Category Archives: Entrepreneurship

Earlier today, I received an email from SpeakerGram, announcing that it was shutting down. The service helped speakers manage their inbound speaking requests:

“We have decided to shut down SpeakerGram. While we are thankful for the support that our users have given us, we have changed our focus to a new product, and need to shift the balance of our energies towards that effort.”

This kind of thing happens to startups all the time. It’s just not something the media reports on because most of these startups don’t reach the name recognition that makes them big stories.

But why was SpeakerGram the wrong idea? Why do thousands of ideas end up in the deadpool? And what makes for a great idea that captivates the masses?

I’ve heard, seen, analyzed and written about thousands of startup ideas over the years, and while the reasons most of those ideas die varies, there are a few consistent themes that I’ve noticed typically signal a doomed idea.

Here’s the short list:

1. The idea is too narrow: It simply addresses too few people and too small of a market. In SpeakerGram’s case, the issue is that there are just so few people that actually need something to manage their speaking engagements. It’s a very small group of people that engage in significant public speaking.
2. The idea isn’t fully formed: Many startup founders just come up with an idea, jot it down and start building. The problem is that they haven’t thought the whole thing through before building. Will people actually use it? What are the idea’s flaws? Will it survive against the competition? Don’t start building until you’ve really thought about and addressed these questions.
3. The idea doesn’t evolve: Ideas need to evolve as the market evolve. If the idea or the team is too rigid, then the project starts to suffer and can’t pivot fast enough to survive.
4. The vision isn’t ambitious enough: This, above all, is what kills a startup. Big ideas derive from a big vision. Radical product changes are easier to implement if they fall within an ambitious vision that the founders are willing to fight for.

Great ideas take years, not months, to emerge. Facebook wasn’t a billion dollar idea when it launched at Harvard. It became a billion dollar business when it launched the single most important feature in the history of social networking: News Feed.

Very few entrepreneurs nail the idea on the first try. That’s why VCs always say that they prefer to invest in “A” teams with “B” ideas instead of “B” teams with “A” ideas. The “A” team will eventually get its act together and throw for the game-winning touchdown, while the “B” team will get a few first downs before settling for a field goal or fumbling the football.

My advice to anybody with a great startup idea: think it through first. Make sure you ask the hard questions, go through all the scenarios and have a bold vision that can carry the team to the finish line, even when the original idea doesn’t catch fire. A little patience before you jump into the building process will save you from building a product that nobody wants.

Image courtesy of Flickr, Twenty Questions

If you’re in college and your goal in life is to be an entrepreneur, there are a few things you should be doing now that will help you tremendously when you finally walk away with that diploma.

A few weeks ago, I was giving some advice to a college student over the phone. His aspirations are entrepreneurial, and he wanted my advice on what he should do to really be prepared once he had that billion dollar idea.

Here’s what I told him:

1. Define and Build Out Your Reputation

“Personal brand” is a bit of a dirty word, but it is important to be doing things that build up your reputation as a smart and entrepreneurial individual. This means starting a blog and commenting on the subjects that interest you the most. This means setting up About.me and LinkedIn accounts. This means using Twitter regularly. This means not posting too many pictures of your drunken frat night on Facebook.

When a recruiter searches for you, they will find your name on the top of Google Search results. More importanty, they will find smart commentary and a following. Those are invaluable assets in the social era of business.

Building that out now, even before you leave college, makes it easier to network, secure a job and build a company. It makes it easier to recruit for your startup, as well.

2. Network, Network, Network

Networking is fundamental to business, and it’s even more important in entrepreneurship. Convincing users to try your crazy product or partner with your tiny company is a matter of master salesmanship and relationships.

If a personal friend asks me to try out their product, I’m going to try it. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the thousands of entrepreneurs that email me regularly. There simply isn’t enough time.

Network now, and network hard. Network not just with your classmates and professors, but with smart professionals in your area. This is especially helpful if your school is near a major business hub (Northwestern –> Chicago; Stanford –> Silicon Valley).

When you have a large and powerful network, job offers come to you and term sheets are easier to secure.

3. Find Your Entrepreneurial Mentor

Mentorship goes a long way towards increasing your knowledge and having someone to rely on when you do finally decide to take the leap. You’d be surprised how many people are willing to mentor you if you only ask; it’s a really positive feeling for the mentor, especially when they see you go off and succeed.

I’m grateful that I found not one, but two amazing mentors while I was at Northwestern. Without my mentors, I wouldn’t be where I ma now.

One more thing: mentors make for great angel investors.

4. Learn to Code While You Still Can

I’ve saved the most important piece of advice for last. No matter your major and no matter your aspirations, learn to code. It will serve you tremendously as an entrepreneur.

I may not have majored in Computer Science (though I wish I had), but I did take programming classes and I did teach myself PHP. The reason is simple: if you can’t code, you can’t build.

Sure, you can find yourself a technical co-founder, but engineers will respect you more if you can speak their language. You don’t need to become a zen master at programming; you just need to know enough to understand what’s going on under the hood of your product.

While things like Codecademy definitely help, there is no substitute to a half-year immersion in programming. That opportunity slips away once you leave the ivory tower.

Northwestern University image courtesy of Flickr, wallyg