A Startup Guy

There’s this image out in the world of the lone entrepreneur anonymously toiling by himself, carving the next great company out of the wilderness with his bare hands. I admit I’ve held that image myself. I think it comes from the stories we hear as kids of Americans being rugged individualists.

But the image isn’t really true. People who accomplish great things, including business startups, do it with help. Lewis had Clark. Hewlett had Packard. Robert E Lee had Stonewall Jackson. Larry Page has Sergey Brin (and Eric Schmidt).

You don’t have to have partners, but you need someone to talk with. Someone you can bounce ideas off of. Someone to brainstorm with. Someone to be an advisor. Someone to call you out when you do dumb stuff. I think author Keith Ferrazi has a new book out about this, Whose Got Your Back.

I spent years trying to go it alone, without much help, advice, support or feedback. It sucks. Don’t do it that way. As I’ve considered this situation I’ve come to realize that I’ve got to get out in the startup world. Mix it up with the upstarts out there. (I really want to name a startup “The Upstarts”!) Find people I can collaborate with, exchange advice with and, sometimes, just shoot the bull with. So I’ve created and scheduled an event named Startups Over Coffee. it’s similar to groups like Geek Breakfast and Startup Drinks, and we’re going to meet at 9am on Saturday, July 11 at Fido coffee shop on 21st Avenue in Nashville. If you’re into startups and in the area, come on by. We’ll be meeting and mixing with other startup enthusiasts. Come share some ideas and grab a great cuppa joe. Who knows what might come out of it.

We’ve already got some smart people signed up for the event and I”m excited to see what happens.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got before launching a business was, “Be sure you have something to sell.” Makes sense. And yet so many Internet entrepreneurs ignore this simple advice.

I think part of the problem is that our point-of-view has been distorted. We often see things through the lens of successful companies like Google or, worse yet, Twitter. Google made money from search – LOTS of it. Twitter still has no discernable business model. And yet they’re rolling in cash. So lots of startups take the stance that they’ll just launch and figure out a business model later. Or figure they’ll get rich from selling ads like Google.

Here’s the truth of the matter. Once you launch, you’re going to be insanely busy. If you can’t figure out a business model in the calm of business planning, you’re not likely going to have time to figure one out in the midst of startup chaos. You need to have a plan on how you’re going to separate your users from their cash. That plan may (probably will) change somewhat after you launch. But you need something to start with.

Even Google couldn’t survive on search. They had to institute selling ads to make money. They are now, essentially, an ad company that uses search and information organization to draw in attention for those ads.

For many startups, the “punt” answer is to sell advertising. Take it from someone who learned the hard way. There is lots of money in online advertising, and most of it already goes to just a handful of companies. You must have thousands, if not millions, of visitors to even begin to make this business model worthwhile. Google succeeded at this because they were first and got it right. A handful of others have picked up enough of the leftover scraps to make it worth their while. You’re too late! It’s already a mature business that is not growing much any more. If this is your business model, STOP NOW! Revise your model to actually have something to sell.

Invest the time now to create something people want to buy. It will make your crazy startup life a little easier later.

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