Funny but true story. Years ago, without intending to, I somehow became an entrepreneur. It started back when I was working for Ernst & Young consulting to both Fortune 500's and Dot Coms. Between then and now I have worked directly for six start ups, started three of my own and consulted to several hundred others. For my own, I've had both success and failure but more importantly I've watched CEOs make epic errors in judgment while others bumble along only to win the lottery.
Don't get me started on the one CEO who, while his company was failing at near terminal velocity, insisted on hosting grand parties at the office “to raise awareness”. These parties had a very specific decor which included company branded pillows…. at $2,000 a piece… He needed 10.
On the day before the party, the pillows arrived and he unceremoniously fired the three top designers "as a cost cutting measure". Unfortunately, our company was a website design firm. Bad choice. The company was out of business 2 months later after burning through all of what remained of his investors money. I had a good time at the parties but would have preferred a paycheck at the time. Have you ever seen a $2,000 pillow? I still have one. I got it as a lovely parting "gift" when the company crashed and burned.
Usually, when people learn about my history they invariably asked me what are some the core things I've learned across all of the start ups, successes and failures. Few founders had all of the experience, contacts, stamina and charisma to build, launch, deliver and exit without a hiccup, so I was happy to share what I could to help.
As it so happens, over the years I've been jotting most of these realizations down... mostly to remind myself what NOT to do. I've seen several variations of Start-up Commandments, many of them are very good. However, they are usually narrowly defined either along the lines of capital raising or operations. Unfortunately, there's a lot more that goes into running a successful start up, many of them beyond your control, that don't involve raising money or building your start up. I wanted something more comprehensive, a broader approach to cover what a founder would be faced with and what to avoid.
So in an effort to be as helpful as possible, I tried to distill a few decades worth of experience down into a bite-sized list that I could easily laminate and then hand off to the next budding entrepreneur that asked me this question.… yes, I'm kidding.
Regardless, I would welcome your feedback and for those of you who decided to throw your life away and embark on the worlds most impossible career path, entrepreneurship, I hope that this helps you avoid some pitfalls and maybe puts you on the right path to success.
Just a reminder, before you point out everything you think I’ve missed …this is simply my own distilled list from a not inconsequential career working for, with and around start-ups. As they say, “your millage may vary".
So here we go with my top 21 Start-up commandment:
- Thou shalt build something life altering, world changing or at least try to..the world does not need another "pet rock” version of an App or functionality masquerading as a company
- Thou shalt launch early and often
- Traction before all else
- Thou shalt rent your server but own your IP and domain
- Thou shalt know thy user acquisition costs
- Google analytics, webmaster tools and Spyfu will get you very far
- Thou shalt never believe the marketers
- Thou shalt watch your dilution
- Marketing is a game and Google is the referee
- Traction brings Angels, Angels entice VCs
- Thou shalt forget IPOs, focus only on buyouts and mergers. (Pick your 2-3 targets early and appeal to them)
- Social media & blogging are for branding, ads and email generate revenue
- Thou shalt hire help with social media fore it is a giant time-suck... more than one person could possibly do on a day to day basis. ( Blog, Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram etc etc)
- Thou shalt pay for backups fore Your site will get hacked
- Thou shalt always have a Development Server on a separate host and a full backup every night. Your site will break for no fathomable reason whatsoever. You will need to test in order to get back up and running.
- Your Users are NOT your QA team
- Thou shalt not buy when you can rent or lease
- A single piece of functionality does not a company make
- Thou shalt not reinvent the wheel, don’t build a custom solution when off the shelf or a clone will suffice in the short run.
- Thou shalt ask for help, feedback and opinions. All are invaluable. You don’t have to accept them but you had better listen to them.
- Thou shalt not bury your head in the code/startup to the detriment of all else. Your startup operates in the real world, and you need to too. A break, socializing or meditation is exactly what your startup needs whether you realize it or not.
See what you think and let me know in the comments below. Also, my apologies to Mr. Heston, the image was too good to pass up.
