So tonight I got a text from a friend…actual exchange:
Friend: I have big news!
me: Yeah? What?
Friend: We got engaged!
me: With who?!?
Friend: Seriously? My now fiance Brandon
me: Sorry. havent seen u much the last 6 mos. congrats! heard youre headed to grad school too. when are you having a big nite in boston?
This sums up a lot of my life since being “greenhorn” become a part of it and really since I started grad school in sept. 2008. I have chosen learning about entrepreneurship and building GHC over everything else. Until I started working at oneforty, I attributed part of it to being broke; I was cobbling together odd jobs and living off savings. But now I have a great job with a healthy paycheck, and I still find myself almost always choosing startup life over things normal 25 year olds do.
In a way, tonight was a wake up. But in many ways, it’s just a blip on the radar. I have zero regrets. I’m very proud and grateful for how far I’ve come thus far and still feel like there’s so much still to do, so much to learn and still behind where I need to be; I feel like every moment I work at oneforty and work on Greenhorn Connect, I’m learning so much, it’s sooo hard to want to put it down for any meaningful time.
I’m 25. It feels so old and yet so young. Mark Zuckerberg and LeBron James are less than a year older than me. They remind me to stay hungry and realize there are no limits; if they can do what they’ve done, than the trivial things I can do must be easy.
At the same time I realize that maybe I need to “enjoy” a bit more of my 20s; is the relentless pursuit of startup nirvana really how I should leave every moment of my life, or can I effectively pursue it and still be an average 25 year old every once in a while? I don’t know…but I’m going to try.
Ever wonder what makes a leader great? Ever spend time thinking about what the strengths are in your personality or how you might be able to become more like great people around you? Kevin Vogelsang has and he’s written a book to help you answer those questions. In his just released book “10 Powerful Personas,“ Kevin examines key attributes of 10 different qualities found in leaders. I learned a lot from the book and I’d like to share a few of the lessons here:
1) Leaders come from everywhere
One of the most interesting things about Kevin’s book is the balance in people he uses as examples of different leaders. He uses everyone from General Patton to his football coach to his mother as examples of the different powerful personas to great effect. Because of his wide variety of examples, it made me think about who around me, both famous and friend, that exhibited the traits he describes; it was an excellent reminder that you can really learn from anyone around you if you simply raise your awareness and look for it.
As a young entrepreneur, it’s not easy to understand how venture capital really works. There are tons of horror stories that spread through the community like urban legends and phrases like “Term sheets” and “Down Rounds” can sound foreign. Amidst all of these questions is an aura of uncertainty about how the whole system really works. Fortunately, there’s Jeff Bussgang’s book, Mastering the VC Game to help.
This book should be a must read for any young entrepreneur who thinks they may ever want funding. It’s that good. Here’s a few reasons I love the book:
It Answers My Questions:
For a long time, I’ve had a million different questions about how it all works from start to finish and why certain aspects of the investment process are they way they are. In Mastering the VC Game, Jeff breaks it all down in simple terms that have immeasurably raised my understanding how it all works. He’s also fair to both entrepreneurs and VCs alike, in explaining on how varying motivations can lead to all those conflicts and horror stores we hear about.
Thanks to this book, I now have a basic framework and understanding to build off of should I ever pursue funding. I thought I was going to have to go to a ton of events about funding to understand venture financing, but this book is much clearer than putting together piecemeal information from events.
With the turning of the new year, it’s that time when people make resolutions. Yes, most people make them and soon break them, but I’m hoping to be different. These are issues I’ve recognized and was already working to improve before the New Year. I’m simply using the turning of the year to make these goals public; I think by putting them out there for the world to see, you put a bit more pressure on yourself to deliver. So, below are my resolutions and a few items for how YOU can help me make these all happen.
8 Resolutions in 2010
1) Improve my Punctuality: I’ve had many meetings over the past few months and unfortunately, I’ve had a bad habit of not making it on time to many of them. Sometimes it’s a beyond my control like when the T didn’t run for an hour while Obama spoke at MIT, but often, I’m just not giving myself enough time to get places.
