Questions about working for a potential dynamo entrepreneur

[stevechang202]

Hello.

The following question concerns not becoming a "Fastlaner Entrepreneur", but building a long term career working for one. I will explain my situation:


I am a more laid back analytical young guy who happens to have had a female friend who I have always admired for the following characteristics:

An aura of strength and leadership, extremely eloquent public speaking ability and the power to know the exact right thing to say, a persistent no nonsense drive, tremendous depth, good practical business sense, but most of all she by nature is a very powerful and strong leader type. She has the leadership presence and power of a Hillary Clinton, Rockefeller Heiress, Meg Whitman, etc. For a set of reasons that I will not go into she became a teacher when she completed college. Sensing that she had the ability to be one of the next female tycoons or CEOs, I have urged her for the past several years to one day go into business.

Lo and behold, she now has based on her experience as a teacher, come up with an educational product that truly solves a real problem and can effect millions of students nationwide.

As you can tell, I admire her the way action fan guys admire Lara Croft. What would make me the happiest in terms of a career, since I truly admire her leadership ability, is to have a career working for her as her key right hand man. I know that this is a Hitchhiker stratgey to some degree, but I think that my analytical ability and her leadership would make a great match.

As the "Fastlane" book says "think not about your selfish desires, but how you can be of service to others." I thought about how I could be of service and have a tremendous effect of great magnitude upon her business.

1.My research and analytical skills would help in terms of areas such as lead generation, understanding certain aspects of the government procurement prospects (She would be dealing with state school departments and other government agencies and I once had an internship that dealt with defense contracts for a small DOD contractor), evaluating and improving product features, measuring the strength of certain marketing campaigns, etc. Additionally, I was an ethnic studies minor in college and have followed as an intellectual hobby certain emerging market nations. I have some thoughts on which emerging nations there would be a market in for the product, which nations there would not be, and why.


2. While, I have at least ten suggestions on potential customers, I also have some direct contacts that could be helpful:


A. Years ago, I was involved in Democratic politics. While I left the field of politics, I remained good friends with two people who eventually became high level statewide officials in their respective states. With these contacts, I could see perhaps mid seven figure sales ( for school departments they deal with),


B. I managed to become friends with a nine figure entrepreneur that is in Fortune magazine several times a year. I knew him before he became famous. Since he has a foundation that deals with education, he could of course have some potential contacts.


My questions are the following:


1. Should I bring up the possibility of me becoming her employee now, or after the business develops some cash flow, and it reaches the point where there I can be hired for a salary.


2. Would you have any suggestions on how to manage best the entrepreneur-right hand man relationship so that we both thrive at our respective roles?


3. Have any of you guys ever known of any successful right hand man male and female entrepreneur duos?


I would tremendously appreciate any thoughts or suggestions.


Thanks

 

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[Vigilante]

Steve... You are not going to find much cheer leading or advice here on how to take a job working for a visionary. I wish you well but hope my kids grow up to be the leader...not the follower. I am not sure that you grasped the idea of the Fastlane Millionaire book.

You need to change your mindset --- instead of admiring the dynamo, my hope for you is that you become the dynamo. A business partnership or a distribution agreement would set you on a path towards greatness. Aspiring to become someone's employee because you like them makes you no different than the other 99% that want a paycheck and want a ride on someone else's persona.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Imon32red]

For many start-ups the visionary is the founder. However, many times its the marketer that they hired that pushes them over the top. Those people will always be in demand.

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

Is she really hot?

 

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[stevechang202]

Well, there have been people who were not visionary entrepreneurs, but took positions ( with equity usually)

working for great entrepreneurial founders. These people, despite technically working for a boss had some
Fast-lane leverage. The richest person to ever work for a boss, is Steve Balmner of Microsoft. With a 5 percent or so equity stake in Microsoft he still qualifies as a Fastlaner. Also, Apple, Google, and Facebook had some high
impact employees.

