Startup Living

Kool-Aid vs. Lemonade

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:36:00 -0500

What separates an employee from a founder? Is it the amount of hours one works in a week or is it how much a person cares about their work/business? My answer would be both. There’s no doubt about it that a lot of people work a ton of hours and they may even enjoy their work, but how many people truly care?

I know a lot of founders and they usually feel a lot more passionate about their work than the average employee. Even the most dedicated and hard working employee punching in 50-60+ hours a week, often can unplug and not think about their work when away from the office.

Most founders I know including myself, can’t take their mind off their business ever. I mean sure, one needs to make some time for themselves, family and friends, but I find it near impossible to unplug. I really care. Building a successful business has been a dream of mine since early childhood.

I’ve had an entrepreneurial spirit and have been running small businesses since the Kool-Aid stand. Yeah that’s right, I was competing with the lemonade stands. In the neighborhood I grew up in, Kool-Aid was the preferred beverage and even then I really cared.

What kind of flavours should I sell? When using ice to keep it cold, I should use less water to make up for melting. I should make sure I don’t run out of ice or Kool-Aid. How attractive is my home made cardboard signage? Does my Kool-Aid stand look and run better than the competition? I really cared and think I worked a lot harder than the lemonade kids.

My message to you is this - you should be working harder. 35-40 hours a week is for chumps. Those are the kind of hours that will earn you a $100 watch when you retire at 65. You can’t expect to run a successful business being an average human being. You need to rise to the occasion and work your ass off when it counts.

Are you working hard or hardly working? Great opportunities don’t come very often and you must seize the day.

Startup Lessons for Beginners (Learned the Hard Way)

Fri, 25 Nov 2011 16:59:00 -0500

Startups are hard. If there is one piece of advice that will help you overcome, it’s learn from your mistakes. That way, fail or succeed, you will always be moving forward.

Connectsy was a mobile app my Co-Founder and I launched with plans to take on the world. A year later, Connectsy is no more. Here are some of the lessons learned from that experience.

Understand the Problem

When we started Connectsy we didn’t spend enough time thinking about the problem we were solving. Once we started trying to raise money (after building our first, unreleased, version of the app), we needed to define our problem so we could explain it. When we did, we realized that we were attempting to solve a bunch of problems. There wasn’t clear value for a specific person with a specific issue. Our lack of defined problem was really a lack of vision.

Understanding the problem your solving is key. Not only should you put it on a white board, brainstorm about it, and think about it constantly, you should go out and talk to as many people who have that problem as possible. This is called Customer Discovery. The understanding that you can gain from talking to 50 people who are suffering from the issue you are claiming to solve will help you immensely.

It could even tell you that you’re not solving a problem at all. That’s what would have happened to Connectsy.

Know your Market

Our market was too broad. We assumed anyone with a Twitter, Facebook or Foursquare account would use our service. We weren’t focused tight enough to know who are target actually was. This made it very difficult to simplify our app and make it useful, because we didn’t understand who our users were going to be.

You need to know your market cold. It’s way easier to build something for a specific market then for everyone. If you know who your early adopters are, then so will they. It’s also important to know who you should be talking to when you’re doing Customer Discovery. Everything you do will become easier once you’ve defined your target customers.

Build a Business

We were so focused on building a product that we forgot about building a business until after the first version of the product was written. Thus our business model was shoe-horned at best. It relied on hundreds of thousands of users before becoming relevant. Although this may work for some it’s a much tougher hill to climb then a business with a clear vision of profit.

You must have a business model or at least have some ideas of how your product can make money. It’s not an easy task and there’s no simple recipe. At the same time there’s many ways to make money so don’t sweat it too much. Give it some serious thought, have some ideas and test them when the time comes. Just keep in mind from the start that you are building a business in order to make money, not building a product in order to gain users.

Release Quickly

It took us a few months before we had something we felt good enough to show anyone. Even then we didn’t release it to users. We kept it tight to our chest and only used it amongst ourselves. We wanted too many features included which had us building and building and not testing with our potential customers.