How You can help me:Hold me accountable for punctuality. I’m open to creative ideas. Currently Cort, who films GreenhornTV for me, has it that I owe him a beer for every 5 min late I am. So far, I haven’t been late yet since we made that arrangement.
2) Improve Time Management: As I launched Greenhorn Connect, I took the approach of doing everything all the time. That’s not a good strategy. I’ve gotten better as time has gone by, but I still find myself losing some days to doing things, but not Getting Things Done.
How You can help me:Any suggestions on how I can become more effective and efficient (books, articles or tips) are much appreciated. Thanks Apollo and Mike for your help already!
3) Get Back to the Gym: For my first 6+ years in Boston, I was a regular at Northeastern’s awesome gym, the Marino Center. No matter how busy I was through undergraduate and graduate school, I always made time for the gym every other day. Since I launched Greenhorn Connect, I’ve watched my gym attendance dwindle to not having made it since before Thanksgiving. Fortunately, I have a pull up bar in my apartment and I’ve been getting creative by creating quick 20 minute workouts in my apartment, but it would be much better if I got back to my old workout routines that are a bit more diverse.
4) Get back to Running: I was a pretty good runner in high school on my cross country and track teams. I racked up a few thousand miles in that time and really look back at it as some of my favorite memories from high school. Unfortunately, I’ve never been able to hammer out a routine in Boston that compared and so I’ve progressively lost my endurance. I can’t run on concrete (not that I think anyone really can without injury) and this isn’t suburban PA so I can’t run on the roads. This means I need to get out and take advantage of the 2 great locations near me: the Esplanade and Jamaica Pond. This one will probably wait until spring when weather improves.
How You can help me: I think having the team really helped me stick to my running, so if anyone lives in the Back Bay area and is looking for a running partner or knows of any running groups, let me know. I think I’d be running in the 7-8 min mile pace right now, looking to run 3-5 miles a day.
5) Read a Book per Week: I saw this come across the Twitter scape and thought it was great: Read a Book a Week for a Year. At first I said to myself, “I’m so busy! I don’t have time to read THAT much!” Then I read that post…and I realized, that’s like 30-40 pages a day. That’s not so bad. Ican do that! So, I just started this on Jan 1st and am 3 for 3 as of this writing for getting my pages knocked out each day. As I hopefully progress on this I plan to also write reviews on Greenhorn Connect for the books I like best.
How You can help me:Two ways: 1) Recommend any books you suggest I read. 2)Loan me a book. Yes, I know I can go to a library, but if I borrow it from you, I bet you’ve read it and could then compare thoughts on the book briefly.
6) Post More Often: Keeping the Greenhorn Connect Blog going became my priority over the past couple of months, but now I think it’s starting to stabilize. I like the idea of having things I write here and on Greenhorn Connect (much like there are New Years Resolutions at both places). I’m going to try to commit to posting more often. To help that, I’m going to try adopting a new Seth Godin-like style here where I just write a couple paragraphs about a thought I have and leave it open for continued thought by you and I.
7) Keep learning: Since I started grad school in September 2008, I feel like I’ve been drinking from the fire hose in learning about entrepreneurship. I look at everything I do as a learning experience and that’s led to zero regrets in my somewhat unorthodox journey. I hope to keep that mindset in 2010 and continue to leverage past experiences to develop future success.
How You can help me:Give me constructive criticism. I really take all the advice and feedback I get from people to heart. I find many are apprehensive to give feedback, but it’s the only way you can truly improve. So please…share your advice, suggestions and criticisms…I’m listening, and more importantly, acting on them.
8.) Pay it forward: One of the things I’ve learned over the past few months is that often, you can’t help those that are helping you. Instead, the best thing you can do is pay it forward and help others regardless of what they can do for you. I’ve met with a number of people to share what I’ve learned from Greenhorn Connect and other recent experiences and look forward to helping when and how I can in the future.
How I can help You:Ask! You don’t know unless you try. If I can help you I will.
To me, these are more than resolutions; they’re part of my evolution. I think they actually all tie together as there’s a greater theme of curiosity, learning and organization. Success in one is likely help success in the others. Please comment or contact me if you can help with any of those or I can help you.
