startup success

Our top 5 tips on being your best self and finding entrepreneurial success

Entrepreneurship isn’t for the faint of heart. With 20% of all small businesses failing within the first year, it’s easy to see why the prospect of being an entrepreneur can feel overwhelming.

If you want to succeed in the business world, it’s critical to keep your own personality and mindset in mind. As the force spearheading your company, it’s up to you to guide your own strategy and chart a course toward success—which can be harder than it sounds.

Sound familiar? If you’re struggling with your small business, here are a few tips to help you find your best self and achieve entrepreneurial success.

Learn to Take Advice

When it comes to being self-employed, many people want to think of themselves as independent self-starters who don’t need to rely on others—but that’s a sure path to failure.

As an entrepreneur, you’re unlikely to have expertise in every area of business. Ignoring sound business advice, financial insights, and legal feedback could make it harder to chase success in the long run.

Start to Sell Yourself

Sure, few entrepreneurs jump into the business world out of a passion to sell themselves. Many cringe at the prospect of appearing “phony.”

But at the end of the day, gaining the confidence and skill you need to self-promote can mean the difference between a popular business idea and one no one ever hears about. Tell your own story and get comfortable sharing your passion!

Network

Linked to the tip above is networking. The truth is, the best entrepreneurs aren’t really alone, even solopreneurs.

Business owners who network tend to find themselves with more of the support, guidance, and connections they need than those who don’t. Find people with whom you want to cultivate professional relationships, and start making an effort! Over time, you may find yourself working through the 4 stages of psychological safety with people who could easily become your own informal mastermind group.

Know Your Strengths

Not only is it true that you can’t do everything, but you also shouldn’t do everythiing. Know your strengths, and know how to play to them.

If you love managing the big picture but struggle with financial details, hire someone to take care of your payroll and accounting. If you’re great at networking but struggle with organization, spring for some helpful professional software to create better organizational systems for you.

Set the Right Goals

Having SMART goals in place can help you launch your company toward the objectives you have in mind, one step at a time. Try setting just one or two long-term goals that you can break into bite-sized milestones. Creating a plan to reach these smaller milestones becomes much easier in the short-term, allowing you to celebrate smaller successes on the way to your destination.

Find Your Path to Success as an Entrepreneur

The path to success will look different for every entrepreneur based on their personal approaches and mindset. However, the tips above are a great way to help you carve your way forward and find your best self, creating the strategies that lead to growth. Take your first steps toward success today!

Want more of the guides you need to help your startup thrive? We’ve got you covered. Check out our other posts for more info.

7 Ways to improve on your startup that will lead to investment increase

There is something to be said to gaining experience through real-life problem-solving in your business ventures, but you can save time by not learning lessons the hard way and fast-track your path to business success.

Experience is largely listed as the single greatest attribute an entrepreneur can cultivate any time they begin a new path to improve the overall odds of success. While that isn’t exactly groundbreaking, the data behind the difference that experience makes is significant:

Founders who have successfully cultivated a business previously have a 30% higher chance of success in their next venture.
Founders who failed at prior businesses have a 20% chance of succeeding the second time around.
First-time entrepreneurs have an 18% chance of success.

Spend Investment Capital Wisely

Again, not groundbreaking advice, but you’d be surprised that this is one of the most common pitfalls for a young company managed by an inexperienced entrepreneur. Early on, companies can be funded through small groups of angel investors, but it’s often the entrepreneur’s own savings.

If you’re fortunate enough to gain investors and raise investment capital through private funding, don’t let it lull you into a false sense of security. This influx of money can help you beef up your team to meet aggressive growth goals, but it can also help you spend ahead of need. Aggressive expansion timelines are more often than not overly optimistic, which can burn valuable resources much more rapidly than a young company can afford.

Most industries already have formulas to work through this, so do your research. Whatever money you end up asking for should be completely planned for and put to good use.

Don’t be scared to invest in your team, but focus on A-players who can play multiple roles early on. Choose quality talent over quantity.

Protect Company Assets

If you’re inventing, intellectual property can be invaluable. Spend early and often on protecting your property. Legal can be invaluable in the product-based business and even in service-based or knowledge-based industries to protect intellectual property.

If you’re attempting to acquire capital, you want investors to feel secure in the fact that their money is going to be relatively protected and that the capital is going to good use. Be prepared to know if patents or trademarks exist and who owns what. Giving investors an understanding of what and how you’ve reached product-market fit is important as well.

Spend your money on attorneys who can provide protection to company assets. Hire a lawyer to draft a solid client contract- poorly worded contracts will cost you.

Spend Time Creating Revenue-Driven Solutions

Services or technology that easily demonstrates ROI in a direct manner is low hanging fruit for young companies. Plenty of companies succeed by focusing on solutions that drive savings to their clients, prospects get more value (and buy more frequently) when solutions are revenue-driven.

Understand Your Timeline

When working on bringing transformative technology to the market, it’s important to remember that often, this solution is disruptive. This can create a situation where users have to adjust their systems and processes in order to experience the best results possible.

This is challenging- people don’t like change. No one does. But big and meaningful change takes time which can present a challenge, as clients won’t experience results immediately. If your business is built around disruptive tech, it’s important to set expectations at both the client level and the boardroom level. The potential for reluctant transition with clients is absolutely there and you must set reasonable expectations at all levels about delayed returns.

These are not easy conversations to have as they’re difficult realities to accept when real dollars are being spent and you’re burning through capital every month.

Invest In PR Early

Many founders consider public relations and media outreach to be fluff- something that is a lower priority until you have a bigger budget. However, securing placement in reputable publications when you first hit the market can help a young company in a number of ways. Targeted exposure is extremely effective in getting the word out, driving an initial wave of leads.

Articles in respected publications can enhance buy-in and help prospects convince stakeholders to take a leap with new tech or a new process. Press can help substantiate timeliness, but more importantly, it can help educate prospects.

Build Outside Relationships

Building relationships with third parties will allow you to establish relationships that can vouch for your work. This provides ongoing value for a young company and its emerging technology or services. This can take the form of validating success through white papers, third-party research, or case studies.

Have Reasonable Expectations

People assume that launching a tech company brings overnight success and riches, but it doesn’t typically work that way. Most things of value take time and it’s incredibly important to remain resilient and flexible. Learn quickly from failures and mistakes and then regroup as necessary to press on towards success.