Build something quickly and release it. It’s important to receive the validation that comes from people using and loving your product, because before you get that, you don’t really know that you’re on the right track. If people don’t want to use what you’ve built, you need to pivot, and learning that as soon as possible is very important. Once you do have a product that people love (and perhaps pay for) then concern yourself with nice-to-have features.

Listen to your Elders

In the early days of Connectsy we weren’t talking to enough people. We’d hit up the local events and give the pitch when asked but mostly pitched other Founders in a similar position to us. We still got great feedback and honed our pitch with every one we did but didn’t make any major realizations until talking to some seasoned vets.

While it’s important to have the resilience to withstand a bad pitch, and have the vision to know when someone just isn’t getting it, as with everything else, you have to be learning. Why was the pitch bad? Why didn’t they get it? You also need to have the humility to know that these people have been places and seen things that you have not. Often if you just listen to some good advice you can avoid a lot of wasted time learning the same thing the hard way. As a rule of thumb: always get value out of a pitch, even if it isn’t money.

Connectsy is now behind us and we wouldn’t be where we are today without the ride it gave us. The key takeaway for us is learn from your mistakes. We’ve learned a lot, and we’ll be applying these lessons to our new startup. Failure is not failure when it’s the beginning of success.

*Aron and I wrote this 8 months ago for a blog, but it didn’t get posted. I hope you find it useful and stay tuned for some fresh learnings coming very soon.

Know When to Fold 'em

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 17:33:00 -0400

When do you say enough is enough and shut your company down? I’m all for passion and hustle, but at a certain time you have to be willing to call it quits. There’s likely a ton of signs that are saying you should give up and my fear is a lot of entrepreneurs ignore them.

I’m a big believer that you should never let someone tell you, you can t do something. You can do whatever you like. Just try to make sure what you do decide to make your current life mission, is worth doing. A startup becomes your life. It’s like an addiction, a drug, this can be a good thing or a bad thing.

I think it’s the difference between being a casual drinker and an alcoholic. One shouldn’t hurt you, while the other just may. You’ve gotta check yourself before you wreck yourself. You could be doing more harm then good. If you’re a true entrepreneur who’s a workaholic, why not focus that energy on a winner.

Most entrepreneurs think there current startup is a winner. This is the problem I’m talking about. We don’t ever really know if they’re winners or not, but let’s not ignore the signs. We should make sure we’re paying attention, when smart people are trying to tell us our idea isn’t great or likely is not a winner.

I think we get too consumed in our startup lives and start seeing a little blurry. Eat your carrots and keep your eyes open. Pay attention. If you’ve been working on your startup for a year or two and haven’t raised money or haven’t signed up a sweet BoA, take a step back, look in the mirror and ask yourself, is this really worth doing?

A Good Idea

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 08:43:06 -0400

It’s amazing how much you can learn in one 2 hour meeting with a genius. I highly recommend talking to people smarter than you, or at least more experienced. It still blows me away the value I get out of a meeting with someone of this caliber. Seek these people out and meet with as many as you can.

Sometimes you’re left with a ton of ideas. Some are likely good, some maybe great, but there’s likely a bad one or two in there as well. You must get good at knowing the difference between a good idea and a bad one. Even a good idea might be bad for you at the time.

So many times after a meeting, I’ll leave with a few feature ideas. This may throw you off your game plan and you should think it through before building. Stick to your MVP plans, but make sure your MVP can be built fast. How many of you have done the day in the life of your customer exercise?

I’ve seen this concept around and High Score House recently shared theirs. This is a very powerful exercise and I think everyone should do it. This exercise can tell you a lot. It can help you realize what must be built and what you can hold off on. Customer interviews are great, but we can still start building a bigger product than we may actually need.

Focus on the bare minimum features that close the loop. What does your product need to make your customers happy and want to use your service? Stay focussed on that. Don’t lose site of that goal. If you think you’re falling off track, get back on it. Go back to the day in the life of. If it doesn’t fit in that day, ditch it or save it for later.

I close with this. Be open to ideas, write them down, explore them. More importantly really think them through. One small feature idea can waste days or weeks of time and throw you of course. Stick to your guns. Never stop talking to people and listening, but don’t waste your time on something that isn’t crucial to your bread and butter.

