What can help a first time entrepreneur overcome the handicap of being a first time entrepreneur?
First time entrepreneurs can certainly get funded and/or succeed. How can first time entrepreneurs avoid common pitfalls?
Best bet for a first time entrepreneur is to jump in and get started. A couple rules of thumb that might help reduce risk:
1) Build a team and work with people you know and trust from prior work settings. A great startup is not an idea. A great startup is a combination of a team, a creative process, and vision. You need team most.
2) Minimize initial downside and scale your investment with your success. As you get more traction, invest more dollars (applies if even your own). Make sure the market is giving you the feedback you need to go deeper down the path. Intuition and gut are essential, but so is market response.
3) Open up your eyes and ears. There is a ton to learn from everyone in the marketplace. You don't need to agree, but you must be curious and open to the movement of the market. Don't build your first startup (or second, third, fourth) in isolation.
1) Build a team and work with people you know and trust from prior work settings. A great startup is not an idea. A great startup is a combination of a team, a creative process, and vision. You need team most.
2) Minimize initial downside and scale your investment with your success. As you get more traction, invest more dollars (applies if even your own). Make sure the market is giving you the feedback you need to go deeper down the path. Intuition and gut are essential, but so is market response.
3) Open up your eyes and ears. There is a ton to learn from everyone in the marketplace. You don't need to agree, but you must be curious and open to the movement of the market. Don't build your first startup (or second, third, fourth) in isolation.
I would argue that self-awareness is key. In a startup, there's the known knowns (facts), the known unknowns (hypotheses which you'll test in the market), and the unknown unknowns. Accept that you may not have all the answers and then pursue mentors who can shed some light on those unknown unknowns.
Find experienced entrepreneurs and ask them to join an advisory board. It takes minimal time for them (maybe an hour conf. call once a month) and the feedback you get from a seasoned entrepreneur is invaluable. They've learned a lot of the tricks that only experience can bring.
En route to raising funding my first idea. I made lots of presentations to angel groups and VC's. They all asked me if this is my "first time". It drove me nuts, in my head I thought the great one's do it once. Wouldn't they (investors) want the guy that only does it once? Nope. In the end great ideas are a dime a dozen. The important fact that I had to learn was you don't want to be "the one timer". An idea may be great but there is a learning process. I would rather acquire the knowledge of the journey. Hang in there, take your shots on the chin and learn every step of the way. It feels good to tell investors this isn't my first rodeo. I have made mistakes but I learned from them, and thus I am stronger then ever. Failure only exists if you quit. Carry on with passion for what you are creating. What makes an Entrepreneur, is will. Keep believing never ever give up no matter what. It will happen Maybe not this idea maybe not the next. Keep pushing forward keep acquiring knowledge. If you want it to be it will be. An Entrepreneur is a creator. Create and Exist.
Joe Elkjer · October 15, 2011