While these people were employees, in the sense of taking direction from the boss, they were as engrossed in
the business as the primary entrepreneur. Not to mention, equity stakes. As a further example, Meg Whitman of Ebay was not the founder, but was brought in after the start.

Overall, my question is not just speaking of working for this specific person, but in a general sense, would any of you consider the following career path legitimate (hybrid of Fastlane and Slowlane)

Being not a visionary founder of an enterprise, but being a key equity holding employee.

Examples:

1.Working for one entrepreneur throughout your career, eventually holding a C level position within their
company with equity.

2. Master a specific role such as Chief operating officer or director of business development and work for
several entrepreneurs throughout your career, eventually being able to join potential Google's with large equity and stock option packages.

I would appreciate any thoughts.

Thanks

 

[Vigilante]

I didn't give you the answer you wanted, but you didn't need to restate the question. It was clear.

If you are looking for someone to give you the answer you want, then we'll have to wait for someone else to come along.

Your original post was that you wanted to be an employee with a salary. If you are refining that as to an equity play for the business in exchange for a strong ownership %, that's different.... but that's a lot different from asking to be her employee or waiting until she can pay you a salary.

I think you likely will continue to play it safe. Your choice. If you read MJ's book, don't allow your mind to deceive you into believing you are doing anything other than seeking a job with someone you have a good "in" with.

I will leave you alone in hopes that someone else comes along with the positive spin that you want.

 

[Kung Fu Steve]

I'm a positive guy! With... sometimes... positive responses!

Mr. Chang, Steve, can I call you Steve? Strong name - one of my favorites.

No one is really going to "knock" you for riding on the coat tails of a successful entrepreneur.

But no employee can ever be "fastlane" technically because they cannot separate their time from
their income. No matter how much equity you own, you are still an employee. You work as many
hours as SOMEONE else tells you to work. 2 Weeks paid vacation, the whole sha-bang.

I have learned the hard way - it doesn't matter how much money you make, if you don't have
time - you are not wealthy. Period.

Plus you don't have control over anything. Even though you are a "head honcho" if the boss says you suck one day - you're done. Game over. Start all over again climbing the corporate ladder.

My question for you Steve would be why are you afraid of going off on your own? Why are you so quick to say you are not a "visionary entrepreneur" - and why do you think you need to be a "visionary" to be successful? Most of us who have found some sort of business success are pretty dull and definitely aren't "visionaries" ... Well I guess I'm not so dull... I'm fun... and funny... really...... I mean it....

 

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[Robre]

The only way you can be somewhat fastlane is to work for equity. Offer your services for 10%-50% equity. That way you are a partner. Then bust your balls out and make as much money as possible. If you think you should wait for a salary, you missed the point.

 

[77startup]

"1.Working for one entrepreneur throughout your career, eventually holding a C level position within their
company with equity.

2. Master a specific role such as Chief operating officer or director of business development and work for
several entrepreneurs throughout your career, eventually being able to join potential Google's with large equity and stock option packages. "

Interesting choices but it really depends on how successful your entrepreneur boss is after year one. If the company is making serious strides (which mean positive revenue or major seed funding with growth) then option 1 seems best. If the business isn't doing well it means the business won't exist very long and option 2 becomes the default. JMHO.

 

[biophase]

Isn't this the same question as "should I just get a really good job"? I don't see this as a business choice at all.

The examples you've given are the same as the people who tried to get a job at Google hoping to get options before the IPO.

 

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[dubaismartmoney]

Steve nice post,

I do believe that surrounding yourself with people smarter or more productive than yourself is not a bad idea.

If she´s really that great, why not working with her (or to her), and learning from someone that can give some insights that you still don't know (partnership).

that being said, I cant recommend a job


Try to do the best you can with the situation but know that in the end , being a owner of a biz its always better than working for someone.

"Rome wasn't build in a day", work, learn, and set up a company when you can.

 

[Rickson9]

Unless one of you has a talent for pulling money out of a customer, it doesn't sound like a good idea.