Building a successful business is incredibly difficult. By taking your time, doing your research and starting from the beginning can help you get your startup off the ground. Make sure you do the proper steps to plan the remaining steps to launch the company and prepare yourself so that you’re ready to raise money.

Without proper financial planning, your business doesn’t stand a chance. Make sure you’re network is on point too- you’ll want to surround yourself with the right people. It’s incredibly important to find people who can help you in areas that are not your strongest point of expertise.

Placing your business in the best position to establish a steady clientele will help to grow your startup. Launches are never perfect- you should always prepare for unforeseen circumstances. Proper planning is absolutely crucial to help you clear and anticipate any hurdles.

How can your startup best scale growth

Even though creating a scaleup may seem difficult to achieve, there are things you can do to push your startup in the right direction.

Statistics show that only half of startups will survive the first year of doing business, while Deloitte’s study finds the odds of such enterprises ascending to a scale-up is around 0.5, or 1 in 200.

While a startup is a new company with big growth plans, still experimenting with its product features, customer acquisition and segmentation, a scaleup has already proven its business model and has scalable revenue, customer growth, infrastructure and product.

Even though creating a scaleup may seem difficult to achieve, there are things you can do to push your startup in the right direction.

Be a leader

If you want your startup to rise to a scaleup, as a founder or a CEO or your company, you need to be the right kind of leader, dedicated to growth. This means you need to know how to set realistic growth goals and plan concrete actions to achieve them.

As scaling up requires an expanded skill set, try advancing your current skills as well as the skillset of your management team and your employees.

You can improve your own skills by finding a mentor, joining peers and professional groups, reading books, and using numerous online resources such as web portals and podcasts.

Grow internationally

If your business plans include expanding to international markets, you should prepare yourself properly for such a step by learning the best ways to localize your offers, as well as the marketing and support systems. International trading and investing have their country-specific rules and laws your company needs to follow, so make sure to do proper research.

Getting legal advice from professionals in this area is highly recommended. Fortunately, you can easily get in touch with professionals who have expertise in international markets.

For example, if you’re considering investment in Indonesia, contact Invest Islands to get legal information and find more about investment opportunities. Delloite can be of incredible help when considering expanding to Central Europen and East European Markets. Focus on the markets you plan to expand to and gather all the relevant information.

Hire the right people

You can’t scale your growth if you don’t have the right people in your company. In other words, you need to hire for growth.

When considering your new hires, focus only on those who are necessary for the operation, and outsource all the rest. Your startup needs to stay flexible and agile to be able to quickly adapt to changes, so your employees need to be people with multifaceted skills, that can be easily transferred to different tasks.

So you would rather look for someone who wants to prove themselves, who is ready to put in extra hours and extra work than a well-experienced veteran in their niche, who is looking for peace and stability.

Also, consider the tasks you can outsource externally. Third parties can often be more efficient in handling some of the most demanding or time-consuming tasks, and trying to replicate such practices in your own company can take too much of your time and money.

Secure the sales

Scaling your business means you will sell more, so you need to ensure that you have the right structures in place to generate more sales. For starters you’ll need:

An adequate lead flow so that you can generate the desired number of leads.
Well-developed marketing systems that can track and manage the leads.
Enough sales reps to follow the leads and close the deals.
A perfectly functional system that can execute the orders efficiently.
Efficient billing system.

With more sales, you’ll also need to scale your customer support. This means you’ll either need to hire new staff or outsource some of these tasks to an external agency.

You can also consider implementing new technology solutions, such as chatbots. When aiming at scalability, you can’t afford unhappy customers. Ensuring your customer support provides the best possible customer experience.

Go hard with marketing

Many startups are so preoccupied with technicalities that they don’t pay enough attention to their marketing strategies. But, for the growth and scaling of your business, your products and services need to become visible to your target audience.

Your unique value proposition also needs to be very clear to your prospective customers, as this is how you will differentiate your business from your competitors and start building your brand. This means you’ll need a thorough marketing plan, based on data and research, with clear objectives and defined actions.

To get the most out of your marketing campaigns, you need to find out what works best with your prospects and which marketing channels bring you the best ROI.

Take full advantage of various digital media channels, such as paid advertising, social media marketing, email marketing, SEO and content marketing.

Invest in technology

An important step in scaling your business is a shift from manual business practices. Try to standardize repeatable processes in your business and automate them with the help of new technologies. Such a shift can free up the time of your employees as well as your other resources.

You will have to make some investments initially, as you will need proper IT solutions and trained personnel, but the investment will soon pay off. According to Xero’s latest report, startups that invest in technology can expect much faster growth.

Think about automating some administrative tasks first, such as payments, customer data collection, scheduling appointments, and move on to automating other processes as well, by using chatbots, CRM, email automation etc.

If you play your cards right and approach your growth efforts strategically and professionally, scalability will follow.

5 productivity tips that will benefit aspiring entrepreneurs

If the captain of the ship is accomplished and tends to be productive all the time, there are better chances of a successful venture.

Indian entrepreneurship is currently on a high with a huge number of start-ups cropping up daily. Most start-ups have innovative and unique ideas but some fail, owing to various reasons- time issues, low of monetary funds or other resource crunches.

An entrepreneur plays a key role in determining his venture as a failure or a success. If the captain of the ship is accomplished and tends to be productive all the time, there are better chances of a successful venture.

Here are 5 productivity tips that are bound to help every budding entrepreneur:

1. Don’t attend or organise meetings for the sake of them

In today’s world, we are not in a position to take the traditional route of meeting a team for 5 hours and giving them tips about everything. Time is a precious resource and must be utilised carefully. Because most meetings are a waste of time, it is beneficial for an entrepreneur to cut down on them and organise modern ways of boosting team spirit like stand-up meetings.

Also, try communicating through faster, more efficient and time-saving media like the telephone, e-mail, SMS or shared notes on apps.

2. Take breaks

As an entrepreneur, your work might seem insanely taxing. However, it is crucial to take necessary breaks for your brain to relax and produce newer ideas. Try and take breaks every two hours and it can be something as simple as going out for a brisk stroll. The fresh air will rejuvenate your mind and help you focus and concentrate better on work. You will find yourself more energised after a break because staring at a computer screen for too long can cause massive fatigue.

Also, insist that your employees take breaks too, especially if you’re a creativity-based company as breaks are necessary to break monotony and loss of focus.

