The Do's & Don't of your First Startup. Don't make these Mistakes...

[RazorCut]

I was reading an article by James Altucher this morning and came across a link to a Quora question that I thought was a great read with some really sound advice.

The question was "What is the best advice for a young, first-time startup CEO?"

James Altucher's answer was voted 5th on the list which goes to show the quality of the information as he has personally started and also invested in a shed load of start-ups so his knowledge is pretty sound and his post full of interesting info especially if you hope to get VC funding at some point.

However, even if you fully intend to be a 1 man band, there are some great knowledge bombs to be soaked up:

https://www.quora.com/Startups/What-is-the-best-advice-for-a-young-first-time-startup-CEO

 

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[Andy Black]

Wow. I'm going to paste that somewhere close by. Some real gems.

(Respect to the Quora "fan-gate" forcing me to signup. Very slick...)

 

[zerobrainwash]

This is straight from his book "Choose Yourself Guide to Wealth" just in case, great read! I feel his brilliance lies in that he reads so much, has plenty of experience and is able to sum up big concepts in convenient, entertaining writing style. My "go to" guy for inspiration.

 

[Tobore]

I've read it a couple of times. Great Article!

 

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[ChrisJTurner]

Wow, great article.

Not sure if I missed it; but I would say one of them would be

Making the wrong sacrifices.
Of course, who doesn't want to be rich? Though, you also need to consider what emotional sacrifices you are willing to make.
Working 100 hours a week sounds great for bragging rights on TMF ; but sure enough, Mrs Fastlane wont be impressed; and will be shipping off with your kids before you can say Prenup.

Personally, I am defined by my experiences and the time I spend with people who I care about.
Money comes second... a very distant one.

I`m sure that when I'm living my last 24 hours, I wont be asking for the keys to my Ferrari.

 

[BackOnTrack]

Thank you for this. I have just read some great reviews of his book on Amazon 'Choose yourself guide to wealth' and just downloaded it... Looking forward to reading it....

 

[ClaytonAlbright]

Wow, great article.

Not sure if I missed it; but I would say one of them would be

Making the wrong sacrifices.
Of course, who doesn't want to be rich? Though, you also need to consider what emotional sacrifices you are willing to make.
Working 100 hours a week sounds great for bragging rights on TMF ; but sure enough, Mrs Fastlane wont be impressed; and will be shipping off with your kids before you can say Prenup.

Personally, I am defined by my experiences and the time I spend with people who I care about.
Money comes second... a very distant one.

I`m sure that when I'm living my last 24 hours, I wont be asking for the keys to my Ferrari.

Yeah but if you worked 100 hrs. a week for a year and built a fastlane asset, you could work 0 hrs a week the rest of your life and have way more time to spend with family. Then, it's not about the Ferrari but the freedom.

 

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[Andy Black]

^^^ Maybe. Depends on your circumstances.

Personally, I am not going to spend less of my time with my family so I can spend more of my time with them later. Kids grow up fast.

 

[RazorCut]

Personally, I am not going to spend less of my time with my family so I can spend more of my time with them later. Kids grow up fast.

This is one of my biggest regrets. No this IS my biggest regret.

You never hear someone on their deathbed saying they wish they spent more time at the office.

 

[juggler619]

wow, james has nailed it

 

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[theag]

Personally, I am not going to spend less of my time with my family so I can spend more of my time with them later. Kids grow up fast.

I'll just make my billions before I have kids. Problem solved.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Andy Black]

What's a "startup" anyway?

Not every new business is a startup. A startup is designed to grow exponentially.

Here's a great article by Paul Graham defining that difference: www.paulgraham.com/growth.html

Paul says:

Let's start with a distinction that should be obvious but is often overlooked: not every newly founded company is a startup. Millions of companies are started every year in the US. Only a tiny fraction are startups. Most are service businesses—restaurants, barbershops, plumbers, and so on. These are not startups, except in a few unusual cases. A barbershop isn't designed to grow fast. Whereas a search engine, for example, is.

MY takeaways from just two of the posts from the article on Quora.


From Navid Zolfaghari's post (MY own key takeaways are in bold):