Many people have written tips, guides and questions for aspiring entrepreneurs. Many of them are excellent, but I don’t think anyone has captured the essence of the stages a young entrepreneur goes through and specific advice for what they should do at each stage. As part of our efforts at GreenhornConnect.com, we want to create a central location that provides the information that an aspiring entrepreneur needs to go from starting out (Is this for me? What should I do?) to evaluating an idea (What goes into a business plan? How do I build a team?) to being a real business (Do I need investment? What tools should I use?).
In the coming weeks, I’ll be writing different sections of this guide in my blog, pulling from my experiences, what I’ve read and advice I’ve heard from others. If you read this and think something is missing or disagree with any of the advice, please comment; I want this to be the best guide possible and will gladly give you credit for your contribution. Thanks.
You’ve vetted the idea and have a small team, here’s what you do to get serious and launch your business.
1) Get a Name and Social Media set up:
It’s important to have a name for your business. It needs to be simple, memorable and relevant to your area of work. If it’s hard to spell, people won’t remember it. If they don’t see the connection to your business, it can also be forgettable. There are more tips for naming your business here. Make sure the URL for your name is available as a “dot com.” If it’s not, either negotiate to buy it (if it’s not in use) or for another name.
Once you have chosen your name, you need to secure it in social media. Go grab the name on Twitter, create a fan page on Facebook (you don’t have to publish it yet), and secure other social media usernames you think you might use (Youtube, Flickr, etc). If you’re finding that many of them aren’t available, you may want to consider looking for a different name. Dharmesh Shah and Brian Halligan’s book, Inbound Marketing has a great checklist for startups for this area. Start using them to build a buzz for your company before you launch. Get involved in the conversation and gather a following.
2) Choose Your Service Providers
When you get started, the first service provider you’re going to need is a lawyer. Ben Hron of VCReady Law wrote a great post about when it’s time to formalize your business. You definitely do not want to wait too long to do this. Incorporating or forming an LLC not only protects you from personal liability, but it forces you to put in writing your agreements with any partner you have. You can do online forms to get this done yourself , but as the saying goes, “you wouldn’t do your own surgery, so why would you do your own legal work?” Facebook started as a Florida LLC and had to have that undone when they moved to Silicon Valley. Do it right the first time and you’ll save yourself a lot of time and money later.
Once you’ve created your business as a legal entity, you’ll need to get a bank account opened and start keeping good financial records for your business. You can do these yourself, or there are always good bookkeepers and accountants out there to help as your business grows in complexity.
When you’re selecting your service providers, remember that they’re an extension of your business team; choose people you feel comfortable with and who share your vision. You should feel like they’re on your side and can help your business grow and develop. If you feel like your service provider doesn’t understand you or that you have to be on the defensive against them, you should keep looking. It’s worth a week or two delay to find the right one.
3) Get an Alpha Out There (aka – Find Customers)
The best way to prove your idea is to get out there and find customers. This can be a splash page for your website simply asking people to give you their email address if they’re interested in your product (have a few fake screenshots or other information explaining what you are). There’s a lot of great content out there about releasing your Minimum Viable Product (MVP) by Eric Ries and in Steve Blank’s Four Steps to the Epiphany. It’s a lot better to develop your product with your customers giving feedback than trying to prognosticate amongst your team in a bubble. You’ll also build buzz for your product this way.
In the end, any business is about finding people to pay for what you are providing. The incubator program, Y Combinator, emphasizes this best with their shirts they give to new entrants to their program: “Build Something People Want.” Once you find your first customers, you can adapt your product, remove the warts and account for their feedback. Be careful! Though you want to listen to your customers, you do not want to use them to create an infinite feature list. “Feature creep” can easily derail a product. Focus on being very good at a few things and deliver that to customers that are looking for those solutions. This is not easy…we struggle with this at Greenhorn Connect all of the time.
Coming Soon: Part VI: Other Tips for Along the Way
This is ongoing series to try to build a comprehensive, lasting guide for aspiring entrepreneurs. I would greatly appreciate any input in the comments below to make this the best it can be. Thanks!
