SME. Are you an SME in the field? Are you a Subject Matter Expert. If you're not, partner with someone, or get a bunch of advisors who are. You have to answer, as an innovator, you have to answer, every call has to be, "Why the heck do you exist?" And if you can't answer that, please don't start a company.
Make sure you find the right partner. It's all about people. Business is all about "If you want to solve the problem", it's all about the people! By yourself, you can do certain things, but you need to have somebody that will be able to challenge you at the same time. So try to find a lead, a partner that will align with your personality and your culture. Whatever is it is, make sure you find the right type. Pick the right type as soon as possible, and don't delay the process.
You are optimistic anyway, so you tend to be aggressive. But then you say "Ok, I'm aggressive, so, therefore, I want to try to be conservative." So you make some estimates and then, maybe, you double it. Well, you're really probably wrong by 6x. What I've always found is that things are 3x as long and cost 3x as much as I tend to think when I go into it. So you have to prepare for that.
One thing that they really need to do is: Get a team of experts. And a team of experts doesn't cost that much. So make sure that you have one person that is a really good mentor. So start with that. Then, get a good attorney, get a good CPA, get it started right.
"For every step that you take up that ladder, through a network or through a connection from somebody that pulls you up, pull up 3 other people behind you. That's my advice." "Think about the pyramid effect, the positive pyramid effect, if we all did that. It'll pay back so many times if you do that. If you don't just look out for yourself, but look out for your community."
"I would advise to be ready for everything. Don't take anything for granted. So sit tight, be ready, and if you enjoy roller coasters, this will be a hit for you!" "Go along the ride, and make the best out of it. Don't be disappointed when you hit roadblocks, because there will be a lot of them. So be ready, motivated, and move forward."
I think this is probably true of almost every founder, but certainly first-time founders. For every person that truly believes in you, there's gonna be 100 that either doesn't believe in you, or don't care. That could be investors, that could be potential customers, it can be potential team members. From the people who believe in you (those are gold), draw your inspiration from those people.
"I think the worst business decision I've ever made is to not go into business for myself. Because, you know, I was so miserable for so long & working for other people & not having things the way that I would do them. It was a big struggle." "So I think that the biggest part of the bad decisions that I'd made was that I didn't go into business for myself."
“Always focus on solving a problem, and having a differentiator. From the time you start your business, to the time it's ready to launch, or you are raising money, the market may be evolving. Anything may happen, etc. One thing that I think we've done well, and what I would recommend to any new entrepreneur is to adapt to the situation while still trying to solve the problem that you were trying to solve in the first place."
"The best strategists I've seen have very strong viewpoints in what they believe, BUT they listen to everyone else's."
“Most entrepreneurs, they are going to want to do it themselves. Piggybacking on the previous conversation, you are right. It is easier to do it yourself. It is faster to do it yourself, because, guess what. you HAVE been doing it yourself. But draw a line."
In this podcast episode of The Inventive Journey, entrepreneurs will learn from Mitch Colleran, CEO and Entrepreneur in the tech industry, as he shares his inventive journey. “If you don't know where to get started, then look at what is in front of you and try to distill what you see as success into the smallest, most manageable, and most accomplishable thing. Do that one thing. When that one is done, do that same process. Figure out what the next, tiny, manageable thing is. When you do that eve...
In this podcast episode of The Inventive Journey, entrepreneurs will learn from John Hallman, entrepreneur in the field of brand management, as he shares his inventive journey. “Make sure you are capitalized personally to be able to play the ball game. Because revenue sometimes is a bit of a challenging item, especially if you are building a tech platform. Something that requires many many man years of time time to develop. You really have to have a personal financial situation to be able to do ...
In this podcast episode of The Inventive Journey, entrepreneurs will learn from Ajay Bam, entrepreneur in the field of artificial intelligence, as he shares his inventive journey. “Focus on the problem, and focus on whether there is a problem, or someone actually cares about the problem. And whether someone is willing to pay for you to solve that problem.”
In this podcast episode of The Inventive Journey, entrepreneurs will learn from Malinda Coler as she shares her inventive journey. "You can test anything right now. People get all of these hangups, 'Well, I have to develop it, I have to build this, I have to have money..." and you don't have to. You can go out and start talking about it. You can identify your target market and start running ads or posts and talking to people and see if it resonates. The minute you think you're onto something, st...
In this podcast episode of The Inventive Journey, entrepreneurs will learn from Alex Burkhart, Innovator, Marketer, Entrepreneur, as he shares his inventive journey. "You have to keep jumping in and working on things. I think too many people want to sit behind a desk or in a huddle room and just noodle out on a whiteboard this 'big vision.' A lot of people can articulate that vision. They see the empire they want to build. They see that scale, but they don't know how to take one step forward."
