Entrepreneurship: How to start a company, lessons from a start-up
Close to one year into trying our hand at entrepreneurship, we’ve learned more than we thought there was to learn. Wow. Some of these we gleaned from the people who generously shared their brains with us. Some of them we picked up through our own direct experience. And many of them we learned after getting hit over the head with them. Repeatedly.
Here’s our list, so as to remember these nuggets and avoid subsequent battery.
1) 4 beers and 3 weeks of no sleep was certainly not the way to “go-live.”
2) Always ask: What do customers really want?
3) Don’t be arrogant – do the due diligence on the industry and the space.
4) Viral marketing doesn’t exist. Get your PR and marketing in line 3-5 months prior to launch.
5) Start planning strategy months before, not after launch.
6) Raise seed money immediately.
7) Avoid a slow death. Execute Faster.
8) Don’t straight jacket the company with multiple ‘lofty ideals’ – know what matters and what doesn’t.
9) Make sure you’ve got all sailors on deck before setting sail.
10) Set Priorities. Don’t undervalue your own time.
11) Micro-managing wastes everyone’s time – Whoa boy, that took a while to figure out!
12) There’s a reason why division of labor exists.
13) Be bold! Get out of the office and meet people. They are more than willing to help.
14) Net-weave, don’t network. When you meet someone new, always think: “how can I help this person.”
15) Don’t botch HR. When bringing people on board have a plan in place.
16) Breathe innovation.
17) Brainstorm so often you need a giant red umbrella.
18) Write those brainstorms across the walls– for constant review and later synthesis (chalkboard paint works great for this).
19) Don’t get embroiled in the assembly line. Be the visionary.
20) Eat breakfast as a team: and keep a schedule.
21) A Manhattan apartment is just too small. Space is important. Both literally and figuratively.
22) Take time away. Weekends. Vacation time. Get out of the office.
23) Trust your team to make decisions. Delegate.
24) Set up the legal documents before you start. You’ll never find time to do them later.
25) Talk to a lawyer.
26) Burn Perfectionism at the Stake. Execute Always.
27) Yoga.
28) Have fun. Play Foosball. Build Camaraderie.
29) Focus.
30) More caffeine for the addicts.
31) More exercise, meditation, frisbee and football for the rest.
32) Manage towards goals not tasks.
33) Finish a test project up until you can get customer feedback. No more. No less.
34) Keep the Grand Canyon between personal and work accounting.
35) Set regular meetings for various levels of conversation. Vision, Strategy, Operations, etc.
36) Keep operational meetings short and with a strict agenda. Use a timer.
37) Keep vision meetings relaxed and open ended.
38) Read!
39) Make sure each employee has only one boss.
40) Incorporate new hires like ingredients in a sauce – one at a time.
41) Save the airplane sleeping visor and sleep with it.
42) Don’t have a TV. Ever. It’s junk anyway.
43) Continually identify “The Need” in the market.
44) “Fail Faster and More Often” – Tristan Louis.
45) Sell water in the desert.
Tags: company, entrepreneurship, lessons, start-up, venture, web 2.0, website
March 13th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Nicely done, Cossartian
March 13th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Good Layout and design. I like your blog. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. .
Jason Rakowski
March 13th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Thanks so much Jason. I’ll scope out your blog: goodcustomerservice. - JB
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