Thoughts On

1.)    Find your passion.  Or at least an industry you’re genuinely interested in.   If you’re not sure, you need to put in time and try out new things.  Research an industry in detail, interview people in the space, maybe even work for your future competitor.   Make sure you enjoy being around the types of people involved and are excited by the challenges faced.  Liking what you do and who you work with will keep you motivated long enough to succeed.

2.)    Become really good at something.  Generalists make great management consultants and mid-level managers, but starting a company requires serving a particular customer need better than anyone else.  Become a real expert on that problem.

3.)    Don’t listen to Venture Capitalists.  Listen to customers.  VC’s are looking for the next “game changer” and they’ll be unimpressed with your “small” $100M opportunity.   That’s ok.  Not all startups are right for VC funding.  Listen to customers.  Find real problems they are facing now.  Verify that they represent a sizable market.  Find/design/arrange an innovative solution.  See if they will pay for it.

4.)    Focus on building a business, not raising capital. The time you spend obsessing over each letter in your pitch deck is time you take away from building a real business.  Success is not raising capital.  Success is creating a profitable, sustainable business.  If you can demonstrate the ability to do that, you’ll have plenty of interested investors.  Meanwhile, prepare to bootstrap.

5.)    Work your ass off.  Starting a company is not a 9-5 activity.  Get ready to work really hard – all the time.  And it’s about getting stuff done – not hanging out at the office – so learning how to stay focused and productive is critical.  Your hustle is your edge.

Tagged: entrepreneurship