* Make stuff people want.
* Do the work.
* Build a system.
* Don’t be evil.
* Don’t give up.
Make stuff people want:
This one is from Paul Graham, the founder of the startup accelerator YCombinator. The original post is here. This is also the core of the lean startup movement.
It sounds easy enough: of course you should make something people want! What a silly principle. Yet, all too often people fall in the trap of instead building something they think people want – big difference!
For example, if you’re writing a business plan and have no finished product, haven’t talked to an actual customer and haven’t verified in some way that your idea actually works on a real market – then you’re building something you think people want – not something they actually want. The only way to make sure is to build something as early as possible and try to sell it.
Do the work:
This one comes from the book with the same name. It focuses on the challenge every day to get up and just do the work. There are so many things fighting for your attention. You will have to struggle extra hard with your startup as long is it doesn’t make money enough to support you (the wings are not in the air). Just like going to the gym it’s a question of self discipline to see results.
Every day is a fight for survival for your startup. Every day you must do the work.
Build a system:
A company is a value producing system that should run without its founders. The sooner you realize this the better. What does this mean? It is far too common for entrepreneurs to build their company around themselves. Without the founders everything fall to pieces.
Instead, you should identify the processes that makes your company tick and detach yourself from the every day work as much as possible, either through automation or through employing people to do the work for you. Your goal as a CEO is to make the company sellable. The way to it: build a system.
Don’t be evil:
Everyone in the web industry knows that this is the corporate mantra for Google. The source of the statement is Gmail-creator Paul Buchheit (who now also works for YCombinator). Keeping your conscience clean makes things so much easier, especially in the capitalism 2.0 world of social media and transparency. If you’re in it for the long run, be nice. Do you want to explain things like this to every potential customer, investor or employee? No, you don’t.
Don’t give up:
In the must-read book Founders at Work: Stories of Startups’ Early Days Jessica Livingstone (co-founder of YCombinator – for some reason every wisdom about startups comes from this company) interviews a number of startup entrepreneurs. The one thing they all say is the most important in order to succeed is: persistence. Not giving up.
That’s it: Make stuff people want. Do the work. Build a system. Don’t be evil. Don’t give up. Follow these principles from the leading startup minds and your chances of success are greatly improved. Most important of all, though, is to actually get started and do it. What are you waiting for?
Source: http://blog.opportunitycloud.com/2011/06/12/5-principles-that-will-help-you-succeed-with-your-startup/
Monday, June 13, 2011
Monday, October 25, 2010
College dropouts -> Great Entrepreneurs
There are people who have dropped out of college to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams. Some of them did not even complete schooling at all.
1. Bill Gates
"In this business, by the time you realize you're in trouble, it's too late to save yourself. Unless you're running scared all the time, you're gone."
The world's best known billionaire, co-founded one of the world's largest software companies -- Microsoft.
Gates dropped out of Harvard in 1975. He took interest in computer programming since he was 13 years old.
Hailed as one of the chief architects of the personal computing revolution, he is also a great philanthropist donating billions of dollars to charity across the globe.
He has also been the worlds' richest from 1995 to 2009, excluding 2008 (when he was ranked third).
2. Michael Dell.
"There are a lot of things that go into creating success. I don't like to do just the things I like to do. I like to do things that cause the company to succeed."
Michael Dell became an entrepreneur at a young age of 12, made his first $1,000 by selling stamps, and later sold newspaper subscriptions for Houston Post, making enough money to buy a BMW at 16.
Michael Dell later founded Dell Inc, one of the world's most successful IT companies.
3. Richard Branson
"A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts."
At age 16, Branson published a magazine called Student while still in school.
In 1970, he set up an audio record mail-order business. In 1972, he opened a chain of record stores, Virgin Records, later known as Virgin Megastores.
Branson's Virgin brand grew during the 1980s and along the way he set up Virgin Atlantic Airways and expanded the Virgin Records music label.
Today, his Virgin Group owns over 360 companies.
4. Steve Jobs
"I think we're having fun. I think our customers really like our products. And we're always trying to do better."
Steve Jobs dropped out of Reed College after one semester and went to work on designing games.
Later, he teamed up with Steve Wozniak, an engineer to start a business.
In 1975, at the age of 20, Jobs and Wozniak started working on the Apple I prototype.
Apple Inc today designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers.
5. Walt Disney
"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them."
Walt Disney (1901-1966) was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator and a successful entrepreneur who co-founded Walt Disney Productions.
