April 7th, 2008 by admin
Don’t start your own business to retire young.
I have had the luxury of a few nice trips in my life and I have concluded that long vacations SUCK! No matter what you may think, if you have the drive to build a business at a young age then you won’t have the patience to not do anything for an extended amount of time - even vacation.
Why do you think many entrepreneurs turned millionaires continue with their businesses, build new businesses and/or buy new businesses? Do you really think its about the money anymore? Of course not! It’s about the challenge, the excitement, the risk, the respect and many other things - most of which you don’t find on a beach somewhere.
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December 7th, 2007 by admin
There’s no question about the need for talent on your team when building any kind of business. But talent is not the end all be all. The truth in business, especially a start-up, is that a team needs chemistry. Beyond the talent that everyone brings to the table, there is a lot of hard work and sacrifice that needs to be made in order to make a business work. There are long hours, good and bad days, conflicting opinions about strategy, and critical moments when miscommunication can set your project back weeks (or months) at a time.
What I’ve learned is that you need both talent and leadership when you are building your team. You need leaders to move your dream forward. You need people who are willing to come on board because they believe in the vision you have put forth and are not just bandwagon businessmen hitching a ride on a cool new idea. But you also need the talent. Hall of Fame Notre Dame Football coach Lou Holtz once said, “You can lose a championship with great players, but you can’t win one without some.” However, it is critical that you understand the order in which you need these people.
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December 2nd, 2007 by admin
Over the past month as we’ve decided to build a business around this “cool” idea, one word has echoed in my mind: execution. Today, I am adding speed to that list. Speed is important because as a startup, you need feedback early and often. The only way to get that is to get to the market.
Its easy to get misguided about the need to develop a quality product. But the evidence is overwhelmingly supportive of a need for speed.
You ever see the terms “version 1.0, version 1.1, etc.” or “alpha, beta, etc.”? Of course you have. That is evidence of a company who understands the need for speed. Releasing versions, or versioning, is the best way to deliver to the market exactly what they want. Anything else is just plain gambling.
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