Making it Happen

Tue, 24 May 2011 11:27:50 -0400

Startups are hard. Most of you know this and if you don’t, you’re not working hard enough. There’s a ton of work that goes into every business you see. From early morning donut making to late night hacking and hustling. Hard work is only the beginning.

How much are you willing to sacrifice? Will you be able to give up your favourite hobby? Watch less or no TV or sports? How far will you go? How serious are you about success? Are you willing to work 60 plus hours a week? I believe you have to do this and more to compete in the tech startup space.

This ain’t a walk in the park. Most startups fail. I absolutely loved Dave McClure’s keynote teaser at Startup Festival. It was like drinking a triple espresso chased by a Red Bull. I felt energized to say the least. It spoke volumes to me because it’s true and you better be ready for battle.

The truth is, it’s an unfair world. You’re swimming with sharks and you’ll be eaten alive if not careful. Being aggressively competitive isn’t enough. You need to be hustlin’ and hackin’ till you’re in real pain. And then after you’ve had the shit kicked out of you, get up off the canvas and come out swingin’

It’s a lot like a fight now that I think of it. It happens really fast and there’s usually a winner. Who doesn’t want to win? In order to win you’ll need some training and some luck. Experience goes along way too. I totally get a VC preferring to back a young startup that has already failed.

Failure will teach you a lot. Hopefully you learn enough to not let it happen again. In the end, you just need to make it happen. By any means necessary. Whether that means selling some of your possessions or taking out a loan you can’t really afford. If you believe, you gotta go all the way. You can’t be half pregnant. If you think you’re onto the next big thing and can change some lives. Fucking do it.

I had to drop the f-bomb in respect for my unofficial mentor Dave McClure. To Dave and all other startup supporters - you are the wind beneath our wings. Sorry for the cheese, but had to do it.

Trust Your Gut

Thu, 05 May 2011 10:18:00 -0400

My latest venture has inspired this post. There’s no doubt in my mind that Hipsell has the potential to become a household name and be very successful. Let’s rewind a little shall we?

My previous venture Connectsy was definitely a cool idea, and at a certain point I believed it would be the next Foursquare or bigger. However, without even knowing it, there was doubt. I wasn’t sure it would be successful and even when we pitched it our best, it still seemed like a long shot.

I’ve always liked to bet the long shot. It usually pays a lot more and it’s always more fun to root for the underdog. Betting on your startup is very different then betting on a horse at the races. You’d better be solving a real problem and improving people’s lives.

There’s obviously a lot more needed to build a business, so let’s not get into that. The main point of this post is to share my latest revelation. There’s a certain feeling you get in your body when you know your idea can be huge.

We thought Connectsy could be huge, but it was missing some key ingredients. Hipsell on the other hand, is a life changer. When playing around with our minimum viable demo, it’s clear just how disruptive we can be. I understand we’re still a ways away from company building, but company building we will be.

I come back to this feeling I have. If you have doubts that your idea is a good one, trust your gut. Even if it’s a good idea, it may just not be great. You likely have a better idea in you, search it out. There’s no greater feeling than knowing your idea has that billion dollar potential. I’m very excited to see Hipsell make people’s lives easier.

To all our supporters, this is the big one we’re not going to let get away.

Hack, Hustle & Flow

Sun, 03 Apr 2011 15:45:37 -0400

Sprout Up just passed and it’s getting better every month. Micah Baldwin was a guest speaker and he f-ing killed it. His #followfriday story was wicked but my favourite thing he said was, the perfect startup team is one hacker and one hustler.

Part of my reason for loving this is, the Hipsell team, is that team. When it comes down to it, Aron is a hacker and I’m a hustler. I have an advertising and design background and am also a designer which is a bonus. Aron has some nice design chops too so we’ve got the basics covered.

Although I truly believe what Micah said and that Aron and I have what it takes to kill it, you still need some flow. There’s only so much you can do with friends and family money or bootstrapping. Raising a proper seed round of financing, say 200k and up is a huge a needed boost.

If you can’t run for 18 months, it’s going to be a lot tougher. Now all startups are different, please don’t get me wrong, I still believe one guy in his moms garage can make it happen. What I’m really saying here is flow is also very important.

