“Your number one job is DROC” – Barry Goss

DROC is “Don’t run out of cash”.

You can’t wait until you have 3 weeks of cash left to get serious about raising funding.  If you need Venture Capital, it takes 4- 6 months at best to close a deal and that’s only if you have an impending term sheet.

SBIR’s take several weeks to write and if you are awarded a grant, it takes three months for the check to arrive.

Even debt funding takes time for small businesses and you will have to go to more than one institution.

The time to raise capital is when you don’t need it.  Desperation does not improve your chances.  It shows you failed to plan for the next round of funding or that you misspent the capital you had.

You are always selling and you are always raising capital.

Blogging Gazelle is published daily by Shawn Carson

Nothing comes from nowhere. All creative work builds on what came before” – Austin Kleon

There is no lack of great ideas in the world.  It’s amazing how a solution to one type of problem and be adapted to solve another.  The advantage of a first mover is obviously the brand recognition and the opportunity for quick market share but there is a risk.  Others can see where the first mover fell short, tweak their product to cover it and now you have competitors.  This is healthy and good.

This is also where niche markets are created.  There is always a set of potential customers who are not well served by the prevailing market leader.  Maybe it’s features or price.  Maybe it’s a completely different demographic altogether.

There are two principles to be gained here.  First look for problems that need a solution and look around you.  Someone may have figured out the solution for a different problem.  Second, look for those who didn’t buy into the prevailing product offering and understand why.  You may have discovered a profitable niche.

Austin Kleon has a new book – “Show Your Work”.  I am sure there are great quotes to follow.

 

Blogging Gazelle is published daily by Shawn Carson

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead

There was a report on NPR about a town in Wisconsin where 90% of the people there have living wills.  The national average is around 30% so the reporter set out to find out why.  Her efforts led to one guy who is a medical ethicist at the local hospital, whose job included helping families make difficult decisions at end-of-life.  He set out to try to make the process easier by encouraging people to consider filling out a simple living will form when they first get sick.  The hospital staff caught on and now 9 out of 10 people have a living will.

There was another story about organ donations in Michigan, which ranked 44th in the country.  Within the last few years, they have increased organ donor registrations to 7th place in the country.  The short version of this fascinating story is that they figured out how to enlist the DMV workers to simply ask everyone if they wanted to sign the organ donor card.  Period!

Change starts with individuals who set out to solve problems they face everyday.

Sounds like entrepreneurship to me.

Blogging Gazelle is published daily by Shawn Carson

“If you’re too afraid to mess up, you’re too afraid to do better.” – Coach K

We work hard to achieve something that works and is profitable.  The next thing that occurs then is the push for efficiency so it takes less and less time to accomplish routine things.  This is the birth of bureaucracy.  Bureaucracy puts boundaries around people and processes.  That is it’s purpose; efficiency!

Out of these boundaries come rules and once you have rules, there are only two possibilities; follow them or break them.  We are are taught from an early age how important it is to follow the rules.  Those that break them get punished and those that call attention to the stupidity of arbitrary rules are branded as rebels and malcontents; all bad.

So now we have a culture where people are afraid to “mess up.”  Here’s the thing:  If you don’t ever mess up, you’ll never be any better than you are right now.  Innovation, self awareness, and growth itself all come from tearing down what we know and are comfortable with and constantly rebuilding, learning from both what works and what does not.

This is the job of the entrepreneur; fail until you find what works, build that up and then start all over again.

 

Blogging Gazelle is published daily by Shawn Carson

“Always be yourself, unless you can be a pirate. Then always be a pirate.” – Charlie “Choo Choo” Justice

This comes from a FB post of very good friend and it’s a nod to our common alma mater, East Carolina University. Our football team is very good and somehow manages to maintain an underdog sensibility despite winning most of their games.  And swagger?  Forget about it!

The quote also winks at a quote from Steve Jobs.

