What to Do: The Short List for Entrepreneurs
After speaking at an entrepreneur conference, we compiled some of our “what to do” ideas for entrepreneurs. Audience members asked for a copy, so here it is!
- Get an elevator pitch (We’re really NOT kidding)
- Pick your team carefully – Be willing to prune
- Interview significant others of potential team members – are they ready for risks of a startup?
- Manage Team Dynamics
- Actively Create the Culture you Want!
- Raise your profile – PR, analysts, people in industry – be the leader!
- Get Out There – Get WAY OUT THERE
- “Who are your Big Friends?”
- Follow Clayton Christensen’s advice – Drive to profitability as quickly as you can
- Attitude is everything!
- Never let them see you sweat
- Be nice to assistants
- Be patient in the face of insults – there will be a lot of them
- Keep Great Records
- Have fantastic legal and financial advisors (pay for it!)
- YOU WILL BE TIRED
- Do the Hardest Thing First, then the rest of the day will seem Easy!
- Stretch yourself
- Don’t put candy on your desk (or you’ll be the one eating it!)
- Remember the demands of entrepreneurship never go away, so go on vacation anyway!
- Don’t waste cash on frills
- Cash is King
- VC to Fellow Entrepreneur “Why do Entrepreneurs Fail?” After several other wrong answers… “They run out of cash!”
- Negotiate flexibility in your lease (1 year with extensions) and don’t make personal guarantees for the lease, your whole life is on the line anyway!
- As soon as you have investors, your interests and the company’s interests are NOT the same
- If you want to work for yourself, run a Small Business (not an entrepreneurial venture)
- You work for your Investors! And your Customers! And your Employees!
- If you don’t like to work, don’t become an entrepreneur
- Read the Wall Street Journal
- Your first gig is often “your baby” and your own idea
- Your next gig is likely about the process of entrepreneurship
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