Start-ups In general

Are you okay with failure? Most start-ups fail and yours is likely to be one of the failures. I particularly liked Marc Cenedella’s post on failure at entrepreneurial ventures. Most of the time you’re failing and you’ve got to push your way through it. Having failure on a CV can still be restrictive – especially more so here in the UK. If you can deal with that, it’s a start.

Are you a hustler? Working at a start up is a slog. It can be hard, filled with disappointments and at times it can really get you down. It’s not only founders that have to be relentlessly resourceful (hat tip to Paul Graham and this post on Y-Combinator talking about characteristics of YC founders), it’s everyone in the first 100 who have to hustle to get shit done.

Do you value short-term cash? More over one day at Yahoo! than I have in a year as a founder. But I’ve learnt a lot more so far. I’m an extreme case. Most start-ups pay in promise and a lot of the promise doesn’t pay out (see question one). If you need a higher salary think twice about joining a start up.

Are you patient? If you’re joining a start-up you need to make a commitment. To get the real value out of any equity you’re looking at 3, 5 or 7 years from the start. To get real experience you need to see through a couple of pivots, strategic shifts, partnerships and growth in customers. If you’re not willing to see it out why join?

Specifically

Do you believe in the team? If you’re joining a start-up you should think (at least a bit) about the opportunity like an investor. Chris Dixon has a great post on this when he talks about the Dropbox opportunity that he missed by looking at the competition in the market rather than the team. If you’re not sold on the team running the ship then you’re going to have trouble trusting decisions.
Do you like the space or the technology being used? Something has to keep you hooked to the company. If you’re not thinking about the product, the market, or the technology being used in the company you’re going to get bored and not be able to really make a difference.

How well are they funded? Are they likely to raise money? Joining a 2 person company as employee number 3 with a couple of million in the bank is a great ratio. Joining a 10-person company with only 100K in the bank is a tough sell. Even if you don’t know the exact amounts there are some great resources to be able to check the status of the team/company. Looking up the investors, looking up the team on Linkedin and seeing what they’ve invested in or what they’ve done in the past can be a decent indicator for future success or at least their ability to stick around.

I’m sure there’s lot’s more that I’ve forgotten but I hope this is a useful starting point for people considering working for a start-up, I’m sure there will be other points in the comments.

There’s a right time to do a lot of things, like send thank you cards, invitations, Christmas cards, leave one job for another, start an MBA, read a book etc. But for some things if you wait until the time is right you’ll never really do it.

Having a child, and starting a business are two things that I don’t think you would do if you were waiting for the perfect storm. You might not be in the right property, the right country, the right job, or the right social situation, whatever it might be. Some friends of mine had children earlier and some friends have had children later, either way you end up with crazy highs and crazy lows when you have kids. The key I believe is to enjoy the highs and know that had things been different you probably would have had different lows.

Starting a business is similar. Of course every opportunity is different and there are times when markets are matured and when infrastructure either cheapens or new things are introduced to make a business more likely to succeed but, like having children, if you wait for the stars to align you’re likely to miss the opportunity entirely. I know fellow entrepreneurs who started companies before having children and I know people who have waited till their children had left home to start businesses. Either way the right time is when you have the idea and the ability to execute.

Sure there can be things that help make the decision easier to make, being made redundant and finding the job market to entirely welcoming has been a key driver for some businesses, but the real thing is knowing that these decisions require a lot of patience and hard work and if you’re ready to put the work in both can be amazing experiences regardless of the timing.

I had a conversation with a friend a couple of months ago about how the term “Lifestyle business” get’s such a bad knock in business schools and in the investor/tech entrepreneur communities. The truth is lifestyle businesses should be admired not dissed. If someone can create enough wealth for him or herself and in the process create a few jobs, in this economy especially, we should celebrate their success rather than dismiss them for creating a lifestyle business.

I didn’t question it that much when I was in business school. I took entrepreneurship classes that focused on building big businesses, looking at scalability, looking at exits, and investment classes that looked at bottom lines and quickly showed which investments would have a trajectory that would land them into public markets or in a valuable trade sale, I can’t remember once ever looking at the amount of jobs created or the amount of wealth for an individual in a simple but effective business. Although my guess is that a significant portion of successful businesses are in fact lifestyle businesses.

I used to work for a lifestyle business and one of the reasons I left was that the business wasn’t scaling and wasn’t trying to be a really big business. In hindsight, so what? The company had created jobs for over 20 people and the founder was making a significant income for himself. There’s nothing wrong with that at all. In fact in this economy we need more people creating companies like this.

As the economy contracts, as getting listed on public markets is getting more difficult, maybe it’s the right time for business schools, investors, people and banks (I’m leaving the investment for smaller businesses rant for another day) to take another more favourable look at “lifestyle” businesses.

