Tony Deblauwe's interview at WorkBabble.com got me thinking. He asked about my motivations to write, about my thoughts on the Silicon Valley and about starting and running new companies.
In particular, I realized that the following questions would be good jumping off points for my thoughts on how to form a startup.
Over the coming weeks, I'm going to describe my experiences with not only my three startups, but with the startups my friends created. As you might expect, while several of my friends took their companies public. More failed. Most started again and saw some degree of success. However, several ended up bankrupt. I'm hoping that by going through these experiences, those of you considering a startup or who are already part of one can avoid the mistakes my friends and I made. Note that even without mistakes, pitfalls await. You will encounter unscrupulous people, greedy investors, employees who will put you and your company at risk, and competitors who will resort to whatever is necessary to ensure you fail.
Balancing all of that is a challenge. We'll get started in my next post.
In particular, I realized that the following questions would be good jumping off points for my thoughts on how to form a startup.
- Given your passion for technology and recreation, how have these two passions influenced your view of how to run a business?
- What are the new challenges for getting start-ups off the ground today versus when you started your first business?
- What guidance would you give new Founders regarding scaling their business?
- Describe the ideal team culture.
Over the coming weeks, I'm going to describe my experiences with not only my three startups, but with the startups my friends created. As you might expect, while several of my friends took their companies public. More failed. Most started again and saw some degree of success. However, several ended up bankrupt. I'm hoping that by going through these experiences, those of you considering a startup or who are already part of one can avoid the mistakes my friends and I made. Note that even without mistakes, pitfalls await. You will encounter unscrupulous people, greedy investors, employees who will put you and your company at risk, and competitors who will resort to whatever is necessary to ensure you fail.
Balancing all of that is a challenge. We'll get started in my next post.
RSS Feed