It speaks to a personality trait many entrepreneurs have that caused them to shun the safety and boundaries of a conventional corporate career and strike out on their own to achieve something they just have to do.  It’s not so much about being anti-social as it is having the freedom to pursue a course of your choosing without the artificial roadblocks that are endemic of bureaucracies and institutions.

But there’s a dark side.  Having success means you have stolen marketshare from someone else.  They won’t like it.  They will fight back to protect what they have.  It could get dirty but it’s better any day than driving a cubicle toward retirement.

Don’t join the Navy. Be a pirate!  Always!

Thanks for the quote Choo.  Keep buckling those swashes.

 

Blogging Gazelle is published daily by Shawn Carson

 

“When you make a business, you get to make a little universe where you control all the laws.” – Derek Sivers

Starting a company is a magical time.  It’s a time when all the potential and possibility are in front of you and the vision of making change and meaning are the strongest.

It’s also a time when you control pretty much all that can be controlled.  You get to test your hypotheses and make your pivots without worrying about the approval of investors and board members.  The only thing that matters is finding out what your customers are willing to pay for solving their problems.

Enjoy this time but use it very wisely.  Having control is not about appeasing the ego.  It’s about getting to your core value proposition as quickly and cheaply as possible.  There’s a time for involving partners, key employees, investors, boards of directors and the rank and file.  You will spend more and more of your time managing communication between all these groups.  Make sure by then you are on the right track.

Read “Anything You Want” by Derek Sivers

Blogging Gazelle is published daily by Shawn Carson

“Failure is not falling down but refusing to get up.” – Chinese Proverb

Mr. Proverb seems to be a smart guy.

A startup is a lot about failures.  Your success depends on it.  You will find out much more about what doesn’t work than what does and much of that has nothing to do with customers and their needs, (but of course there is that…).

You will run into difficulties with suppliers, partners, and investors.  You will have issues with intellectual property, licensing and other negotiations.  You will have employee issues and you may have to fire key people.  You will face financial pressures and you may have to downsize.  Then there’s the economy and the federal government.

You will fall down a lot but the point is to always get back up skinned knees and all.  We have a nice term for it now.  We call it a “pivot”.  Each pivot makes you smarter and stronger.  Embrace them.

Blogging Gazelle is published daily by Shawn Carson

 

“I would rather be the man who bought the Brooklin Bridge than the one who sold it.” – Will Rogers

You’re going to screw up.  It’s wired into your DNA.  You don’t have perfect information and a boundless amount of time. Mistakes will happen.  Bad decisions will be made.  Then there are the tough decisions that have to be made, which end up hurting people.  Like when you have to downsize or invite a bad hire to exit the bus.

But there’s one thing that should never be questioned, for sale or otherwise discounted.  That’s your integrity.  Tough decisions can hurt everyone, including you but you must make them for the good of the customer and the sustainability of the company.  You may not be able to make the right decisions all the time but you have to try to make them for the right reasons.

It won’t make sleeping that night any easier but when you look back, you’ll be able to say “it was a good ride”.

 

Blogging Gazelle is published daily by Shawn Carson

My son is now an ‘entrepreneur’. That’s what you’re called when you don’t have a job. – Ted Turner

Strange comment coming from an iconic entrepreneur…

Thankfully, we are living in the post industrial age when success is not tied to a lifelong career with a corporation.  But the cliche is true: “Along with freedom comes great responsibility.”  Entrepreneurs embrace the fact that their destiny is in their hands and not dependent on the prescribed rules of the corporate career ladder.

In the startup stage, your boss is not the shareholders.  Your boss is the customer.  This changes as you grow and take on investors and other stakeholders but a least in the early days, you have the singular focus of satisfying one group.  This is the stage where value is created.  Embrace it and work maniacally toward getting note customers.

As for Mr. Turner’s opinion, you’ll work harder than any job you ever had enriching someone else.

Blogging Gazelle is publish daily by Shawn Carson