When it comes to launching your first business, no one cares how smart you are. No one cares if you are a collegiate entrepreneurs or a serial entrepreneur. No one cares how talented you are. And not a single person cares about what college you went to. When it comes to launching a company that stuff just doesn't matter. What does matter is how smart you BELIEVE you are, how talented you BELIEVE you are, how driven you are, how focused you are and how persistent you are.
We achieve what we believe. It doesn't matter what your background is or what your education is. All that matters is what you believe you can or can't do. - Mike Michalowicz, EntrepreneurIt is time that you realize your past does not make your future. Instead is it our beliefs that make our future... we achieve what we believe. It doesn't matter what your background is or what your collegiate education was, what matters is what you believe you can or can't do. Yes, your background and experience has a great influence on your beliefs. But once you realize you have the right and you have the ability to change your beliefs, you can acheive what you want regardless of your background. And this is the key to entrepreneurial success (collegiate or otherwise)... it is the person with the stronger beliefs, followed up with persistent action, that wins.
Whether you believe you can, or you can't, you are right. - Henry Ford, Entrepreneur & InventorSo if you are a county college student, don't feel that you can't achieve what an ivy leaguer does. Just follow you passion, be persistent and truly, truly believe in yourself. And if you want a little pat on the back, remember that most of America's most successful entrepreneurs graduated from less than prestigious schools, or didn't even make it through college. Now if you are an Ivy grad... you too need to be passionate, persistent and truly, truly believe in yourself. College is over (or coming to an end) and we are all on common footing. The ones that believe are much more likely to achieve.
A consumer of your product or service, doesn't give two hoots about you or your company. They really don't. BUT they do really care about certain aspects of your product or service. If you aren't talking about that one thing, you need to realize that you are confusing your client and prospects by telling them way too much about stuff they don't give a crud about. You need to focus in on the one thing that makes a difference and keep talking about that. Here are the key components of successfully communicating your message
There is a collegiate entrepreneur out there that is doing it - talking clearly and concisely to what their customer cares about. His name is Paul Scheiter. He and his company is proving that a clear purpose backed with a clear message results in rapid growth. The company, called Hedgehog Leatherworks knows their customer. They service a very focused group, people that are survivalists. Survivalists are people that go out to the woods with a knife and the clothes on their back and can live out in the wild, just like that, for weeks or months.
Hedgehog constantly listens to their customer, and as a result have developed a product (a leather sheath) and a message that is perfectly tuned for the customers needs and wants. The customers of Hedgehog Leatherworks need a sheath that is durable, balanced, silent, sturdy, flexible, stealth, harmonious with nature, minimal design yet maximum functionality. The list goes on and on. Hedgehog clearly knows this is what their customer wants, and they know how to say it "Survival at your fingertips". To me, the antithesis of outdoor survival, that saying makes no to little sense, but to the end customer it resonates the absolute definition of what this product means. Hedgehog has learned (and continues to learn) what their customers want, have focused all their development and marketing efforts on the customers key needs, and is communicating it over and over and over.. and sales are going up.
Who is your customer? What is the one thing they really care about? How can you effectively communicate that message? Answer those questions, and tell them what they need to hear over and over ...and you are on your path to a successful launch!
Listen up collegiate entrepreneurs and all first time business owners!!! If there is one lesson to learn about growing your first company, it is to not give anyone any equity in your business. Only in the most unique circumstances, where there is a clear significant gain by giving away equity should you do it. Why not give someone equity? Why not go 50/50 into your new venture with your buddy? One reason is because the day you sell your company, you will not be benefiting nearly as much as you could have - even though you probably have influenced the growth and success of the business the most. Another reason not to give away equity is that regardless of the equity distribution, the voices are just as loud and the influence is just as great. This will make it very difficult to build a company to your vision.
The odds of a collegiate entrepreneur or first-time entrepreneur obtaining venture funding are less than 3 percent. When an entrepreneur does catch the eye of a VC firm, he may face punishing valuations, high expenses, and time-consuming reviews by multiple parties. - Jim Casparie, Founder & CEO of the Venture AllianceCan you have the benefits of a partner but retain all the equity? There sure is! Basically, there are many ways to skin a cat and the old way of giving equity to a partner or giving equity to an investor (VC, Angel, etc.) just doesn't cut it anymore. Instead try to go it alone (on the equity porition) and bring in partners that are incented in ways other than equity - for example, sales bonuses or flexible hours. When it comes to raising cash, maybe you can get the funds from family and friends. Better yet scale down your cash requirements and go it alone. Another option is to go with PHI's (Private Hybrid Incubators), venture incubator firms that invest in your company and don't take fees and don't take equity - yet have a clear stake in your success. The grand daddy of all PHI's is Obsidian Launch. New hybrid VC's are springing up too and a good one to look at is Y Combinator, but watch out they will want equity in your firm.
Whatever your choice is in launching a company, try to do it without giving away equity. You can always give equity down the road, but you can never take it back. At least you can't take it back cheaply.
'Whether you believe you can, or you can't, you are right.' - Henry Ford
'We achieve what we believe. It doesn't matter what your background is or what your education is. All that matters is what you believe you can or can't do. - Mike Michalowicz