I’m into the final four weeks of the Founders Institute startup incubation program I’ve been doing since March. Last week’s positive mentor review was a big milestone and it opens the door to the final topics of sales, marketing and fund raising.
It's time to take stock
The course has been intense, physically tiring, and hugely beneficial. Here are the top five things that have stood out for me so far…
It's the same
You have a vision, you need to build and motivate a smart group of people. You then need to work hard, in a structured way, and apply oodles of common sense. Whether it be an Accenture project, a strategic initiative for the CEO of EMC, or a startup, it’s the same. Many of the things I’ve learned in the course are directly applicable to my work in a big company with big clients.
It’s not the same
Er, the whole money thing is a bit different. It’s not your client or the CEO giving you some of their company’s budget which is a number in some Excel spreadsheet your ops guy has built. This time it’s an investor, who you’ve got to know personally, who’s transferring money into a bank account you opened.
Oh and there’s the whole payroll thing with lots of social charges…I now have a different view on contractors and crowd sourcing platforms.
Everyone cares
People love an entrepreneur and a startup. I’ve been struck at how much time people with “traditional” jobs are willing to spend with me. Maybe it’s because there’s a perception of glamour associated with startups? Whatever the reason, it’s hugely humbling, and very helpful.
No-one cares
When you spend more time with other entrepreneurs, you realise that few actually get overtly excited about what you’re doing, no matter how much you believe in what you're doing. But that doesn't matter because the only thing that really counts is the view of the market. But that is rarely clear cut or unanimous. Hanging out with entrepreneurs has however taught me the true meaning of the term “self starter”, and it’s not what I put on my CV at the age of 21. In fact the real takeaway is that you really need to have an intrinsic motivation to keep yourself going.
I care
I now realise that I’ve been able to get into the “zone” and get productive quickly when working on my assignments. This in of itself is hugely motivating.
Over the last couple of months I’ve also witnessed massive highs and lows, often within the same day. It sort of makes you feel very alive.
I’m also now more conscious of the need for discipline when it comes to what to work on, the need for sleep and the family…conscious, but not necessarily better at it, yet.
The next steps are incorporating FFLOK, doing the initial sprints to confirm there is a market, and then raising funding to be able to build the first beta versions of the product.
If we’re genuinely successful then we need to be generating €10-12M of annual profit in about two to three years from now. Clearly there is a lot of work to be done before that is a reality.
Your ongoing support and comments have helped me enormously throughout this whole process. Thank you.
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