Learn how to find the right accelerator for you, and how you can use it properly. Meet Jeff Wallace, a past businessman, and now a dedicated entrepreneur focused on helping people accelerate their start up.
In this podcast episode of The Inventive Journey, entrepreneurs will learn from Hugo Peland, entrepreneur in the field of gaming, as he shares his inventive journey. “Just do it, it's literally that simple to me. Because I think that there is never a perfect moment to try, so I think that of course we all have certain issues. If you have like zero income no savings, okay maybe you need some sort of safety net in place before you can take that leap of faith. But otherwise you know just do it!”
In this podcast episode of The Inventive Journey, entrepreneurs will learn from James Creech, entrepreneur in the field of digital media, as he shares his inventive journey. “Find a coach, right? Mentors have been so instrumental to me on my journey, and now paying that back being a coach, being a mentor for others has also been extremely rewarding.”
In this podcast episode of The Inventive Journey, entrepreneurs will learn from Todd Elkins, entrepreneur in the field of construction, as he shares his inventive journey. “Its a grind. I've read all the books and everyone talks about zero to one, building a start up, start up manual, but everyday you are going to learn something new. You are just going to make so many mistakes. Then you are going to realize oh I did that wrong I have go to re-do it, or other companies didn't have this problem w...
In this podcast episode of The Inventive Journey, entrepreneurs will learn from Ankesh Kumar, entrepreneur in the field of personalized sales, as he shares his inventive journey. “Think strategic! So if your trying to get into business, yea there is a business opportunity react tactically. I think a lot of people I talk to they have a really good idea, and they want to do this and that. And I say okay what are you going to do about it? I think that seriously everybody its one percent inspiration...
Meet Jen Schwartz, a couples and family coach. She aims to help entrepreneurs establish a good work life balance, so they can strengthen their life in both aspects. She will teach you about how much effort it takes for a startup, and what you have to do to continue a strong and healthy marriage.
In this podcast episode of The Inventive Journey, entrepreneurs will learn from Marsha Wilson, entrepreneur in the field of cyber security, as she shares her inventive journey. “If what you're passionate about is what you want to try, for all means go try it! But recognize that no one else is going to be able to do what you do, no one is going to bring the same passion you do. Don't let someone tell you that crocheting frogs is never going to make anything. It depends on whether someone picks yo...
In this podcast episode of The Inventive Journey, entrepreneurs will learn from John Driscoll, entrepreneur in the fields of marketing and technology, as he shares his inventive journey. “Act like your at war, and you have no time for a social life. Go all in, and just go all in! Don't do anything else just get rid of all the other things you're doing in your life. People they try to do everything, and you can't! If your going to be an entrepreneur that is your hobby, you don't get to have hobbi...
In this podcast episode of The Inventive Journey, entrepreneurs will learn from Mao Du, entrepreneur in the field of home buying, as she shares her inventive journey. “Instead of building a perfect product, and reach out to be seen and pitch to them. You should spend more time on yourself learning different perspectives. Try to fill the gap of the skill set you don't have.”
Entrepreneurs! Would you like to increase communication in your marriage, even with the limited time that the entrepreneurial lifestyle brings? Tune in to this episode of Expert Advice, and learn from Amanda Louder. Discover the importance of maintaining a good relationship with your spouse, and learn how you can do that while also supporting your startup or business.
In this podcast episode of The Inventive Journey, entrepreneurs will learn from Karthik Rau, entrepreneur in the field of remote monitoring, as he shares his inventive journey. “I think you should just do it. There are people that I'm sure have, especially here in Silicon Valley, have the ambitions for something. You are sort of a very friendly environment it’s an environment that is very forgiving. You make a mistake and you always have the opportunity to go back and do something else. So yea d...
In this podcast episode of The Inventive Journey, entrepreneurs will learn from Farrukh Siddiqui, entrepreneur in the field of student loan financing, as he shares his inventive journey. “You have to plan your boot strap, you can't just start bootstrapping. You got to think about this, you got to look at your own personal savings, what's your strategy? Are you going to maintain a second job? Are you going to tap into your savings? Whatever your strategy is, plan it out! How much runway do you re...
In this podcast episode of The Inventive Journey, entrepreneurs will learn from Johnny Crowder, entrepreneur in the field of mental health importance, as he shares his inventive journey. “You don't know how many resources are available for free, in your local community. So you just look stuff up.”
In this podcast episode of The Inventive Journey, entrepreneurs will learn from Travis Jungroth, entrepreneur in the field of program development, as he shares his inventive journey. “Find a real problem. Find a real problem and start making something that solves even some portion of it, but it is one thing! just find a real problem. You can tell its a real problem because people are willing to pay for it, and people are paying to try to solve it already, that sort of thing.”
