OK, this is an going series of blog posts on what I've learned about entrepreneurship. I have no idea how many tips I have or how long this will run. It might just be three or it might be 103. Anyway, it'll serve as a nice way for me to collect my thoughts and hopefully some of y'all might learn something from it. :) (P.S. Even though I run my
own business I'm far from an expert on this topic...I'm just as much a student of this as the rest of y'all. :))
1.
Just do it. So many people sit around waiting for the perfect time to start a business. They must have missed the memo that was sent out that said "The perfect time is now." Don't think you are smart enough? Mark Cuban started his own business and is a billionaire and yet the guy doesn't even spell basic words right some of the time (
example). (Still love the guy though!!!) Don't think you have enough money? Kevin Rose
started Digg on a few thousand dollars and now has a business likely worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Not having enough capital might have been a good excuse 10 years ago. It's not today.
I've been scoping out some of these stories online and came across this
excellent write-up from Ryan Carson who started DropSend. It's one of the best descriptions I've seen of what it takes to start a company online these days. And as you can see, although it isn't free it's a hell of a lot cheaper than it used to be and well within the realm of possible for most people, especially when you consider all the funding sources out there (e.g., credit cards, bank financing, friends and family, etc.)
2.
Start a business that you want to see exist in the world. Maybe you'd like a healthy fast food restaurant to get food from. Or a website to help you choose a good doctor. If you can't find something that suits your needs then you should create it. My guess is that that is how 95-99% of all successful businesses start out. Rather than analyzing a bunch of industries and trying to figure out what makes sense from the outside looking in just ask yourself "If you had all the money in the world and you could do one thing to make your life better what would it be?" OK, I ripped that from this
hilarious Ali G skit but it's probably one fo the best pieces of advice I've heard for how to best start a new company.
In fact, that's basically exactly what Jawed Karim said about the founding of YouTube, arguably the most successful start-up story in the last few years. Here a quote from a
recent interview:
"It's very simple: I basically create things that I need myself," Karim said in an interview Thursday. "It just so happens that sometimes other people want to use that."(By the way, check out this
presentation he gave recently for more insight into the founding of YouTube.)
This weekend I was out of town and came up with an idea for something that I would really like to see exist in the world that (as far as I know) doesn't yet. Because I'm really interested in seeing this idea manifest I just might start it. At some point I'm sure someone else will have the idea and probably try to do it as well but if that happens then I'll try to keep in mind that....
3.
If you do #2 then your competition doesn't matter. Most analysis starts with a view of the competitive landscape and a desire to do something that no one else is doing...which is fine, unless you're not completely passionate about what it is that you are doing. Imagine a grid with "Passionate" and "Not Passionate" on one axis and "Strong Competition" vs. "Weak Competition" on the other. The best spot to be of course is in a buisness where you're passionate and there is weak competition. However, I'd make the case that you're much better off going into an area where you're passionate and there is strong competition than going into an area where you're not even if there's weak competition.
Going back to the idea that I had this weekend, let's say I start on it and in 3 months just as I'm getting ready to launch, a bigger and better-funded company decides to launch something similar and possibly much better than what I've done. Would I be bummed or stoked? Well, I guess I'd be a bit bummed that I spent some time, energy and money on the idea but I'd be stoked to see it come about it even if it wasn't of my volition. The fact of the matter is that the only way you can truly lose when starting a business is to start something you don't really care about and then end up getting whupped by your competitors. Then what are you left with? Nothing.
Anyway, that's what I've been feeling lately. So go out and do it. Find something you want to see manifested in the world and make it happen. You'll never regret the decision to do that.
August 2008 
Jon
Access: Public
