Entrepreneurship Tips — Raw Startup

Early-stage companies are the most fragile, have the least resources and the biggest challenges ahead of them.  Developing a new business is one of the biggest challenges in life and generally requires experience in at least five key disciplines (product/service development, finance, sales, marketing, and operations) to do well.   For a founder or entrepreneur and their team to be successful, they must have not only industry domain experience but all these skills available to design the business at both the strategic and tactical levels (a vision).  Taking all these disciplines into account and then allocating resources appropriately for the specific...

A Comparison of Operations Modes   This table compares the two extremes that should be considered when selecting a management model or style for your company. Any company using an inappropriate management mode will be a significant disadvantage and could easily fail. Big Company Startup Hires ahead of the curve, against quarterly and annual plans Hires just-in-time or even too late when the pain reaches an intolerable level, or some sales target is met. Does everything "right", spending whatever it takes to produce a high-quality result. Does an 80-90% job at less than ½ the cost, knowing that we will...

Venture capitalists are not known for their humility, so take note of the following confession: Venture capitalists are chickens. Compared to entrepreneurs, they're spectators in the great game of small business hardball. They would no sooner personally guarantee a corporate bank loan than they would jump off the cliffs of Acapulco. Contrary to popular opinion, however, they are not totally worthless - they work long hours, sift through more garbage than a trash collector, and have to get used to disappointing 99 entrepreneurs for everyone they please. They are veteran roller coaster riders, but never get used to those big...

A Perfect Metaphor For A Startup I use many airplane and military metaphors, not because I was ever in the military, though I am a pilot, but because there are so many special-purpose planes that can be used to show an exact point or purpose just like a market niche. One of the best models I have seen on how to run a start-up was the development of the SR-71 spy plane by Lockheed’s skunkworks. The SR-71 spy plane was so far ahead of its time, that 30 years after its initial design and development, it was still the fastest plane on...