Another valuable asset is ones network. We all know this but do we utilize it as well as we should? Just now I’m thinking to myself, I need to tap my network more and deeper. There’s no real replacement for expertise either. If more startups could put together a wicked advisory board or get into an accelerator program, the more success we’d see.

I’d like to thank all the angels, early stage VC’s, accelerators and anyone supporting startups. My friends and family also deserve a big thanks for supporting me throughout my startup life. I bring it back to flow. There’s only so much hacking and hustling a team could do without flow. To more flow.

Startups are Beautiful

Thu, 17 Mar 2011 10:41:06 -0400

Who loves startups? I do, I do. The startup life is great, isn’t it? I’ve only been blogging for a short while (10th post) and only started using Twitter last year. I’ve been a consultant and hired gun for some time now but nothing is better than going all in on a venture.

You can read all about my last venture Connectsy here. Let’s just say my Co-Founder and I learned a great deal and are very excited to apply those learnings to our new venture. The startup life is wild and you must be a player. You can’t sit around on the sidelines and wait for things to happen. You have to take it.

I highly recommend working with smart people who have experience taking startups to the next level. How long are you actually in startup mode? When do you graduate and start building a business? I’m reading more than ever and listening to some great audiobooks and podcasts.

My favourite book so far is The Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steve Blank. If you haven’t read it, it’s an absolute must. My favorite podcast is This Week in Startups, Jason Calacanis rocks! There’s a ton out there to read, watch, and listen to, make sure you’re doing your homework. You can guarantee your competitors are or already have.

What inspires you? What gets you up in the morning? What are you passionate about? I love building products and working with smart and cool people. I love to learn and continue to build my skills. I very much look forward to post launch and building a business. I’m fanatical and highly competitive. I want my team to win and I’ll do what it takes to make it happen.

To wrap things up I say this, love your life and your startup or move on. Life is too short not to play and be a player. Have fun living the startup life and don’t ever give up on your dreams. Just remember to take care of yourself along the way. If you have a family then obviously make time for them and take care of them as well. It’s tough finding the balance but continue to seek it and you shall find what you’re looking for.

Post Money

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 13:01:00 -0500

Your first question might be, what do you mean by post money? What I really mean is post cash out of some kind. I explained the importance of Co-Founders being on the same page and sharing similar values in a previous post. I will now take that a step further.

Defrex and I have been working with each other for around 2 years now. Although we’ve really only had one serious project together (Connectsy), we have worked on several others. It’s unbelievable how much you learn and bond along the way.

We’re now getting set to start a new dev cycle for a product were extremely passionate about. We’re pumped to put it lightly and are excited about the market opportunity. This idea is very different from Connectsy and it’s going to be hot.

We both share the grand vision of one day, post cash out, to start a Extreme Venture Partners/Year One Labs type of fund. We want to back passionate and talented entrepreneurs. We’re big fans of angels and early stage VCs and feel there’s room for more.

Whether we have to grind it out for 3 years or 30, we will reach our goal. Like the great George McFly once said, “if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything”. I believed that when I first heard it, and still do.

You have to work hard, and then work even harder. There’s no free ride, no handouts. You have to earn your keep. Don’t let anything or anyone get in the way of your vision. I’m not saying put the blinders on but “focus Daniel son”. Nothing comes easy, earn your return.

It’s nice to dream sometimes. What are your plans post money?

Bet on the Horse, not the Race

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:22:00 -0500

I heard this saying from Jason recently on This Week in Startups and it really stuck. When investing in someone or something, where is the true value? I believe it’s in the person, more so then the product. Am I saying it’s people first, and idea second? No, I’m not. What I’m really saying is, it’s the human being that will eventually win the race.

It may not be the race you thought they were going to win, but they will win, if they have hustle and gumption. A true entrepreneur will never give up, they can’t give up, even if they tried. Entrepreneurs are wired a certain way, whether they like it or not.

Ideas are cheap, and smart people have a lot of them, but how many smart people are there? You might think there’s a lot of them, of course your one of them, right? Well, you may be right, but by smart people, I really mean smart entrepreneurs.