One of the best-known motion picture producers in the world, The Walt Disney Company, has annual revenues of about $35 billion.
6. Henry Ford
"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young."
Henry Ford (1863-1947) was the founder of the Ford Motor Company.
He is known for the introduction of the Model T automobile which revolutionised transportation and American industry.
He is credited with 'Fordism', mass production of inexpensive goods coupled with high wages for workers. Henry Ford never attended college.
7. Milton Hershey
"I think if you study-if you learn too much of what others have done, you may tend to take the same direction as everybody else."
Milton Snavely Hershey (1857-1945) was founder of The Hershey Chocolate Company.
He dropped out of school when he was just 14 years old, he got a job at a candy factory in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
After working a few years at the candy factory, he decided to open his own little candy business near Philadelphia.
After a series of failures, he finally tasted success selling caramels. Today, Hershey's is the largest chocolate manufacturer in North America.
8. Larry Ellison
"I have had all of the disadvantages required for success."
Larry Ellison left the University of Illinois at the end of his second year, after his mother died.
He later studied computer designing and moved to California.
After doing several jobs for eight years, in 1977, Ellison and his Ampex colleagues, Robert Miner and Ed Oates, founded Software Development Labs, with $2,000.
The company was later renamed Oracle Corporation. Oracle is today the world's second largest software company.
9. Coco Chanel
"Fashion is made to become unfashionable."
Gabrielle Bonheur 'Coco' Chanel (1883 -1971) a French fashion designer founded the famous fashion brand Chanel.
Starting with the first millinery shop, in 1912, she grew to become one of the most famous fashion designers in Paris.
10. Ty Warner
"As long as kids keep fighting over the products and retailers are angry at us because they cannot get enough, I think those are good signs."
H. Ty Warner is an American toy manufacturer and businessman.
After dropping out of Kalamazoo College in Michigan, he tried his luck in Hollywood as an actor but failed.
He then began working for toy maker Dakin. By 1986, Warner mortgaged his home and invested his life savings into founding Ty Inc.
11. Simon Cowell
"The object of this competition is not to be mean to the losers but to find a winner. The process makes you mean because you get frustrated."
Simon Cowell is also the owner of the UK-based TV production and music publishing house Syco.
He is best known for judging TV talent shows, including Pop Idol, The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and American Idol.
12. Debbi Fields
"I knew I loved making cookies and every time I did, I made people happy. That was my business plan."
A housewife turned entrepreneur, Debbi Fields founded Fields Bakeries.
Initially, she was discouraged by her husband who said she will not be bale to sell $50 worth of cookies on the first day.
But when she saw people were not coming to her store, she went out on the streets and sold cookies worth $75.
13. Barry Diller
"This is a world in which reasons are made up because reality is too painful."
Barry Charles Diller is the chairman and chief executive officer of IAC/InterActiveCorp.
He played a key role in the creation of Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting.
Ever since he dropped out of college, he had set his eyes on the show business.
Starting his career as an agency mail clerk, he rose to become one of the famous and richest media barons.
14. Frank Lloyd Wright
"Harvard takes perfectly good plums as students, and turns them into prunes."
Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 projects.
Wright started using new technology, materials and engineering to create some of the 20th century's most iconic buildings.
At 18, Wright joined an engineering course at the University of Wisconsin, Madison but dropped out to join the architectural firm of Joseph Lyman Silsbee.
Want to be an entrepreneur check this post
Check the tips for becoming a successful entrepreneur
1. Bill Gates
"In this business, by the time you realize you're in trouble, it's too late to save yourself. Unless you're running scared all the time, you're gone."
The world's best known billionaire, co-founded one of the world's largest software companies -- Microsoft.
Gates dropped out of Harvard in 1975. He took interest in computer programming since he was 13 years old.
Hailed as one of the chief architects of the personal computing revolution, he is also a great philanthropist donating billions of dollars to charity across the globe.
He has also been the worlds' richest from 1995 to 2009, excluding 2008 (when he was ranked third).
2. Michael Dell.
"There are a lot of things that go into creating success. I don't like to do just the things I like to do. I like to do things that cause the company to succeed."
Michael Dell became an entrepreneur at a young age of 12, made his first $1,000 by selling stamps, and later sold newspaper subscriptions for Houston Post, making enough money to buy a BMW at 16.
Michael Dell later founded Dell Inc, one of the world's most successful IT companies.