3. Use location to an advantage

For start-ups which usually don’t have much monetary funding initially, it is always better to hire a team or people who are locals. Many studies have found that people living with family or near their offices are more motivated to work as they have people to fall back on once they’re home.

Also, once you nurture local talent, you’ll be amazed to find the level of motivation they possess as they know the place and people better. And, once you have a kickass team which comprises of accomplished and happy people, your profits will soar higher.

4. Delegate; but give your employees space to improvise

As an entrepreneur, your job is to delegate tasks to your team but if you make them follow a rigid pattern of doing the task, they’ll soon lose interest. Instead, give them some amount of creative liberty to improvise and come up with newer ways of accomplishing a task. This gives them responsibility and power and helps them to learn the skill of management.

Because empowerment is something we all seek at our job, this will motivate employees to put in more effort into their job and be more productive in future.

5. Rewards and benefits for your employees

It might be something as simple as treating them to a meal at a fast food joint because they’ve worked hard. Rewarding and more importantly recognising the talents of your employees is crucial as it gives a great boost to them as they remain motivated to work harder.

You could also provide some kind of monitor to your employees to jot down creative ideas. This is a great productivity booster as it empowers them and entices them to be more motivated at work.

Try the tips mentioned above and notice a stark change in your company’s productivity levels.

Four hurdles which can obstruct your start-up’s success

Once you have conquered these, you double the chances of succeeding.

There are a few hurdles which every entrepreneur experiences at the start of their journey. These obstructions create roadblocks and prevent you from becoming bigger as a company. However, once you have conquered these, you double the chances of succeeding.

The core team

It is important for you to pick the correct core team as they are your founding members. The initial employees can make or break your company’s chances of being successful as their contribution is extremely necessary. You share your vision with your team which means that they have to be aligned to it as well in order to work in cooperation. Also, disagreements between employees in the initial stage can prove to be detrimental to your company.

The size of the market

It is important to have takers for your product/service without which your company is doomed to tank. Unless, there is a demand for your product, there is no way you’ll make profits. The problem with a lot of start-ups is that despite having a beautiful idea and a great team, they fail because the product is too niche which appeals to a very small segment of the market. Thus, it is necessary to conduct research and find out the number of people who are willing to purchase your product.

Related Post: Things to do to grow your business

Product launch

The launch of the product is a crucial hurdle which needs to be conquered smartly. Even if your product isn’t perfect, it makes sense to launch it failing to do which your competitor might launch a similar product which appeals to the customers more. In that case, you will end up looking like a “company which copied” and have very few or no customers.

Also, you need to make sure that during the launch, your product gets enough coverage to create awareness around it in order to appeal to more people.

Funding

Most companies have started out merely as brilliant ideas which could materialise only because they received the requisite funding. However, to even be able to actually make an idea work, you need some cash. For this, you can bank on small savings which you have accumulated over time to just get the project going. Later, you can propose your business plan to Venture Capitalists and angel investors for more funding.

However, this is one hurdle you need to keep in mind because without money, your company is going nowhere.

That one essential thing your start-up depends on

One needs to be absolutely sure that the idea is feasible and has chances of gaining success

It is very important to take into consideration one aspect before you start up and that is validation of your idea.
Validating the idea you want your start-up to be based around means verifying, ratifying and substantiating you idea before actually taking putting your idea into action.

Validation is necessary because entrepreneurship and development of an idea requires immense amount of time and effort because something could actually materialise. So, if one is investing so much into an idea, one needs to be absolutely sure that the idea is feasible and has chances of gaining success without which the whole venture will head to a failure. Also, validation of the idea is crucial for you to plan for the future.

You can gain a clear idea about the demand for the product or the service, your target audience and also your future expansion plans.

Sample batch:

It is always better to do a thorough market research about your product is going to be received in the market. If the response is more on the positive end, you can be assured that it’s a great idea and will work out well where as if the idea fails with 4 out 5 people from your sample, it is doomed to be a failure with most of them. For this, you need to be careful about selecting your target group and presenting the idea to them as well.

Your friends or colleagues can also serve as great sources of validation. If you look up to someone or are being mentored by someone, they can also serve as validation.

This sample test will also give you much needed insights about your product and help you understand what customers demand thereby giving you a chance to make your product better.

Related post: Strategic marketing tips for startups

Self-validation:

For an entrepreneurial success, it is essential that the entrepreneur believes in his/her product and is able to stand up for it because if the maker is not confident, s/he is not in a position to convince others.

Hence, as an entrepreneur, you need to be cent percent sure about your product entirely.

4 action tips which will help you be triumphant in life

An entrepreneur knows the actions needed to take in order to be a more successful person

Reaching the end goal isn’t comprised of a few big leaps, instead, it is journey of several small steps which help you get there. You might think a big marketing idea might double your profits, but if the basics aren’t clear and set, your whole venture could result in failure. An entrepreneur knows the actions s/he needs to take in order to be a more successful person.

4 Motivational action tips to become successful are:

1. Clear vision and a reasonable purpose of action

An entrepreneur should have a vision for his innovative idea and a goal for his/her business. If there are no targets or aims to fulfill, what is the point of your venture? Without a target, you can’t be productive or measure your productivity levels.

Hence, one should have an articulated vision and a defined goal which needs to be communicated to the whole team properly so that everyone’s on the same page. This enables unity and coordination amongst the team as everyone works to towards a set and defined goal.

2. Drive and momentum

Drive and momentum are two most difficult things to achieve but they’re absolutely crucial for your business. You need to constantly keep going as the markets are dynamic and your static business won’t really gain you anything. Start taking small but confident steps towards you goal and you will find the process to be much easier than you expected it to be.

Also, if you feel demotivated or feel things aren’t going in your favour, take a small break from work and do things you like. This will help clear your mind and refresh the drive. Once, you have gained the much required momentum, nothing can stop you from achieving what you want to. Also, it is very important to keep this drive alive in your team as well.

3. Motivation

An entrepreneur constantly needs motivation in life to keep pushing forward and achieving his end goal. However, this might be very difficult when one is clocking long hours and is bogged down by work.

But, one can aspire to and find motivation in simple things. Reading a great book or watching an inspirational movie like the Pursuit of Happiness or Rocket Singh will motivate him to achieve his goals and focus on them better.

Stop being pessimistic and focusing only on the negatives, instead, you should be focused on the happier and more successful elements that’ll help you succeed in life. Yoga and meditation can help you greatly with being optimistic.

