? who is the competition? will they fail fast?
Most important slide: about the founders

From: http://startuplessonslearned.blogspot.com/2008/10/hierarchy-of-pitches.html