Tech Startup Advice: Things I have learned..

First, I am not super successful (not yet) so take anything that I say in this blog with a grain of salt. The intent of this blog post is not to give you a road map to start a successful company but rather share some of my personal learnings, mostly from messing up. 

Oh yeah another caveat, there are all types of Entrepreneurs so my experiences might be more relevant to technology based start-ups, so let me start with the following:

Know thyself: Not everyone should be an Entrepreneur, there are few people that actually have the "drive and instinct", plus a myriad of other drivers like an unwavering tenacity and perspiration. But at the same time anyone can be one and doesn't require any special intelligence- it's more of a characteristic trait. You might be an Entrepreneur if all you dream about is starting the business, does it keep you up at night?  Harvard Business Review did a great article on this please read it here Entrepreneurship as Disease

It's NOT about the money:  I will be the first to admit we want to build a multi-million dollar company but that's just a metric/measuring stick for playing the game.  Having said that- it's not about the money but rather the drive to build something awesome and make a difference in other people's lives.  Our company was founded on a higher purpose than making money and it's embedded in everything we do. Our mantra is "Empower talent with more opportunities, period"

Adjust Your Mindset: When you work for big companies you become spoiled (trust me) but most people don't realize it. Allow me to break to you straight, when you work for a big company you have so many resources, advantages and luxuries- not to mention a nice salary and health benefits. Unfortunately this creates the "golden handcuffs" meaning most people are tied down from being conditioned to these luxuries.
If you are going to become an Entrepreneur go ALL IN or don't jump in at all- I don't believe you can be successful with a part-time mindset.

Minimize Operating Expenses: If you are starting out from scratch one of the biggest operating expenses is yourself, how expensive is your lifestyle?  In my case I was accustom to living off a $80k to $100k year, so I lived in nice condo, sports sedan (Audi), dined at good restaurants, and spent a lot on entertainment, clothes, toys and traveling excursions.  You are going to have to make major financial sacrifices, see your personal living expenses as business operating expenses and make budget cuts- are you ready for that?

Legalize it:  Whatever your company is make it a legal identity! I am not a lawyer but there are plenty of resources to help you make your business a legal identity. Especially if you plan on raising any type of seed capital (early stage funding) no one is going to invest in you without a legal operating company. Most investors will require it might as well get it done immediately.  If you are in technology and plan on raising capital from investors (Angel & VC money), I recommend C-Corp based in Delaware.  Read an interesting blog post here: Delaware C-Corp

Find a good attorney early: Generally speaking, I am not a big fan of attorneys but you definitely want one on your side.  There are so many different types of attorneys even in the business world and recommend finding a good one that specializes in start-up issues, plus they know a lot of people (including investors) that could be beneficial to you down the road. Find A Startup Attorney

Real Time vs Fantasy Time: If you are like me, you will realize that everything takes longer than you expected. I use to spout stupid things like "In 6 months we will have our Beta complete with at least 10k user."  My thought was that people (like investors) would be impressed with my handle on my business but the reality it shows how naive you are, basically living in fantasy world.  In the real world, technology takes longer to develop, reiterate, test and deploy- not to mention all the road blocks in starting a business from scratch because it’s a marathon not a sprint.

Make mistakes but move on fast: You are going to make a lot of mistakes, that's a given variable. For example, I spent over 9 months because I contracted a web development company that provided non-functional code and then wanted thousands of more dollars to fix it.  I wasted lots of time and money in code I had to literally throw away but quickly moved on.  (It took me 2 days to make that decision and haven’t looked back since)

Don't be afraid to fail: Statistically the the rate of failure is very high, accept that statistical fact. However, don't be afraid of it instead just think positive and focus on the things that you can control. There are so many positive things about starting a business that it's actually almost impossible to fail. For example the key learnings, rich experience, new contacts and the personal satisfaction that you gave it your best shot. That's a lot better than thinking "What if?" which could haunt you a lifetime.

Find Partner(s): Starting a company is extremely difficult, scary, and lonely- it's like walking down a dark alley at 3am in the middle of crime ridden neighborhood, it's not something you want to journey alone!  You need someone that compliments your strengths and weaknesses and has your back.  Always be recruiting, everyone you meet could potentially be a partner in the future or new hire so keep an eye on talent.

Vested Equity: If you are the founder of the company, don't give your business partner 50% of the business on day 1, any experienced Entrepreneur will tell you this is a bad idea. My recommendation is to give equity on a vested schedule, let me explain.  I offered my first CTO recruit around 10% equity but only after 18 months and he had to commit to certain amount hours and development per month. He ended up departing early so he only received a fraction based on our agreement. Put it in writing and make the conditions clear!

Spearhead R&D:  Research, research and do more research about your industry.  Even if you are a sole proprietor you should be doing research and have a good grasp of your market because this understanding will help you make key strategic decisions that will help you position your company.  As you grow, I would advise to never stop doing research and make data a big part of your company DNA.

Build something damn it!: Every company starts as an "idea" but eventually you need to have something in development, something to show. Stop saying things like "this idea is going to revolutionize the ________industry" because that means nothing if you can't execute and validate your concept.  It doesn't matter what industry you are in, you should be able to build a prototype or an MVP (Minimal ViableProduct)

Be the Customer Cheerleader:  I am always surprised of how many professionals ignore customer feedback/input, but as the Entrepreneur you need to stand-up for the end user and put them first.  At the end of the day it's your customers that will make you successful or fire you.

"There is only one boss-the customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else."-Sam Walton

Be part of the 'Startup Community':  Like I said before starting a tech company is extremely difficult and lonely. You want to join the community as early as possible because this group is going to be a source of learning and your support group, trust me you are going to feel better being around other struggling artist.  Plus, there are all kinds of important people you can meet at these events, some of which might invest money but don't make that the purpose because most investors aren't hanging out with Entrepreneurs.

Never give up":  At some point, you will cross a point of no return.  If you find yourself in the startup abyss you have absolutely no choice to continue to press forward despite the many challenges, setbacks and barriers.  Be super tenacious and never stop because failure only occurs once you have quit.