Smart entrepreneurs learn from their mistakes, they learn continuously, they take what they’ve learned and apply it to the next venture. In my mind, this can only lead to eventual success. If you’re looking for oil and dig every day, whether months or years, you will eventually strike oil, or at least you hope to.

You need to keep your eye on the prize. I believe you need to do something you’re both passionate and knowledgeable about. I’m not saying you should be an expert, but you should have some domain knowledge, and it would help a ton, if you’d use your own product.

Choose your battles wisely, and love what you do. Think twice before going all in on an idea, but don’t wait forever. You can pivot, iterate, all that shit, just remember that building a product is one thing and building a business is another.

All In

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 12:22:04 -0500

My biz partner and I have been in the ideation stage for around a month now. We’ve been hammering ideas and talking to a lot of people. We were really enjoying the customer discovery process, but now we’re a little fatigued, and frustrated.

We’ve done a ton of brainstorming sessions, and have killed over 10 ideas. Some of the ideas we thought were too crazy, too small and some were just too complicated. We have short listed a few and are very excited about getting closer to the dev cycle.

My question to you is, when is it time to go all in? I wrote the above a week ago and it’s amazing how things can change so quickly. I wanted to really get into how difficult it can be to pick an idea to run with, but I don’t think it’s as hard anymore.

I really wanted to vent and share my frustration in not building a product. Building products is one of my favorite things to do, and I’d really like to graduate and start building a company. Defrex and I have narrowed it down to two ideas, with one looking like the clear cut winner.

We’re not ready to share it with the masses just yet, but if we see you at DemoCamp or Startup Drinks tonight, we’ll gladly share. It’s quite different than our last venture, although a mobile app will be in play. We’re super excited about how close we are to getting back to what we love doing most.

We hope to build a prototype within 6 weeks once we go all in, and you should see something within the next few months, or much less depending on the route we take, and the new journey will begin. The moral of this story is this, eventually you have to go for it.

Ideation can kill you, or at least burn up a ton of time. I’m not saying go all in on a half baked idea. If you’ve done some customer discovery and have spoken to a lot of people in pain, if you’re solution is the cure, it’s time. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and everything happens for a reason.

Let the chips fall where they may, and go all in.

Hustle and Gumption

Tue, 01 Feb 2011 19:46:00 -0500

I’m not sure most people and some entrepreneurs for that matter know what it takes to live the startup life. Startup living is a lifestyle and you need to be hustling 24/7. You better have some gumption and be able to get up off the canvas when you’re down and out.

I’ve always known I was an entrepreneur and have always worked hard. Aside from when I had salmonella poisoning and was out for nearly 2 weeks, I can count the sick days I’ve taken in my life on 2 hands. The truth is, there is no such thing as a sick day for an entrepreneur. There’s also no shutting off.

Maybe it’s just me but I’m always thinking about my business and how I can improve it. I am constantly trying new things, reading and everything I can to up my game. You have to hustle, hustle and then hustle some more. If you like paid vacations and sick days then stick to your 9-5 with benefits.

Being an entrepreneur requires tons of sacrifice and you’ll never stop learning. I can’t believe the difference in myself after running my latest startup for the last 5 months. The lessons learned can’t even be expressed here. From raising money, to idea validation, there’s no better way to learn, then by just doing it.

Putting in your time as they say, is a must. Reading books, blog posts and attending conferences aren’t enough. You need to get out there and hustle. Pitch your idea to everyone you can. Raise some money, hell, go all the way. Getting to third base on a new venture is fine but swing for the fences and don’t give up till you knock it out of the park.

There’s ups and there’s downs, but if you keep grinding it out, you will win. There’s so many people in the startup community that I’d like to thank. If you’re reading this and we have a relationship, you’re probably one of the people I’m talking about.

You’ve taught me well and I plan to use this new found knowledge to win and of course continue to learn. I leave you with one of my favourite quotes “if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything”. I truly believe that, but then again, I’m cursed with optimism.

Pitch vs. Pitch Deck

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 20:32:00 -0500

When my Co-Founder and I started out on our journey to seek investment we thought that we absolutely needed a kick ass pitch deck. For awhile I felt like building this deck was my full time job and really it was. While my partner in crime definitely helped out a lot he needed to be coding so I had to make it happen.

