Life after changing the world

The biggest problem entrepreneurs have is focus. When you’re an idea factory it’s unsurprising that even when deep into a startup you are passionate about the ideas don’t stop coming. Personally I cope with this by having a notebook and new ideas go into the back of the notebook not to be pursued until the current one has run its course.

So I don’t have any doubt that I will achieve the goal of building something great. Something impactful. But I do like to remind myself what I’d do afterwards - as part of the broader question why.

Never interfere in a boy and girl fight

“People often ask me if I have any words of advice for young people. Well, here are a few simple admonitions for young and old: Never interfere in a boy and girl fight….”

— Words of advice for young people, William S. Burroughs

I tend not to give advice nowadays. I listen. I will express an opinion sometimes (okay, often). But I won’t tell you what to do. The reasons are simple. People will do what they will do. They will have a complex set of reasons and stimulae behind their actions, and some degree of agency in them (just how much is in interesting topic for debate in another forum). However if they act in alignment with my suggested course of action and they arrive at a position they’re unhappy with, they will always blame me for telling them what to do. If things work out hunky-dory they will celebrate their decisive genius.

William S. Burroughs knows no such restraint and in his wonderful little riff “words of advice for young people” that I have an on old CD somewhere he leads off with the great advice I can buy into:

“Never interfere in a boy and girl fight”

It amazes me how people in Silicon Valley have so much difficulty following this.  If you’re an entrepreneur focus on building a great company and changing the world. Whether Arrington or Calacanis is right really isn’t of concern to you and you can never know. Whether Conway or McClure is right is irrelevant to you if you don’t build anything that either of them is interested in hearing your pitch on.

Entrepreneurs Collapse The Wave Function

I’ve come to a satisfying analogy when it comes to an important core-skill of entrepreneurs.  True entrepreneurs collapse the wave function.

I am a physicist by training.  But long before I ever studied Physics at the University of Leeds I was gripped by quantum mechanics.  The picture of the world painted by quantum mechanics, and verified to incredible levels of precision, is famously counter-intuitive.

In quantum mechanics everything exists in all possible states at the same time.  One represents everything, even the reader, by a “wave function” which takes into account all of these possible states.  It’s only when one takes a measurement that anything takes on a single observable value.  This observation itself “collapses the wave function” from a particle being in all possible states simultaneously into being in one specific observable state.  The example ofSchrodinger’s cat is often trotted out here, the poor beast trapped in a box, subjected to a random event that can either kill or not kill the cat, causing it to exist in a peculiar limbo until the box is open and the dead/notdead cat is observed.

Handling external factors as an high-tech entrepreneur

This is a rambling personal entry, and may not be hugely interesting to a lot of you…

Building a company is a lot of hard work.  There’s lots of great input out there from experienced entrepreneurs like Eric Reis, Dave McClure, Sean Ellis… basically all the folks on my Startup Helpers google reader list.  And there’s a lot of great insight to be gained on the Venture process nowadays, from the blogging VCs - the must read list of VC bloggers is here.  But it’s still about working hard, working smart and being resilient.

I don’t write this entry as a way of saying look at me haven’t I had it tough - I want to make the point that EVERY startup entrepreneur has their challenges outside of the job.  Part of what makes you a successful entrepreneur is dealing with them.

How To Build A Successful Sales Channel

Mark Suster posted about channel sales today.  Nice post, as always - I think of all the VC blogs I read his provokes the most desire to respond, so he clearly picks topics well.  If you don’t read him you should.  Or just subscribe to my VC blogs list on Google Reader.

I’m English originally, so sharing success stories can seem a bit like unseemly bragging, but it’s relevant.  Channel building is hard.  I think the main problem is the belief that the sales people in the channel give a crap - not only about your product, but about what their biz dev folks tell them.

Three common startup business types (that you need to avoid)

I promised a series of postings on media trends this week yet it’s Friday and I haven’t got them posted yet… oh well… I’ll get them out next week instead.

Instead I want to write a short note on three business types I see from startups.  Like most entrepreneurs I mix with my peers a lot, get asked for advice regularly and see an awful lot of startup pitches and plans.  I try not to clutter myself with “advisory board” roles or anything like that but I am always happy to help and give advice whenever it’s relevant.  So, free advice:

If your as an entity your startup looks like one of these you have problems

Is this the most exciting time for technology & startups in at least ten years, or what?

Just chatting with good friend and AdSemble CEO Matthew Olivieri, a smart scrappy entrepreneur who’s boostrapped his startup in the Digital Out Of Home (DOOH) signage advertising space.  They’ve got a great business model and have carefully taken the time to nail down the product/market fit before they look to ramp.

We were talking about some of the interesting developments in the startup world.  I couldn’t help but think, yet again, how lucky we are as entrepreneurs to be doing what we’re doing now.  Right now.  I don’t think there’s been a more exciting time in the technology industry for at least ten years.  Further, when you factor in the dramatic lowering of the barriers to starting up a company in many very large markets, indeed often creating new very large markets,  it is possibly the best time ever for an entrepreneurs and their emerging young startups.