As the clock struck midnight tonight, a vision was officially only that; GreenhornConnect failed to relaunch as planned on Monday. A series of technical difficulties left us unable to put the site up for you to see in all its glory. We’d been planning this launch, in honor of Global Entrepreneurship Week, for a few weeks and had worked tirelessly to get all of the resources and content in order and start lining up our guest bloggers. After many Monster energy drinks and little sleep, it was a thrilling, but ultimately draining experience. We’re now inching close to the actual launch, but I wanted to hit on a few lessons I learned over the last 48 hours:
1) Nothing…I repeat…Nothing ever goes as Planned
If there’s any complexity to a problem, there will be hiccups. And usually, those hiccups will come where you assumed a task would be quick and easy. We’re all very good at recognizing the big, time consuming tasks we face. Most of us can even budget relatively well how to get them done and project when that will be. BUT, the problem is, those other things, the stuff we assume will be easy are not budgeted for and not planned for and so it is these problems that derail us.
Why is that, you ask? Well, it’s really simple, actually. The more experienced and knowledgeable you are about something, the better you understand it. Those big, time consuming tasks, chances are you’ve done them before, so that’s why you can budget them so well. But those other things…they’re probably something you haven’t done very much of; maybe it’s something you’ve done once in a different way, or it’s a new technique that should make your life easier. Regardless of the reason, it’s the stuff you don’t know that will hurt you.
So what’s the takeaway here?
Leave yourself a cushion for those hiccups to take time to be resolved and try to ask yourself what steps you’re taking for granted.
2) Over Promise, Under Deliver…err….Under Promise, Over Deliver
When you’re a young entrepreneur, you have to build your reputation from scratch. Everything you do is a small token that adds up to credibility and people believing in you. Every time you do something good…whether it’s ask a good question at an event, impress someone with your knowledge in a conversation, follow through on a request by someone, etc, you’re adding another chip to the reputation pot. Unfortunately, when you do something bad…like don’t follow through on a promise, or offend someone or otherwise make yourself look bad, you lose many chips from the reputation pot. Run out of chips and you’re in trouble.
So what am I getting at? If you do good things for awhile, you can get away with a mess up or two, but you still always need to be doing everything in your power to demonstrate your capabilities and why you’re not just another person who muses about being an entrepreneur versus someone who GTD (Gets Things Done).
In the case of the site relaunch, I feel like I really messed up. I promised to a lot of people we’d be relaunching Monday morning and that obviously didn’t happen. My problem was I got hung up on how awesome it would be if we did versus the reality of the fact that we had little margin for error to meet that date. So, to anyone who went to GreenhornConnect.com on Monday and were disappointed to see the same old landing page and resource list, I apologize. I hope you’ll check back today and see how far it’s come and join us on a journey to continue to develop and grow Greenhorn Connect. I hope my enthusiasm and passion for this when we’ve met at events shows through in this and hopefully I have a few chips left in that pot.
So what’s the takeaway?
If you promise less than you know you can deliver, then you’ll wow people when you do more than that. (as opposed to disappoint them…)
3) Do Something You Truly Love
The last thing I want to hit on is the passion of entrepreneurship. Regardless of what your venture is, you have to absolutely love it. It’s gotta be your passion. Even as I saw one of my roommates going out with his girlfriend for the night as I stayed in to work on the site or as the other slept in while I got up to go to a conference, I never second guessed my choices. I love going to entrepreneurship events and solving this problem for new entrepreneurs. If I didn’t love this, there’s no way I’d want to do all the behind the scenes labors that go into making a site like Greenhorn a reality. Motivations of profit are always good and a necessary part of business, but cannot trump passion when you’re starting a business.
When you’re searching for ideas for a startup, remember to look for things you love and problems that relate to them. Solve those problems. Kabir loves music, which led to RiotVine. Fan Bi loves fashion, so he started Blank Label. Matt Webster loves craft beer, so he’s running Drink A Better Brew.
GreenhornConnect is my passion and I’m going to try to exceed all expectations and promises from now on. What’s yours?