The funny thing is outside of showing it to our friends and family and lawyers we never really showed it to anyone. I mean in our first ever real pitch we got a couple printed and bound but pretty sure that wasn’t even necessary. We’ve emailed the deck as well which I’d say is a very bad idea unless it’s post meeting.

What I’m really getting at here is this, worry less about the deck in the early stages and hone your pitch. The 30 second elevator pitch and some solid use cases are going to be most important. Make sure you can explain the problem you’re solving and why your solution is so great.

Also, do a thorough competitive analysis and you better have a competitive advantage or why compete. If you see one competitor there’s likely three and if you see three there’s likely nine and so on. You better be doing something unique to create separation.

Now don’t get me wrong, building a great deck will really help you do the verbal pitch. Just don’t be surprised when you talk to an investor and they couldn’t really care whether you have a deck or not. In under five minutes, if you get that far, a smart investor will already have a good sense if this is something they’d buy into or not.

To sum it up, you really need to know your shit (market, competition etc.) and be confident. If you’re not sold yourself, and are gung-ho, why should anyone else be. Build the deck for good practice and it will only make the rest of your pitch stronger. Just keep pitching, just keep pitching…

The Startup Community

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 13:18:00 -0500

About a year or so ago, I didn’t really know anyone in the startup community. I’d been searching for a Co-Founder for several years and finally found the perfect match. When it came time for us to launch our first venture together, we really had no clue that a great community already existed.

We talked about starting a meetup or a tech club of some kind to stir things up and wondered why Toronto didn’t have a cool nickname like Silicon Alley in New York or Silicon Roundabout in London, we are cool too. After further research, we found many great things in Startup North like DemoCamp, Sprout Up and Startup Drinks to name a few.

Once we started attending these events and meeting cool people, that were doing cool shit, we quickly realized that we were now part of an amazing startup community. We continued down this path and have attended some great conferences and continue to connect with many great people and programs.

Being connected is one thing but actually getting out to these events and just talking to people about what your up to and what they’re up to is priceless. You can learn so much about yourself, your business and others just by talking to similar people in the space.

Now the bigger conferences are a whole other kettle of fish. We attended TechCrunch Disrupt last September and pitched our idea in the Startup Alley for a day, it was awesome! It cost us quite a bit of money to do this but we came back smarter.

What it comes down to is simple, get out there. Share your business with others and you will be rewarded. You’ll learn things that will help you be a better business person or developer etc. and you’ll likely make some amazing contacts for life. We’ve since met some amazing early stage VCs and lawyers that changed our lives in an amazing way. Bottom line, get connected and be respected.

Desperately Seeking a Co-Founder

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 13:16:00 -0500

Finding a Co-Founder, or even a developer for that matter, can be really tough given your circumstances. There’s no doubt that a ton of extremely talented developers exist out there, but if they’re that talented, their likely busy working on a cool startup themselves or working at a cool company.

Over 10 years ago I made a decision that I regret now, that was to get into advertising/print and not web. It wasn’t cause I believed print was the future, I did it because I had some great contacts, and pretty much guaranteed work if I could figure it out. I took a bunch of Graphic Design and print production courses, and then landed a great job at a cool boutique ad shop.

I continued to play with some web tools and even got into some wysiwyg shit (I know, terrible). I had many ideas for web based apps and enjoyed design and front end, but wanted to connect with someone who could code up some back end. Through some consulting gigs, I started working with and managing some web based projects that were pretty cool but they weren’t exactly my idea and I always wanted to do something of my own.

Finally, I met my match. When you’re looking for a Co-Founder, you better treat this somewhat like a marriage. You need to click and share the same values. You’ll be going through good times and bad times, through sickness and in health. You have to pretty much love each other and support each other as best you can. Becoming friends… even better.

The reason this is so important is, you’re likely going to be working with each other shoulder to shoulder, for very long periods of time. Your significant others may even be jealous because of all the time you’re spending with your business partner. Make sure you share similar goals and passions. The roller coaster ride of entrepreneurship is a crazy and emotional time that only the strong will survive.