But having lunch in Covent Garden inspired me today.  While out there I watched a group of three people taking on pledges/donations for the NSPCC.  I watched person after person turn them away, say they were too busy or do what I did (avoid, duck and swerve).  Don’t get me wrong, I think the NSPCC is a great cause and should be supported, I just hate having to discuss my charitable giving with a stranger on the street.  This brought back memories of my days doing telemarketing, I lasted a week, but I do believe everyone should spend some time doing a job like this.

Not because jobs like this are bad, which they are, but I truly believe jobs like this build resilience.  They help individuals not take no for an answer, or to not take rejection personal.  I was terrible at telemarketing, I’m okay with that, but hearing no so much has definitely made me stronger to when things aren’t go absolutely swimmingly.  This is a skill you definitely need in a start up, doing sales for an unknown product or the gajillion other tasks you have to do as an entrepreneur.  So you’ll excuse me as I put my shoulder back to the grindstone.

Your Linkedin profile is not like a CV or resume – I’m going to use CV as its fewer letters and I’m lazy. A CV should be more specific, when I looked for a job I would have different CVs for different industries, if I was looking at banking roles I had finance things highlighted and with more detail, if I was looking for consulting gigs I had consulting type roles and accomplishments highlighted. My internet company CV was specifically peppered with my technical and product capabilities.

A Linkedin profile should be updated constantly, should have your recent wins and metrics. The focus should be on getting people who’ve worked with you to recommend you – thanks to everyone who’s recommended me on my profile btw! The reason is that you never know who or why someone’s looking at your profile. It could be a recruiter but it could also be a potential partner, customer, or some other relationship that will grow out of Linkedin. You should have some recommendations from colleagues, managers, suppliers and customers if possible. This covers you regardless of who’s looking at your Linkedin profile. Before I had the landing page for AdAvengers.com ready I had “stealth mode” as the company I worked for, when it was ready I changed it. I’ve already got a recommendation on the latest role and it’s for my contracting work not for the work that I’m hoping Ad Avengers will end up doing. Doesn’t matter, what matters is that people see your doing something – anything – of value for someone – anyone!

If you’re lucky you’ll spend most of your time employed rather than looking for a new gig. Your Linkedin profile is like a Google search for you or like your twitter account, i.e. organic and alive. It should reflect the person you are and not focus on a specific role. Think of it as a funnel, your profile is a tool to get people to find out more about you, to ask someone they know about you, or to ask you if you’re interested in a role or opportunity and that’s when you focus on the specifics about the role and your fit for it (in your CV), not when you’re doing your Linkedin profile.

So here are some of my basic’s for a successful Linkedin profile:

• reflect your character, think of three words you want someone to think of when they read your profile and then write your copy
• ask for specific recommendations from people you’ve done work for, and who worked with you on work you’re proud of
• recommend people, people you really like and would want to work with / for/ or have working for you again
• use metrics when you can – from budgets to impact
• Highlight brands that you worked for – if you worked for a big brand, lucky you, if you worked for brands that aren’t so big outline what they did and if they had big brands as clients
• join groups and participate wherever you can – you never know when a connection might be made
• If you’re on twitter then connect your Linkedin profile – at least highlight it in your profile and send the occasional post to both Linkedin and twitter (Tweetdeck is great for this)
• Be careful of highlighting your credentials in your profile title, I get pretty annoyed with people who have Firstname, Lastname, MBA in their profile,  imagine how someone who thinks MBA’s are useless would feel about that (and believe it or not there are people who feel this way)
• Make a significant amount of content available to all, so anyone looking at your profile can get a decent understanding of you without clicking the “View full profile” link
• update frequently – don’t wait till you’re actually looking for a job, you might miss a customer / supplier / partner

Funny enough, Seth Godin has a great blog post today about what kind of story you tell about yourself, your Linkedin page should tell a story about you.

There’s a parallel here with basketball, lot’s of free agents in the NBA this year are figuring out where they want to play next year. It’s interesting to watch as a fan because you’ll see if players value winning, they’ll go to a team that is set up to win or can get other free agents and become successful, or if they value making maximum dollars.

Knowing why you do something is really important to doing it right / well. When I graduated from B school, I focused on the commute, focused on the location and the brand of the company I wanted to join and that meant a big US company, so I applied for and got a job at one. It looked great on paper and on Linkedin but I wasn’t really happy. I didn’t have the “why” right. Now I know I want to create something, make a difference, create some jobs, and build something that makes an impact, so I know the “why” and I’m much happier professionally.

Don’t get me wrong, there are basic needs like a salary or the availability of a job in a location, but aside from the life basics I think real happiness comes from knowing why you’re doing something. So before you take on the next job, move to a different place or whatever it is you do, make sure you know why you’re doing it.