Many people have written tips, guides and questions for aspiring entrepreneurs. Many of them are excellent, but I don’t think anyone has captured the essence of the stages a young entrepreneur goes through and specific advice for what they should do at each stage. As part of our efforts at GreenhornConnect.com, we want to create a central location that provides the information that an aspiring entrepreneur needs to go from starting out (Is this for me? What should I do?) to evaluating an idea (What goes into a business plan? How do I build a team?) to being a real business (Do I need investment? What tools should I use?).
In the coming weeks, I’ll be writing different sections of this guide in my blog, pulling from my experiences, what I’ve read and advice I’ve heard from others. If you read this and think something is missing or disagree with any of the advice, please comment; I want this to be the best guide possible and will gladly give you credit for your contribution. Thanks.
You’re takin part in the conversation and have built a network. You finally have that great idea you want to pursue. Now what?
1) Vet Your Idea
Just like you did your homework before going out to networking events, you need to again dig in and do some work. With all of the technology at our fingertips, it has never been easier to research a business. To get started, you need to consider trying the following:
A) Search using Google and Twitter for key terms related to the problem you’re solving. This will give you an idea of how many people have the problem you’re solving as well as show you who your competition may be.
B) Search the companies you found that are competition. Are their customers satisfied? Is your idea superior in some way? Industry forums and message boards are great, free focus groups.
C) Consider how your idea creates value both for the user and your business. You need to be able to make more money than it costs to produce.
D) Talk to your target customers! Understand their problems…confirm or disprove your assumptions.
E) Search out additional resources for suggestions for vetting your idea.
The key is to have answered the basic questions of your business: What is the problem you are solving? How are you solving it? Do you have a basic business model that could be profitable? How are you different than the competition? These are the first questions any fellow entrepreneur you meet will ask you.
2) Build a Team
Everyone remembers having those terrible project groups in school. At times you probably said, “I could do this all myself and it would be done better and faster.” Well, in the real world, you’d often be wrong.
There is great debate over whether solo entrepreneurs are as likely to succeed as teams, and really the answer is that this is a gray area. The type of business idea you have will greatly affect the number of people needed to execute your plan. If it’s a smaller business, it is very likely that you can use consultants and contract work to cover the skills you lack. It has never been easier to do this thanks to sites like 99designs, MFG and Outright.
The best reason for having a team is diversity. You need a variety of skills to run a business as well as the ability to handle many different situations. It is unlikely that you are great at engineering, sales, finance and management. By building a team, you bring multiple perspectives to your business and can focus on what you’re best at. In my experience, just having someone to bounce ideas off of and talk through problems is priceless.
All this being said, if you choose to build a team you have to be very careful in who you choose to be on your team. Choosing a co-founder is like a marriage, only you’ll spend more time with your co-founder than your significant other. You want this person to be a good business compliment as well as someone you get along with, so they may not be your roommate or best friend.
3) Organize Your Thoughts
There is an ongoingdebate over the necessity for writing a business plan, but there is agreement on one concept: you need to think about all the parts that would go into a plan. When you’re getting started, you don’t need to have all the answers to the questions posed in a business plan, but you do need to start thinking about them. When you go out and start talking to people about your idea, those are the questions you will most likely be asked. There are a number of great resources out there to help you with this.
4) Get Out There
The best thing you can do to help your business develop is to get out there. Watch how people react to your pitch and try to refine it. Take note of what questions they have and any issues they raise (try to find some answers). If you have an issue, don’t be afraid to ask others for assistance; often, even if they can’t help you, they’ll refer you to someone who can. Through this process you may even find a key member of your team.
You’ve got an idea, you’re refining it and building your team…
This is ongoing series to try to build a comprehensive, lasting guide for aspiring entrepreneurs. I would greatly appreciate any input in the comments below to make this the best it can be. Thanks!
As I’ve mentioned in my recent series, The Young Entrepreneur’s Guide, it can often be difficult for young entrepreneurs to get “plugged into” the community. Some of this challenge is simply getting comfortable and experiencing the community first hand, but there’s also an issue of knowing what’s out there. To help resolve that, we’re launching GreenhornTV, which will be a weekly webcast covering all the upcoming events for the week as well as highlighting major events to keep your schedule open for in the future. So, without further adieu, here’s episode one for the week of November 9th-16th:
Notes from the show:
MONDAY:
Boston INNOBEER #InnoBeer Description: “Join Boston-area innovators for beer and fun conversation about innovation, social media, and whatever comes up! Cash bar.” Location: the Asgard Pub in Cambridge When: 6:30pm to 9:00pm Price: FREE
Where you’ll see Greenhorn: I’ve never been to InnoBeer, but it sounds great, so I’ll be checking it out.