In a nutshell how does your startup win?

Just reposting a comment I made on the Lean Startup Circle. In a nutshell the writer was asking how you you build a solid startup that can come out on top when barriers to starting companies are so low, leading to increased competition. The context being assuming one is following a Lean Startup / Customer Development / Agile Development methodology, or similar. My thoughts:

I think what you’re asking about comes down to execution. There are very rarely truly unique start-up ideas. One always has competitors. 

You win by… 

…not having a team that flames out due to internal squabbles (big
…having a specific well-seeded route-to-market (“something viral” doesn’t cut it)
…building a corporate culture that attracts the best talent for above 

Note - I don’t mention features and functionality because that’s
something I think you learn from your customers as you nail down your product/market fit.

Failure is an option

I am popping out in a little while to go talk to a bunch of international students about Silicon Valley, about start-ups.  It’s the second opportunity in a few days for me to think a bit about students and Silicon Valley.

In the early years of the decade I ran a program with a former college professor of mine called the White Rose Entrepreneurship Program.  We brought undergraduates studying science or engineering out to Silicon Valley during the summer break prior to their last year of studies.  They were put into ten-week placements at a bunch of companies, at first ones I knew personally, later with the assistance of 3i and one of the folks from Garage Technology Ventures.  The aim of the program was to expose UK undergrads to the unique culture of Silicon Valley in the hope that one or two of them might go down the startup path.  (One graduate of the program will be joining us at AppWhirl shortly, so I consider that a win right there!)

On the entrepreneur / VC relationship

Fred Destin concludes his investigation into the friction between the VC community and entrepreneurs here http://www.freddestin.com/blog/2009/12/the-arrogant-vc-a-view-from-the-trenches-full-length-version.html#comments and I think he summarizes the issue about right.

Anyone who is in the orbit of VCs / entrepreneurs / startups hears and sees the effect of these differences of opinion regularly.  The start-up game is fraught with risks and most start-ups fail.  This environment is going to cause a lot of heat and noise.  But it’s like family - despite all the opportunities for conflict and bruised egos we have to remember we’re all on the same team.

Government, big lumbering behemoth old-guard competitor companies and fickle consumers represent big enough challenges.  We don’t need to fight each other too!

What does it mean to be an entrepreneur?

I liked this quote from Mark Suster’s post on Venture Hacks:   “being an entrepreneur is really sexy… for those who have never done it.”

It’s so very true.  I think for most entrepreneurs you don’t do it because it’s sexy, you do it because you’re driven and cannot imagine doing anything else with your life.  It’s intangible, it’s hard to put your finger on, but in your gut it’s what you have to do.  It’s hard.  It’s at times exhiliarating, terrifying, rewarding, heartbreaking.  But it’s not easy.  It’s not a career path to choose lightly.

Memes I hate: "I don't live to work, I work to live, man"

I read this post on TechCrunch where a London VC calls out EU start-up teams for not working as hard as their Silicon Valley counterparts.  There is certainly a case to be made here - I have often commented to friends on the same issue.  One obvious counterpoint is that I see European startups paying WAY WAY less for talent than Silicon Valley alternatives, even when London is such an expensive city to live in.  But the beef I have is with all the snarky comments to the effect of “I don’t live to work, I work to live”.

It’s a phrase I used to hear a lot as a hiring manager for a big US multinational back in the late nineties.  Primarily from young guys, straight out of college.

Why do so many entrepreneurs have VC issues?

My Monday morning begins with catching up on a bunch of VC blogs and other start-up-related feeds.  I think there’s a wealth of knowledge being communicated daily to entrepreneurs, but many won’t touch it for some reason.

First on my reader today was Fred Destin asking why entrepreneurs hate VCs.  It’s something that annoys me when I talk with fellow entrepreneurs - this anti-VC thread, almost as though we’re all supposed to join in venting about how bad they are.  I’ve been told I have VC Stockholm syndrome when I suggest that perhaps it’s worth working a little towards accommodating the VC occasionally isn’t a bad thing.  Maybe that’s true.  Maybe it’s just that I have tried to put time and effort into understanding what VCs need out of me and my company in order to mutually align goals and increase my chances of success in building a billion dollar company and changing the world.  Maybe both.

To break in America you need to let America break you in

I remember when U2 released The Joshua Tree.  I had been a fan since very early - they were popular among the other boys in house at school.  The Unforgetable Fire was always blaring out of someone’s study or other, for ages following its release.

Anyway, I remember that in an interview or review or similar (it’s a long time ago I don’t recall exactly) talked a lot about how they recognized that to break into the American market in big way, and take that step up to another level with staying power (that, let’s face it, few if any of their post-punk contemporaries have succeeded), they had to live in America, embrace America.  To understand America well enough to serve the American audience they had to learn what it is, in some small but significant way, to be American.

It’s hard to argue that they weren’t right.  The Joshua Tree was indeed a very American sounding album, and it was just a monster hit.  It elevated them to a completely different plane of stardom.  In the US and worldwide.

I wonder if the same is true for start-up entrepreneurs.