4. Be intrepid and spunky

The worst thing an entrepreneur can do is be afraid- to take risks, lead a team, expand a venture or anything else. Your decisions are either going to work or fail. If they work, you are going to benefit greatly from them and if they don’t, you need to pull yourself and start again. At least, you’ll be aware of the mistakes you shouldn’t be making for the second time.

The markets are constantly evolving and it is essential for an entrepreneur to be innovative and spunky because you can’t keep revamping an old idea and living your life on it. New innovations are appreciated and will help you become more successful.

Image credit: huffingtonpost.com

6 Ways to manage small business success

Coping with small business success can be difficult and very stressful and requires various qualities and a structured format.

You might have started a venture as a part-time thing because you thought your idea has potential, however, it has gained massive popularity and the success might be unnerving.

These situations are common for entrepreneurs who hadn’t planned very far ahead. However, coping with small business success can be difficult and very stressful and requires various qualities and a structured format.

To cope with your success, follow the points listed below:

1. Make required changes in your business plan

It doesn’t matter if your business is small or big, a business plan is a basic requirement. A good business plan has the marketing plan, industry details, executive summary, risk and contingencies listed and they need to be revised from time to time. If you have achieved a certain target, it is time to open the original plan and document the development and add new targets for the coming time period.

2. Don’t be a slave to technology

In modern times, where everything is ruled by technology, don’t let yourself fall prey to smart phones and laptops so much so that you lose connect with the real world. Currently, there’s an app for everything, it is still important for you to maintain the quality of relations you did with your employees, VCs and customers. You might be big today, but, once you start ignoring people, you might start digging a ditch for yourself.

3. One man show is overrated

Being a one man show might seem appealing but after a point, it can be very taxing. Hence, you should build a team of dedicated and talented individuals and work towards a common goal. Also, you should have confidantes and mentors who are there to guide you through every walk of life. This will help you cope with the success better as your process of decision among will become more structured and easier.

4. Build alliances

It is very essential for growing small companies to build relationships with other companies. This can be in form of partnerships, mergers or acquisitions. Acquisitions are mainly done to kill competition in a certain market.
For instance, if I am soft toy maker, it will benefit me to have a strategic partnership with a cotton vendor or take over another soft toy making firm to gain monopoly in the market.

5. More rounds of investment

The initial investment made might not be enough to sustain a growing and successful company anymore. As you revel in the successes of your venture, you also need to keep in mind that you have to cope with the growing expenses of the same business. To manage the finances, more investments might be necessary to sustain. Hence, more VCs need to be pitched to and more profits need to be pumped back into the business to keep it running.

6. Don’t be afraid of failure

You’ve done beautifully well with your venture and there is nothing to be afraid or ashamed of. Failures are not hindrances; instead, they’re valuable lessons which stay with you all your life which is exactly why you shouldn’t be afraid to face them. Also, make your own mistakes as you’re bound to learn from them and the training and experience gained hands-on is the best kind of teaching.

Just like you’ve managed fine with till now, you can succeed further by only following these basic rules in your career.

Image credit: inc.com

Reasons budding entrepreneurs should stop looking for venture capital

Here are seven reasons for budding entrepreneurs to give up the hunt for venture capital and angel investors.

Every year, about millions of new businesses are started, and fewer than one percent successfully raise venture capital (VC).

Whether it’s the feeling of acceptance into this elite club, or the misconception that it’s impossible to start a new business without millions in capital, many startup founders find themselves hypnotized by the pursuit of VCs and angel investors.

Perhaps the adage is true: We want what we can’t have. And yet it can be argued that your chances of success are greater if you stop looking for VC money and focus your energy on bootstrapping your business and attracting customers.

Here are seven reasons for budding entrepreneurs to give up the hunt for venture capital and angel investors:

1. You haven’t proven your market need

Sure, you’ve put together a pitch deck, business plan and financial projections, but those are all just that — projections. You’re basing the future success of your company solely on hypotheticals.

Before looking for VCs, prove that there are customers out there who want what you’re selling. Spend time talking to your users, and focus on giving them what they want. Invest your time in finding a place in the market before trying to convince investors to give you their money.

2. You lose control

Once you secure VCs, you’re at their mercy. Even if you maintain a majority stake, you’re giving up a percentage of equity, profits and control to a board that may have a different vision for your company than you do.

In most cases, your VCs will ask for one or more board seats giving them the right to vote on or veto key decisions that will directly affect the future of your company. These same people also have the right to fire you or members of your team, which means you could be ejected from the company you started.

3. You’re focused on the investor – not on your customer

Giving up control means you have a new responsibility. Your first priority is no longer to your customer, because your investors expect to come first. Among other conditions that are negotiated in a deal, venture capitalists can ask for anti-dilution protection, dividends, liquidation preferences, mandatory redemption and other perks that the founding partners may not even get the rights to.

In some extreme cases, VCs have the right to sue you for everything you own in the case you forget to tell them “bad news,” according to Bloomberg Business.

4. Instead of trying to make money, you’re trying to raise it

The irony of trying to raise venture capital is how much time you waste chasing down investors – when you could be chasing down customers. There are only so many hours in a day and only so much work you and your team members can take on. Every minute you spend chasing down a flippant VC is a minute you’re not working on creating a great business.

That’s all to say you’re putting a lot of your eggs into a basket that the statistics say you’ll never obtain.

5. Your burn rate is higher than if you were to bootstrap

What’s a burn rate? It’s the amount at which a company spends money, especially venture capital, in excess of income.

You may know the now viral story of CEO Maren Kate and the downfall of her company, Zirtual. She abruptly shut down all operations due to a glitch in the books that was overlooked. Basically, the company did not have a handle on its burn rate – and it ran out of money. This also supports the next point that…

6. You lose the hustle required in running a lean business

When playing with someone else’s money, many startup founders admit that it becomes less real. It’s harder to stay lean and savvy with the false impression that you’re rolling in the dough.

Investor and entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk writes: “Twenty-five to 50 percent of all the businesses I have ever looked at were more than capable of being a little scrappier.”

7. Your end goal is focused on an exit rather than building a company that will last

If your end game is growth over profit, then you are forever stuck in a cycle of having to raise more money. As soon as you’re no longer able to secure more from VCs, then your company will likely implode.

You’re relying on other people’s belief in you – based on hypothetical projections – rather than relying on a solid business model that turns profits and creates happy customers.