According to multiple free online dictionaries equanimous means:
“Calm and composed; of stable disposition” or “having or showing equanimity; even-temperedness”

The reason why I’m writing about being equanimous is two fold, firstly the celebrations/riots in Montreal after the Canadiens won a playoff round (that’s right, a playoff round, not the Stanley Cup, not even the conference championship, the second round). As well our stroller was stolen (we think, it may have been taken in mistake) from outside our flat. Two pretty big things, one very positive and one very negative but in both instances being equanimous is very important.

Things can go very well, and things can go very badly. But as long as you’re equanimous you can move on and move up. For Montreal, there are still two rounds of potential playoffs to win before they can declare themselves champions. For us, we still have our default stroller, and we’re okay, our daughter is very happy and we’re still blessed overall.

This is a lesson in business as well. I’m reading Blue Ocean Strategy right now and the interesting thing is that the authors research has shown that no company remains successful forever. Companies that do remain successful for extended periods reinvent themselves repeatedly.

I believe being equanimous in life and in business is one of the keys to happiness and every day I struggle and fight to remain equanimous. I’m glad Tasleem introduced me to the philosophy.

Considering an Entrepreneurial Venture? Go For It, But Have a Career Contingency Plan « The …http://digg.com/u1HVA7

I went via digg to tweetmeme to a blog post on a site called the Job Search Guide about having a career contingency plan. I don’t buy it. In fact I would say having a career contingency guide is almost a step towards failure.

I think entrepreneurs need to be so laser focused on making a great big business that having a contingency plan almost makes you fall off the path to success. Your contingency plan should be on the business. If the business is failing, pivot, a new model, a new customer segment, a new distribution model etc. Don’t fall back on a new career until you know there’s no segment, no distribution, no possible pivot that should be able to work – in which case what the heck did you go into the business for?

This is especially true for young entrepreneurs, if you’re starting from scratch, failure is experience. Taking risk is better then living off benefits and having nothing to show for it.

I have a big problem with people in HR in general and specifically people in HR who look at CVs and see entrepreneurship as a failure rather than seeing someone who tries to create opportunities rather than waiting for opportunities.

My favourite example is this post on Fred Wilson’s blog about getting a college education – “One thing you don’t need to be an entrepreneur, a college education”. Specifically, this exchange between 17 year old Michael in Vancouver and Fred Wilson. In a nutshell, the kid has crap grades because he’s been busy starting things, so he’s not going to University; Fred asks him for his Linkedin and then connects him with some companies he knows and next thing you know that kid get’s a job! Because the people who really matter recognize that this is someone who cares about building great things and people like this are rare.

A lot of failure is due to lack of execution, but some of failure is down to just bad luck. It’s important to know when an entrepreneur has started something and been unlucky versus started something and been unable to execute and it shouldn’t be a career trip up, it should be a career advancement win, lose or draw.

In high school I thought I would end up in New York in my 20s, I ended up in London. Not such a big shift. I realised I just loved a buzzing metropolis that was a true centre of creativity in the world. I wanted to be in a city that everyone knew and where lots of people visited, and I ended up in one. Just not the one I originally intended.

I was happy living the single life, and I ended up meeting my wife. Having fun was the goal and meeting the Bee, moving in together, getting married, and the last 6+ years have been, if nothing else, fun.

We were then thinking of Africa or India, and we ended up in Switzerland. I think we just needed a break from London. We needed to figure out if London was indeed a city we truly loved or a place where we had become comfortable.

So when I saw the John Lennon quote “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”, followed by the proverb “Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday” in a fortune cookie on Flickr, I couldn’t help but be a bit reflective.

I’ve always set out with big ambitious goals, and then let whichever road takes me there take me there. I think it’s a decent way to live life. Have some targets but be flexible in how you get there.

Flexibility in living life seems to be a pattern, whether it’s personal or professional, salary or position, debt or savings, whatever, have a target and then let the universe show you how you get there.

The book talks about how anything worth having needs dedication and is usually pretty hard and how quitting a dead end masquerading as an opportunity (or as Seth calls them a “Cul-de-Sac”) is a good thing.

It’s hardly rocket science, I know. In fact the Missus told me “That seems pretty obvious” when I brought it up with her last night. But it’s funny how you can invest a lot of your time and effort into something that offers very little value and not think that you should drop it and focus on something really valuable – sunk costs apply to everything in my opinion. Or on the other hand how you can think something is too hard and forget why you’ve started down the path in the first place. Sometimes you need a kick up the backside to remind you that this is a dip and you need to power through it.

So thanks Seth, it was a good and short read and just what I needed this week.