1. Your team is everything.
2. Solve a problem you are passionate about.
3. Never outsource your core competency.
4. Be c̶h̶e̶a̶p̶ lean but don’t be afraid to spend.
5. Chase the vision, not the money.
6. Never eat lunch alone. Always be closing.
7. Ideas are worth sh*t. Execution is key.
8. Don’t take momentum for granted.
9. Learn to monetize from the get-go. [cue Notorious BIG - Get Money]
10. Set S.M.A.R.T. goals.
11. Focus. It’s easy to get carried away with multiple projects.
12. Stay uncomfortable.
13. Be metrics driven. You can’t improve what you can’t measure.
14. Not everything your customers want is what they need. Learn to read between the lines to really get at the problem.
15. Consistently seek out constructive feedback.
16. Know your competitive advantage and stay obsessed over your competitors and the industry.
17. Be a thought leader in the space.
18. Move quickly.
19. Talk is cheap. Deliver instead.
20. Focus on customer service. Word of mouth is the easiest form of marketing.
21. Make something that you know people want.
22. Place a premium on aptitude versus experience.
23. Learn to say no (respectfully).
24. Trust your gut.
25. If things aren't working, ask yourself why and change that.
26. Hire people smarter than you.
27. As a founder, you set the tone for others. Don’t forget that.
28. Don't be afraid to ask for help!
29. Make deliberate decisions.
30. Don’t lose sight of close friends and family. You don’t need to be a hermit just because you work a lot.
31. Don’t micro-manage.
32. Start with “why?” [See Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action]
33. Bring out the greatness in those around you.
34. It's better to own a smaller piece of a bigger pie than a bigger piece of a smaller pie.
35. Be humble.
36. Utilize your calendar and tasks to the max.
37. Tackle your most daunting tasks in the morning. Save the easier stuff for later.
38. Read often.
39. Workout at least 4 times a week. Body and mind are one. Oh yeah, and get your sleep too.
40. Be authentic and transparent.
41. You will hit hurdles, push through and get ready for the next. Stay optimistic.
42. Ask questions.
43. Nobody should have a personal office. Open floor plans allow best for collaboration.
44. You have 2 ears and 1 mouth. You should listen more than you talk.
45. Culture is crucial. Your employees should want to stay late and hangout.
46. Sell value, not products.
47. Always have an attorney glance over any legal documents. Speaking of, document everything so there is a record for all parties.
48. There is no such thing a part-time entrepreneur.
49. Learn to move on if you’ve exhausted all efforts. Be honest with yourself.
50. Have fun!​

Notice how I ignored:

10. Set S.M.A.R.T. goals.
11. Focus. It’s easy to get carried away with multiple projects.​

MY key takeaways extracted from what James Altucher said:

11) Should you build a product?
Maybe. But first see if, manually, your product works. Then think about providing it as a service. Then productize the commonly used services. Too many people do this in reverse and then fail.

14) What if nobody seems to be buying your product?
Then change to a service and do whatever anyone is willing to pay for using the skills you developed while making your product.

18) How do you get new clients?
The best new clients are old clients. Always offer new services. Think every day of new services to offer old clients.

19) What’s the best thing to do for a new client?
Over-deliver for the first 100 days. Then you will never lose them.

24) I have lots of ideas. How do I pick the right one?
Do as many ideas as possible. The right idea will pick you.

26) What is the sign of a professional?
— Going from bullshit product to services to product to SaaS product. (Corollary: the reverse is amateur hour).
— Cutting costs every day.
— Selling every day, every minute.
— When you have a billion in revenues, staying focused. When you have zero revenues, staying unfocused and coming up with new ideas every day.
— Saying “no” to people who are obvious losers.
— Saying “yes” to any meeting at all with someone who is an obvious winner.
— Knowing how to distinguish between winners and losers (subject of an entire other post but in your gut you know — trust me).

30) Should I do market research?
Yes, find one customer who DEFINITELY, without a doubt, will buy a service from you. Note that I don’t say buy your product, because your initial product is always not what the customer wanted.

75) My investors want me to focus.
Should I listen to them? No. Diversify in every way you can.



​

Notice anything?

These two guys are dropping a lot of value bombs here. Yet they say some things that seem to contradict each other. One says to focus, the other says to have lots of ideas and to NOT focus.

One says to say No, the other to say Yes (to "winners").



Goals or a Direction?

Paul Graham's has another great article here: http://www.paulgraham.com/ambitious.html

I like these two passages:

I think the way to use these big ideas is not to try to identify a precise point in the future and then ask yourself how to get from here to there, like the popular image of a visionary. You'll be better off if you operate like Columbus and just head in a general westerly direction. Don't try to construct the future like a building, because your current blueprint is almost certainly mistaken. Start with something you know works, and when you expand, expand westward.

The popular image of the visionary is someone with a clear view of the future, but empirically it may be better to have a blurry one.​

My personal takeaways

The world is a wonderful place.

There's soooo many ways how to do things.

It's our journey though, and we are responsible for our own decisions and actions.

Observe what works best for you, and create your own unique blueprint.

 

[Drq]

This is straight from his book "Choose Yourself Guide to Wealth" just in case, great read! I feel his brilliance lies in that he reads so much, has plenty of experience and is able to sum up big concepts in convenient, entertaining writing style. My "go to" guy for inspiration.

Thanks for pointing that out. I just picked it up and started reading. I'll report back when I'm done in the Book section.

 

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[risingtomillions]

Ni

I was reading an article by James Altucher this morning and came across a link to a Quora question that I thought was a great read with some really sound advice.

The question was "What is the best advice for a young, first-time startup CEO?"

James Altucher's answer was voted 5th on the list which goes to show the quality of the information as he has personally started and also invested in a shed load of start-ups so his knowledge is pretty sound and his post full of interesting info especially if you hope to get VC funding at some point.

However, even if you fully intend to be a 1 man band, there are some great knowledge bombs to be soaked up:

https://www.quora.com/Startups/What-is-the-best-advice-for-a-young-first-time-startup-CEO

nice one. I laughed at half of them