Want to know how some of America's most successful entrepreneurs made it?
Robert Jordan, author of How They Did It: Billion Dollar Insights from the Heart of America (RedFlash Press, www.HowTheyDidItBook.com), offers these jolts of inspiration and shots of courage for new business owners, gleaned from interviews with 45 of America's leading company founders.
Too little funding forces discipline. The upside of having too little funding is that a business can grow organically, and will stay very focused on making a profit and positive cash flow.
Always have a standby investor. No matter how much companies like each other, and how much time and effort they've invested in negotiating and paperwork, large financial partnerships can - and often do - fall apart last-minute.
Create a business plan that's a selling tool. Venture capitalists look at hundreds of prospects, so the business plan has to be clear, credible, and demonstrable in 10 minutes or less its dedication to solving a crucial problem.
Be honest in all dealings. Running a business is no different than running a life. Founders should be honest in their dealings and in their assessments. Always look at facts, because facts don't lie.
Start with what the owner has. If owners wait for the perfect solution to come along, they'll never get their business going. Assume that the right tools, systems and people will come along to refine it.
Make employees shareholders. When employees have a sense of ownership, it creates a kind of self-enforcement process. Give stock options to everyone at the company - all the way to the janitor. Owners think differently from employees.
Fail fast. What doesn't work, throw away, and what does work, run with it. Knowing what's going right and what's going wrong - and doing something about it quickly - will put the company at the front of the class.
Be willing to tweak an idea. If people fall too much in love with their ideas, they won't have the capacity to take feedback from other people and from the market. The idea that is started with is unlikely to be the exact idea that the company is going to win with.
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