Author: Shannon Whitehead

Shannon Whitehead is the founder of Factory45, an online accelerator program that takes sustainable apparel companies from idea to launch — without raising venture capital. Committed to improving the fashion industry, Whitehead launched what was at the time the most successful fashion project on Kickstarter and now helps other fashion entrepreneurs bring their ideas to market.

Image credit: www.fortunebuilders.com

This article was originally published in Entrepreneur.com

5 Ways for a new entrepreneur to ensure success

How do you ensure success? Who stands out from the crowd? What separates the pros from the amateurs?

There aren’t any definitive answers. And I’m not even going to begin to try and analyze them. What I will say, is that over the years, I’ve been observing. Working with startups and entrepreneurs on a regular basis has provided rare insight into what makes one person get ahead of the rest.

Here are five way to set yourself up for success that go beyond conventional wisdom:

1. Make it easy to help you

Most people are excited and willing to help out new entrepreneurs. But the likelihood of connecting with someone who is more seasoned in the industry is largely dependent on how you make the “ask.”

The first and most obvious way to sabotage yourself is by writing an inquiry email that scrolls on for block paragraph after endless block paragraph. In most cases if you’re looking for advice, the person you’re seeking out is busy.

Keep your email to no more than two to three short paragraphs. Your chances of getting a response are incrementally higher and you’ll come across as more professional – and more effective.

Bonus tip: Ask a specific question. Avoid using phrases like, “Can I pick your brain?” Instead, ask the exact questions you want to know the answers to. Once you have your foot in the door and get a response, you can follow up from there.

2. Write thank you notes

They don’t have to be handwritten and shipped via snail mail, but if someone takes the time to jump on a call on your behalf, follow up with them.

Regardless if the advice was good or not, it’s common courtesy to express gratitude to someone who gave their time to you.

This is especially applicable when a contact goes out on a limb to introduce you to someone. It makes that person and yourself look bad if you don’t take the time to follow up afterwards.

Good things come from gratitude. And the most successful entrepreneurs show how much they value the people who helped them along the way.

3. Start before you’re ready

Should I launch now? Should I get more real world experience first? Should I go back to school? Only you know the answer that’s right for you, but my recommendation to most aspiring entrepreneurs is to start before you’re ready.

Building a business requires a long runway. It’s not only about the amount of hours in the day that you spend on your business, but the months and years that you take building up to it. As I tell my entrepreneurs (on repeat), launching a successful company is a marathon not a sprint.

The sooner you can start fleshing out your ideas, seeking out mentorship, connecting with industry peers and educating yourself, the better off you are in the long run. The old cliche usually holds true: Tomorrow you’ll wish you had started today.

4. Be consistent

The entrepreneurs who get ahead are calm and collected. They’re methodical, they’re strategic and they don’t get easily frazzled.

When you’re first starting out, your attitude and the way you handle challenges are going to dictate how you respond in the months or years of your business to come. The entrepreneurs who get ahead know there is a solution for everything. And sometimes the solution falls under the guise of a better option.

Building a business is not an overnight endeavor. It requires consistency of action, which means not giving up if something doesn’t work the first time.

5. Ask for help

Nobody builds a successful business by doing it on their own. That’s right, nobody.

The entrepreneurs and mentors you see are all getting help, seeking out mentors of their own, building advisory boards and seeking out further education.

Solopreneurship is a farce. If you want to get ahead, then you have to seek out help from others and continue to invest in yourself. That’s what separates the amateurs from the pros.

Author: Shannon Whitehead

Shannon Whitehead is the founder of Factory45, an online accelerator program that takes sustainable apparel companies from idea to launch — without raising venture capital. Committed to improving the fashion industry, Whitehead launched what was at the time the most successful fashion project on Kickstarter and now helps other fashion entrepreneurs bring their ideas to market.

Image credit: www.madresdedesamparados.org

This article was originally published in Entrepreneur.com

Failure – an inevitable part of success

Taking failure as a learning experience isn’t an easy task, but in order to succeed, you must know what failure is…

You must have heard this a trillion times, “the loftier the goal, the farther you fall.” But this is something that should not stop you from progressing. Taking failure as a learning experience isn’t an easy task, but in order to succeed, you must know what failure is.

Remember Thomas Edison? When asked about his feelings regarding facing failure a 1000 times, he replied that the light bulb was an invention with “a thousand steps.”

Let’s start with the reasons why startups fail:

Arrogance
Shortsightedness
Hubris
Egotism
Inflexibility

None of these words are new to you; remember the last time someone’s arrogance or inflexibility made the situation even worse?

Lack of Capital

In the beginning, insufficient capital might lead to failure of the business. Running day-to-day operations might cost a lot, and if the money you have is a lot less than what you are spending, things end up going wrong.

Expanding without keeping track

Expansion is a difficult step for a start-up, from personnel, to equipment (May it be machinery or establishing plants). All the steps involved in expansion need to be fully funded. Also, if the startup becomes a success, and needs to expand urgently, it should have a plan devised for it.

Debt Financing

Heavy reliance on debt is a dangerous thing for your startup, because if you lose money, all the investment in the form of debt, may it be from your family or your best friend, all would go in vain.

Lack of Strategic Management

No matter how skilled you are, if there is no strategic planning and lack of management, your business might eat you alive. You need to be qualified to run your business in one way or the other. We don’t suggest you to get a Business Degree at this point but manage your team in a way that there are people who know where things are going.

No Business plan

It’s a good thing if you are an optimist but, bear in mind that hope is definitely not a good strategy. From the concept, to the planning, and then execution, you need a business plan. You won’t ever touch the moon if you don’t even know what you need to do in order to reach for it. No matter how good yourconcept is, if you fail to chalk out a plan, someone, somewhere in the world might just use your plan and earn millions because of it.

Regardless of the reasons your startup failed, you need to look at the brighter side of the picture and know that failure is an inevitable part of success. You might fail once, twice, or even a hundred times but think of the experiences you gained because of it. If you had not gone through all those processes, you would not have been what you are today. So, simply get up and do it again.

Image Credit: cbi-blog

Too Late To Start? Quarter Life Crisis and Late Bloomers

Does success have a deadline? And if yes, what is the best age to succeed?

Does success have a deadline? And if yes, what is the best age to succeed? Here is a visualization of the relationship between age and success.

“The Critical Period” – Do It Early or Bust?