So, don’t jump into things. Maybe start with a small project and see how it goes. Also, know that everyone isn’t wired the same way and may not have “it”. By “it” I mean founders DNA. You’ve either got it or you don’t in my opinion and if one of you does and the other doesn’t, tread lightly. Also, although awkward, discuss the equity breakdown of your venture and whether you’ll open source it or not. Last but not least, always be straight up and speak your mind.

Ideas are Cheap

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 13:15:00 -0500

The title of this post is a direct quote from one of my favourite guys in the startup scene. I can’t believe how much truth there is to this statement. A year or so ago, I believed ideas ruled the world, now, I recognize the importance of a great idea, but how do you know its great? Even the greatest idea means nothing unless it’s in the right hands. Execution should be right up there.

Thinking your idea is great is one thing but is it a valid idea? How do you validate an idea? I’m sure there’s tons of ways to do this but my recent learnings feel great and I must share. Bottom line, talk to as many people as you can. Less pitching and more listening. In fact, I’d try not to pitch at all, ask questions and listen. Take notes and absorb the information you will receive. Some meetings will be better than others but you’re almost guaranteed to learn and become smarter every time.

Talk to at least 25 people and go for a hundred plus, if you can. It’s hard work but well worth it. Maybe you invalidate the idea or fall out of love with it after the 3rd meeting, but definitely meet with more than one person and try to mix up the diversity of people, while still sticking closely to your target market.

This process changed my life and the way I will do things on going. I’ve worked on several projects where we thought we had a great idea, so, we built a demo. It usually took anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 months to get a basic prototype and run a private beta. We would watch user behaviour and seek feedback. Once we received all the feedback, from our limited amount of users, we would then spend another 2 weeks to 2 months building out the new features requested.

This process is crazy and a very bad idea. We burn through a lot of time and aren’t even sure it’s a good idea. Another saying I like is, the tree falling in the woods. When you go live, who knows about you? Build it and they will come, not exactly. You need to seriously think about customer acquisition strategies and on-boarding techniques.

To wrap it up, I say this, validate, validate, validate. It’s the new, location, location, location for me. It’s so important and will save you time and money. Everyone could use a little more of both, don’t you think? Now, take that great idea and go talk to some people.

Wired a Certain Way

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 11:07:00 -0500

This is my first blog post and I plan to become an active blogger. I plan to blog mostly about entrepreneurship and tech with some occasional food, music, movies and sports talk worked into the mix.

To kick it off, I’ve chosen to share my thoughts on the entrepreneur. I believe entrepreneurs are a special kind of human being and are wired a certain way. What I mean by this is, whether your born one or not, once you are one, there’s no turning back. I’ve been one as far as I can remember. When kids were selling lemonade, I would compete and sell Kool Aid, no contest in the neighbourhood I grew up in.

My point is this, you’re either one or you’re not. It’s sort of like knowing your sexuality. You may still be in the closet, but you know. I think you’re born this way in most cases, but occasionally you can learn it. Whether you grew up in an entrepreneurial family or are just sick of working for the man, a lot of people think they’ve got “it”, but ask yourself, do I?

Most entrepreneurs I know, or people I would classify as entrepreneurs are serial entrepreneurs, repeat offenders, if you will. They can’t help themselves, it’s like an addiction, they can’t give up if they tried. I sometimes joke that I should check myself into EA Entrepreneurs Anonymous, I’m mostly joking but people do laugh. The funny thing is, I couldn’t quit if I tried.

I am wired a certain way and I love every minute of this roller coaster ride. I wouldn’t change it for the world and I think this is how most entrepreneurs feel. If you can’t relate to this, then maybe you aren’t one. Whether you are, or you aren’t, you have to learn to focus, and work your ass off. It’s a serious uphill battle and the path to success, likely means some battle scars along the way. Don’t give up your dreams and follow your passions. You do this, and your chances for greatness, are that much higher.

The last thing I leave you with, before segueing into my next post, is this, validate your ideas before going to work. This can save you a ton of time and money and is also good practice. My next post, titled, Ideas are Cheap, will talk about my realization that ideas are cheap, and that execution among other things, are almost more important. I did say almost right?