Starting And Growing Your Business

As an entrepreneur, it’s easy to fall in love with your own idea.

It’s even easier to think that everyone else who doesn’t get it is dumb or nuts.

Big mistake.

The counterintuitive side of this is that one of the best things you can do for yourself, your idea, and your business is to lay it out on the table for smart experienced people to look at and pick apart, and tell you what’s wrong with it. These are where the big lessons are learned and snags averted.

Of course, some people in business live just for this- to be problem identifiers, problem solvers, and carry the “you can’t do that flag.”

While I’m personally not very attracted to working with those people in business, the right people like this serve an important role.

Hearing what you don’t want to hear is often what you need to hear.

This morning I came across a very short and to the point list of core business “Must Have’s” from a group of people who have proven again and again that they know what they’re talking about – Sequoia Capital. They are one of the Venture Capital firms I look to. (Some portfolio companies include Google, 3Com, Oracle, LinkedIn, Electronic Arts, just to name a few you might have heard of)

The list I’m talking about is here at the Sequoia Capital Site, and I’ve quoted it below too.

I’m starting a new venture right now in a quasi-new business area for me (music and online music) and I’m taking more of my own medicine right now and meeting and sharing my story with people who will likely tell me why my idea might not work. I used to avoid this kind of thing in the past and now I welcome it- from smart people of course.

That’s why, as I read this short list on Sequoia’s site, I had some renewed confidence and clarity as I found that they look at many of the same things I obsessively look at and think about. The most important of which centers around not creating markets, but capturing them by fulfilling a large existing but yet to be “distilled” NEED.

I don’t sell things, I fulfill needs.

Here’s the list the list that’s posted on their website:

-Start-

Elements of Sustainable Companies

Start-ups with these characteristics often foretells the success of a business and the likelihood of it becoming a sustainable, enduring company. We like to partner with companies that have:

Clarity of Purpose

Summarize the company’s business on the back of a business card.

Large Markets

Address existing markets poised for rapid growth or change. A market on the path to a $1B potential allows for error and time for real margins to develop.

Rich Customers

Target customers who will move fast and pay a premium for a unique offering.

Focus

Customers will only buy a simple product with a singular value proposition.

Pain Killers

Pick the one thing that is of burning importance to the customer then delight them with a compelling solution.

Think Differently

Constantly challenge conventional wisdom. Take the contrarian route. Create novel solutions. Outwit the competition.

Team DNA

A company’s DNA is set in the first 90 days. All team members are the smartest or most clever in their domain. “A” level founders attract an “A” level team.

Agility

Stealth and speed will usually help beat-out large companies.

Frugality

Focus spending on what’s critical. Spend only on the priorities and maximize profitability.

Inferno

Start with only a little money. It forces discipline and focus. A huge market with customers yearning for a product developed by great” engineers requires very little firepower.

-End-

Ok- put this to use.

And Sequoia- if you guys want to invest, give me a call. Better yet, email me. Just know that I’m planning on a beta launch and driving subscribers and revenue before I look to leverage this, so you’ll have to wait til then.

Action Step For You If You’ve Got A New Business-

Take this list and give yourself a good while to run your ideas and strategy through each one. Then challenge yourself to deliver on them all with one coherent strategy. Your business, and most importantly, your customers, will thank you for it.

Remember- even true miracle cures don’t sell themselves. They need bad informercials for that…