Language, it is believed, cannot be learned without an accent after the critical age (usually 16). Musical talent is usually apparent in the first ten years of life. Most people we know as successful programmers started coding as children, and successful athletes commonly celebrate their twentieth birthday already celebrities. This can make one look like a failure at 27 if all you got is a college degree. But that may be a false impression.

The Data Behind The Success Age

Looking at the biographies of top 100 founders on the Forbes List shows that 35 is the most common age to start one of the top companies in the world. We excluded the companies that were inherited from previous ones, and the companies where governments were heavily involved. For example, one of the largest companies in the world is Agricultural Bank of China. It was founded by Mao Ze Dong while he was the country’s chairman. This types of founders we excluded, to make sure the list only contains self-starting founders.

The Middle Of Life or Mid-Life Crisis

The result is a bell curve, just like in school most people get grades somewhere in the middle, in life most people succeed mid-life, that is about 35, for the current generation.

Intuitively then, we expect some major life achievements to happen around the middle age, otherwise – the mid-life crisis.

The Quarter-Life Crisis

When you graduate college, with expectations from parents on your shoulders, seeing teenage CEOs in the news can make you feel like a late bloomer. Even at 25. Since today we expect to live longer than today’s average life span of 78 years, at 25 you can reasonable think you are through a quarter of your life. This is a newer term than the good old mid-life crisis.

Late Bloomers, Not Losers

So what about those who succeed later in life – the late bloomers. Is it better to be an early achiever or a late bloomer? That’s the same as asking if it is better to start Facebook at 19 or IBM at 61? For the world at large it does not matter. Perhaps Facebook could never happen if IBM did not exist. Should Charles Flint have felt himself a loser when he organized IBM out of a time-card punching technology firm at the ripe age of 61? Those time card punchers turned out to be early prototypes of computers.

Perhaps you have not heard much about Flint, but the device you are looking at right now is possible in part because of what Flint started at 61. He even lived another 24 years, working and enjoying the fruits of his late-in-life success. A later bloomer? Perhaps. Too late for him at 61? Never too late.

This article was originally published in Funders and Founders

Image credit: www.roncolbroth.com

Is IIT IIM degree a must for startup success?

While there is no denying the fact that most of the entrepreneurs that we see today are from IITs and IIMs, but that does not translate into the fact that only these premier institutes can produce successful entrepreneurs. Before presenting the non-IIT/IIM entrepreneurs who have made their mark, let us analyse why this ratio.

We personally believe entrepreneurship is more of an art or even better – a way of life, just like you can’t become an artist just by enrolling into an art course if you don’t have an aptitude for it, on similar lines you cannot just rise up to be a entrepreneur if you manage to get thru in these top colleges, un-till and unless you have those entrepreneurial qualities. The entire debate over IIT/IIM Vs Other colleges for being an entrepreneur is kind of overrated.

Had it been all about degree from fancy colleges Mark Zukerberg, Steve Jobs, Haim Saban, John Paul DeJoria, David Geffen, Les Wexner, Bill Gates, Ray Kroc, Dhiru Bhai Ambani, would not be names we would have in this post! These people either did not go to college or dropped out in the 1st or 2nd year itself but still made in it big in the business world.

To put it in simplest words, it is just your passion, your idea, your courage and how you sell your idea, that matters. Your educational qualification from a top notch university/college might add color to your resume and your networking profile and your popularity, but it cannot be the sole factor for making your startup a success.

What does help entrepreneurs from IIT/IIM is that:

They have a entrepreneurial culture in their college life.
They have exposure and interaction with people who are into it already.
Their network of people has seniors who are entrepreneurs them selves and they have the courage to turn to their plan B of getting a job even if their venture fails.

Having said that, a non IIT/IIM grad can work on these areas as well:

With numerous networking platforms you can connect to people who might turn into your mentors and guide you through.
If your idea has substance and you can convince the investors – why investing in your idea is a safe bet, you do stand a chance.
Learn and learn more, multitask and get habituated to it, this is going to help you in the long run.
Get into entrepreneurship only if you believe in your idea and you have the time, dedication and discipline for it and do have a secure plan B, so that the stress of failure does not impact your venture.

Here are some Indians who were not from from IIT/IIM but are making it big:

1. Ashish Kashyap, Founder Goibibo.com

Ashish holds an Economics (Honors) from University Of Delhi, India and a diploma in “International Masters in Practicing Management (IMPM)” from Insead, Fontainebleau, France.

2. Deepak Ravindran, Founder SMSGyan

Deepak Ravindran is a Kannaur University dropout.

3. Girish Mathrubootham, Founder Freshdesk

Girish Mathrubootham is a graduate from University of Madras.

4. Kunal Shah, Co-founder Freecharge

Kunal Shah is a graduate from Wilson College and then dropped out of NMIMS which he had joined for a MBA degree.

5. Neeraj Roy, MD and CEO of Hungama

Neeraj Roy is a graduate from Allahabad University and then did his MBA from SIMSREE.

6. Shashank ND, Co-founder Practo

Shashank ND is a graduate from NIT, Karnataka.

7. Shradha Sharma, Founder Yourstory

Shradha Sharma is a MICA graduate.

8. Vijay Sekhar Sharma, Founder Paytm

Vijay Sekhar Sharma is a graduate from Delhi College of Engineering.

To end it we would quote Dr. Napoleon Hill “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve”.

Image credit: wendyonline.nl

Head, Heart, and Hands: Three essentials for startup success

Starting up a business requires a diversity of assets.

Starting up a business requires a diversity of assets. First-time entrepreneurs often feel anxious when they think about all the factors that must play a role if their ideas are ever to get off the ground. In their minds, success or failure seems to hinge upon finding deep-pockets funders, expert mentors, willing publicizers and other “champions.”

But the truth is you already possess some of the most important assets you’ll need to achieve success. These are nothing less than your personal faculties — the awesome power of your own head, your own heart and your own hands.

In other words, much of your potential for success will be determined by:

1. The quality of your idea
2. The strength and sincerity of your belief in it
3. Your effort to make it a reality

Succeed with your head: The impact of innovative ideas

Big or small, every successful business begins with an innovative idea.

Nike was born when Phil Knight recognized the hidden potential of a waffle iron to improve soles for running shoes. Howard Schultz brought the espresso bar concept from Italy to the United States and grew Starbucks into a global phenomenon. And when Jeff Bezos started Amazon.com in 1994, many people had never even heard of something called the Internet.