3. Richard Branson
"A business has to be involving, it has to be fun, and it has to exercise your creative instincts."
At age 16, Branson published a magazine called Student while still in school.
In 1970, he set up an audio record mail-order business. In 1972, he opened a chain of record stores, Virgin Records, later known as Virgin Megastores.
Branson's Virgin brand grew during the 1980s and along the way he set up Virgin Atlantic Airways and expanded the Virgin Records music label.
Today, his Virgin Group owns over 360 companies.
4. Steve Jobs
"I think we're having fun. I think our customers really like our products. And we're always trying to do better."
Steve Jobs dropped out of Reed College after one semester and went to work on designing games.
Later, he teamed up with Steve Wozniak, an engineer to start a business.
In 1975, at the age of 20, Jobs and Wozniak started working on the Apple I prototype.
Apple Inc today designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers.
5. Walt Disney
"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them."
Walt Disney (1901-1966) was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator and a successful entrepreneur who co-founded Walt Disney Productions.
One of the best-known motion picture producers in the world, The Walt Disney Company, has annual revenues of about $35 billion.
6. Henry Ford
"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young."
Henry Ford (1863-1947) was the founder of the Ford Motor Company.
He is known for the introduction of the Model T automobile which revolutionised transportation and American industry.
He is credited with 'Fordism', mass production of inexpensive goods coupled with high wages for workers. Henry Ford never attended college.
7. Milton Hershey
"I think if you study-if you learn too much of what others have done, you may tend to take the same direction as everybody else."
Milton Snavely Hershey (1857-1945) was founder of The Hershey Chocolate Company.
He dropped out of school when he was just 14 years old, he got a job at a candy factory in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
After working a few years at the candy factory, he decided to open his own little candy business near Philadelphia.
After a series of failures, he finally tasted success selling caramels. Today, Hershey's is the largest chocolate manufacturer in North America.
8. Larry Ellison
"I have had all of the disadvantages required for success."
Larry Ellison left the University of Illinois at the end of his second year, after his mother died.
He later studied computer designing and moved to California.
After doing several jobs for eight years, in 1977, Ellison and his Ampex colleagues, Robert Miner and Ed Oates, founded Software Development Labs, with $2,000.
The company was later renamed Oracle Corporation. Oracle is today the world's second largest software company.
9. Coco Chanel
"Fashion is made to become unfashionable."
Gabrielle Bonheur 'Coco' Chanel (1883 -1971) a French fashion designer founded the famous fashion brand Chanel.
Starting with the first millinery shop, in 1912, she grew to become one of the most famous fashion designers in Paris.
10. Ty Warner
"As long as kids keep fighting over the products and retailers are angry at us because they cannot get enough, I think those are good signs."
H. Ty Warner is an American toy manufacturer and businessman.
After dropping out of Kalamazoo College in Michigan, he tried his luck in Hollywood as an actor but failed.
He then began working for toy maker Dakin. By 1986, Warner mortgaged his home and invested his life savings into founding Ty Inc.
11. Simon Cowell
"The object of this competition is not to be mean to the losers but to find a winner. The process makes you mean because you get frustrated."
Simon Cowell is also the owner of the UK-based TV production and music publishing house Syco.
He is best known for judging TV talent shows, including Pop Idol, The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent and American Idol.
12. Debbi Fields
"I knew I loved making cookies and every time I did, I made people happy. That was my business plan."
A housewife turned entrepreneur, Debbi Fields founded Fields Bakeries.
Initially, she was discouraged by her husband who said she will not be bale to sell $50 worth of cookies on the first day.
But when she saw people were not coming to her store, she went out on the streets and sold cookies worth $75.
13. Barry Diller
"This is a world in which reasons are made up because reality is too painful."
Barry Charles Diller is the chairman and chief executive officer of IAC/InterActiveCorp.
He played a key role in the creation of Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting.
Ever since he dropped out of college, he had set his eyes on the show business.
Starting his career as an agency mail clerk, he rose to become one of the famous and richest media barons.
14. Frank Lloyd Wright
"Harvard takes perfectly good plums as students, and turns them into prunes."
Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 projects.
Wright started using new technology, materials and engineering to create some of the 20th century's most iconic buildings.
At 18, Wright joined an engineering course at the University of Wisconsin, Madison but dropped out to join the architectural firm of Joseph Lyman Silsbee.
Want to be an entrepreneur check this post
Check the tips for becoming a successful entrepreneur
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