True, your business aspirations may be on a more modest scale than these world-famous brands. Nevertheless, your first step is to come up with an innovative idea.

But where to begin? Tim Berry, President and founder of Palo Alto Software, says there is no better starting point than looking in the mirror. Each of us is a unique individual, and within ourselves each carries the seeds of entrepreneurial success: concepts that interest us, questions that intrigue us, things we know we can do better than most people, things we suspect ought to be done differently.

It’s good to have role models in business, but you should not seek to mimic someone else’s success. Successful businesses are always built from the special aptitudes and unique insights of the people who founded them. Your truly innovative idea will be as one-of-a-kind as you are.

Succeed with your heart: The power of positive belief

In order to bring your idea to fruition, you must genuinely believe in it. Good luck persuading others to invest if you cannot convince them of your own passionate belief. An idea for a business might seem “great,” but if it fails to ignite your sense of passion, it probably isn’t the right one for you. Go back to the drawing board and come up with an idea you can truly commit to.

A secure and persevering spirit will be an essential factor in your success. Trust that you will adapt to changes; learn to conquer fear and approach uncertainty with confidence. Become fiercely committed to seeing your goals through.

For example, if you’re an aspiring entrepreneur who feels “mathematically challenged” (and many of us do), then you may feel intimidated by financial forecasting and fall into a pattern of prioritizing other tasks. You may tell yourself you’re “too busy” tending to outside obligations or allow yourself to get bogged down in other details of business planning.

Sometimes we engage in such behaviors just to procrastinate. At other times we are actually creating preemptive excuses for the failure we fear is inevitable. If left unchecked, negative belief can grow into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Freeing yourself of negativism will requires a conscious effort. Take note of the goals you tend to put off and the productive tasks you habitually avoid. Ask yourself why. As you learn to identify the negative beliefs that are impeding your progress, you will feel empowered to begin changing them.

Succeed with your hands: The effectiveness of effort

The brainiest ideas and most heartfelt belief are of little value without the resolve to take action and work hard.

You will sometimes hear people explain a business leader’s success by giving credit to “good luck.” People who talk like this have little knowledge or practical experience of business.

If you believe in succeeding through perseverance, you have the right frame of mind to be an entrepreneur — those who believe in success through luck might be better served buying lottery tickets. In business there is no such thing as luck; you achieve success because you are willing to work hard for it.

People who are accustomed to working hard are less inclined to feel overwhelmed by challenges. They are eager to acquire new skills because they can quickly put them to good use. And contrary to the image of the “head in the clouds” visionary, you will probably find that your most inspired thinking actually occurs when you are engaged in productive work. Research even indicates that hard-working people tend to live longer than take-it-easy types.

Thomas Edison famously said, “Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” Much has changed since Edison’s day, but sweat equity is still the most effective kind of startup capital.

Image credit: businesscollective.com

Three predictors of startup success

You may think that you are absolutely prepared to launch your startup, but the truth is that you are not.

Entrepreneurship is a path of constant learning and many startup founders learn the hard way that their expectations have almost nothing to do with the reality. You may think that you are absolutely prepared to launch your startup, but the truth is that you are not. First time entrepreneurs may know a lot, but the true teacher of business is the experience.

During his TEDxLSE Talk, Tak Lo, who has angel invested, founded and mentored over 50 early stage startups, shared with the audience the top three predictors of startup success. Find out what are these three predictors from the video below and don’t hesitate to share your thoughts on the subject in the comment section.

Image credit: katielendel.com

12 Ways to avoid startup mistakes

Mistakes and entrepreneurship go together. But thankfully, some mistakes can be prevented. Here are some smart ways to avoid stupid mistakes.

If you want to spark a lively discussion among a group of entrepreneurs, all you need to do is make a simple request:

“Tell me about your mistakes.”

Every single entrepreneur has made mistakes, is making mistakes, and will make mistakes.

Mistakes and entrepreneurship go together. But thankfully, some mistakes can be prevented. Here are some smart ways to avoid stupid mistakes.

Get a mentor who’s done it before.

Your most valuable asset isn’t your killer idea or innovative software. Your most valuable asset is a mentor or group of mentors who can tell you what to do or what not to do.

Mentors have a been-there-done-that perspective on startup life that will keep you from making hundreds of mistakes.

Also read: 20 Must watch movies for all Aspiring Entrepreneurs

When possible, use systems, not people, to get tasks done.

Systems are easier to manage than people. It’s easy to make quick-and-foolish hiring decisions. Instead of hiring a person to do a simple task, use SaaS or a tool that can accomplish the same thing.

Raise money with caution.

Many entrepreneurs think that the only way to get a business off the ground is to raise money through traditional startup funding.

Raising money is a full-time job. It takes thick skin and hardheaded persistence. Don’t let this discourage you, but take time to consider whether or not you need funding. If you do need funding, then determine the ideal time to seek funding.

It’s a mistake to rush into funding without counting the cost.

Create a rock-solid business plan.

Your startup will quickly descend into mass chaos unless you have a strong business plan. Your business plan will be like a map, keeping you on course, and protecting your startup from disaster. Give your business plan the time and attention it deserves.

Also read: Five critical questions your Business Plan should answer

Get legal help.

One of the most damaging things that can happen to your startup is to get embroiled in legal battles. I learned the hard way that lawsuits — even if you’re completely innocent — are time-consuming, expensive, and draining.

As early as possible, find expert legal counsel, and pay whatever fees are necessary to keep your business, assets, ideas, and organization in full legal compliance.

Stay away from negativity.

Entrepreneurs must stay away from negative influences. What kind of negative influences? You’ll discover haters who want you to fail and will criticize you. You may even have family members who discourage your ambition and try to slow you down.

You can’t cut everyone out of your life, but you can choose to ignore these negative forces. Sometimes, all it takes is a polite request: “I am pursuing something that is important to me, and I ask you not to make disparaging comments about it. Thank you.”

Test the market, but don’t overtest.

Testing the market is always a good idea. Don’t spend too much time and money on testing your business idea, though. As long as things look safe, take the plunge, launch the business, create the product. Basically, take action.

I’ve watched would-be startups spend tens of thousands of dollars on market research and product viability. Then, in the middle of yet another round of market research, some other startup rushes out a similar product. The slow-and-steady company failed to create fast enough and was beat out of the market by the startup that hustled.

Don’t skimp on the right tools.

You’ll be surprised at the number of things you need to buy when starting a business. I’m not just talking about staplers and sticky notes. I’m talking about systems, servers, email automation, marketing SaaS, subscriptions, software, and other tools.

These can get very expensive. Is this money wasted? Not at all. Purchasing the right analytics or SEO tools, for example, can not only save you thousands of dollars, but can make you thousands of dollars, too.

Don’t buy an office until you’re ready.

Offices are overrated. You probably don’t even need one. With a computer and WiFi, most startups and their teams are in business.

An office space usually requires a lease, a contract, furniture, decorations, etc. You run the risk of spending more time and effort on your office space than is necessary.

Rethink your “need” for an office, and you can save yourself some serious headaches.

Don’t hire expensive people.

If someone is really expensive to hire, it doesn’t mean that they are good. It means that they are expensive. That’s it.

Why would someone be so expensive to hire? One common reason is that they are hedging their bets against the failure of the startup. If they think that the startup might fail, then they will negotiate.

Pivot.

To “pivot” is to make a massive business change in a short amount of time.

How massive? Shifting your market. Changing your product. Reinventing your approach.

Nearly every startup has to pivot if they wish to succeed. Be on the lookout for those critical pivot moments.

Fail fast.

Let’s just face it. Your startup might fail.

And that’s okay. It’s better to fail quickly than for your dream to die a slow and painful death. Fail fast, fail forward, and just get past it.

The best thing that you can do for your entrepreneurial success is to get the failure over with and move on to the next big thing.

Also read: How to Stay Motivated After a Startup Failure

Conclusion

No matter what, you’re going to make mistakes. You can get all the mentoring in the world, read all the articles on Forbes, and study as many startups as you want, but you’re never going to avoid mistakes.

Mistakes are often the best teachers. Instead of trying to avoid mistakes all the time, be eager for risk and ready to learn.

One mistake made is one hundred mistakes prevented, so go ahead and make a few.

What mistakes have you made in your startup?

Also read: 10 Reasons why Entrepreneurship is awesome

Bootstrap Mentality: Key ingredient for startup success

Bootstrap mentality keeps the organization focused on being frugal, innovative and agile. Here are some suggestions on how to maintain a bootstrap mentality while running your organization.

Bootstrap was term coined from the computer lingo ‘booting’ which means starting a computer or starting a chain of processes which eventually starts up the operating system. In the startup world, bootstrapping essentially means funding your own venture and not being too dependent on external sources.

Let’s face it, to have a bootstrapped startup you need grit and total faith and conviction in your product, something a lot of new startup’s find it difficult to conjure. While most startups believe that only funding guarantees success, we beg to differ. Bootstrap mentality is critical for a startup to succeed, irrespective of whether it has raised funds or not. Bootstrap mentality keeps the organization focused on being frugal, innovative and agile. Here are some suggestions on how to maintain a bootstrap mentality while running your organization:

Hiring: Hiring is the key element in any startup and every success story is as good as its team. They say that to make an effective presentation, ask the question ‘Why?’ / ‘So What’ to each slide and if you get a convincing answer, then you are doing good. Ask the same question while hiring someone and if the answer is in lieu with your vision and larger good of the company in a prudent manner, then that’s a good hire. Going on a hiring spree on receiving funding will ensure that you burn before you earn. Last but not the least, if you come across a ‘proven team’, then that’s just a rabbit out of a hat and you can believe us blindly. Proven teams are highly overrated and irrespective of who says what, they may not be right fit for a bootstrapped company. A young team which proves itself is where you should bet your money.

Spend Wisely: Put need first, want later – Most startups on receiving funding go berserk with huge spends on office infrastructure, hiring, system upgrades, software’s and all kinds of fancy things. Some even spend on creating apps and elaborate marketing campaigns. This is the sure shot way of burn out before you start making any money. So, question all expenses and never incur it unless you have found out a way to balance it with the money you make. Remember that it is better to be a successful business than to be a popular sink-ship.

Another pro-tip – Keep everything short – small up-front capital requirement, short sales cycles, short payment terms and recurring revenue cycles.

Barters and Associations: Barters from age-old days have been pivotal to successful business deals and if you could compensate a cost with barter, then nothing beat sit. It is a win-win situation where there is no physical money spent and a mutually benefiting association is formed. These could actually extend your customer base if you use it wisely. Use it abundantly and wherever possible.

Experiment: To be a bootstrapped company, put on your lab clothes, lab goggles, burn gloves and experiment. Don’t be afraid to think out of the box, try different things, get out of the herd mentality. You would burn your fingers, but a few tests and trials and you would shine. Similarly, to the way, we at Vista Rooms went ahead and created our mobile app on Instagram, no need to worry about downloads, or upgrades or coding. We could do it because we experimented, so keep experimenting to see what works for you.

Stretch Your Team: The optimal number of hands between a bootstrapped company and the customer is Zero. They say that God invented e-commerce to sell directly and reap greater margins, use it well. Stretch your team to don different hats be it marketing, operations or sales. The marketing guy can always look at operations when required, or the sales team could help in marketing initiatives. The lesser the number of people between you and the customer the better. This would ensure your team size is optimal.

Product first, sales later: Most startups do the reverse of this. The focus on sales and upscaling is so high that the product never gets a chance for betterment, till the time it becomes an absolute necessity. By then a competitor would have gained ground and whatever product enhancements you do may not save you. Focus on bettering the product and delighting the customer and rest assured your marketing budgets could reduce down. Genuine customers would always go for better products, no matter the cost. More marketing will not always bring you customers, there has to be a constant focus on understanding customer needs and action on feedback.

Funding is never guaranteed: Successful startup ventures follow this as a quote from the Bible. They would focus on being able to sustain without any funding and manage their overheads in a manner that they are able to manage with little or no funding. They have made up their minds that they will not need funding and work towards that goal. Most bootstrapped companies would worry on expanding business or bettering their product, instead of running behind wooing investors.

Red Pill or Blue Pill: Taking a leaflet from Apple’s ex-chief evangelist Guy Kawasaki’s blog, the Red pill or the Blue Pill dilemma sources from Neo’s quandary in the movie The Matrix, where he is given a choice to either accept reality or be in deep dream space. Bootstrappers take the red pill everyday with pride and go deep into the rabbit hole to see how deep it goes.

We encourage you to have a bootstrap mentality, irrespective of whether you have raised a large amount of funding or not. Make your team focused on being frugal and innovative and take the red pill daily.