TUESDAY:
WPI Venture Forum’s Business Plan Competition Final Description: “Inventors and innovators with a new product or process test their business ideas with seasoned professionals, and the judges seek new and fundable ideas.” Location: WPI Campus Center – Odeum Room When: 5:30pm to 8:30pm (Networking then program begins at 6:30) Price: Free for $125 members, $15 for $50 members, $30 non-members
Tech Tuesday Description: “Join your fellow geeks, tech savvy professionals, DIY-ers, press, and other industry luminaries for this informal gathering. Bring your laptops, robots, OLPC XO’s, Amazon Kindles, new cell phones, gadgets, and other new-fangled devices.” Location: Microsoft NERD, 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA When: 6:00pm to 8:00pm Price: FREE Why it’s special: Huge turnouts and great demos including things like Rock Band. Great View at NERD too.
DartBoston’s Capitalize: #Capitalize Description: “Capitalize has been created to help break down the barriers between VC firms and young entrepreneurs in Boston. The goal of the series is to provide young entrepreneurs and students with the experience of what it’s actually like to pitch a start-up to a VC or Angel.” Location:http://www.ustream.tv/channel/capitalize When: Live @ 7:30pm or watch it anytime after Price: FREE (Seats were raffled off to watch in person, check out any DartBoston event to get a chance to attend the next episode in December)
Where You’ll See Greenhorn:Enjoying the big tech loving crowd at Tech Tuesday, then rushing home to watch Capitalize
WEDNESDAY:
Mass Innovation Nights: #MIN Description: Big event featuring: startup presentations, networking, tables for companies to show off their products and “Expert’s Corner”, where service providers like banks, investors, lawyers and other consultants will talk with anyone in attendance in 15 minute blocks. Location: Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation (Waltham, MA) When: 6:00pm – 8:30pm Price: FREE
Where You’ll See Greenhorn: Visiting our friends at BYE and Workbar to hear the great story of Emergent.
THURSDAY:
Ultra Light Startups: Leveraging Social Media: #ULS Description: Hear from leaders in the social media field for best practices and great tips. Featuring: Rick Burnes – HubSpot, Paul Gillin – Social Media Marketer, B.L. Ochman – WhatsNextOnline.com, John Rogers – Local-Motors.com Location: Workbar Boston, 129 South Street, Boston, MA When: 6:30pm to 8:30pm Price: FREE
Where You’ll See Greenhorn:Ultra Light Startups to learn more Social Media tricks then catching up with the after party with Dart.
SPECIAL WEEKEND:
Intersection 2.0 – “The Heart of a Leader” (A White Rhino Event) Description: Two day event ““Exploring the Art of Leadership Together “ Location: Microsoft NERD, 1 Memorial Dr, Cambridge, MA 02142 When: Saturday, 8:15am to 9:00pm, Sunday, 10:30am to 4pm Price: $25 to $65
Why you should check it out: Hear Scotty Smiley – West Point Instructor blinded in an IED explosion in Iraq. After sustaining his injuries, Scotty climbed Mt. Rainier, learned to surf and finished an MBA at Duke!
MassChallenge’s MassAccess: Speed Networking
* The event provides an opportunity for students, entrepreneurs, industry leaders, service providers and investors to discuss innovative ideas and prime future collaboration through speed dating style meetings.
* Cambridge event, Nov. 17th
* Amherst event, Nov. 18th
Web Innovators 24 * Large event featuring informative presentations, companies with tables to present their products, and lots of networking. Bonus: companies that are actively looking to hire wear a sticker with their name tag, so you know who to approach.
* Dec. 7th, 2009
This will be a weekly show, airing on Sunday nights, so stay tuned for future episodes and if you have any feedback or ideas for improving the show, please comment.
If you have an event you’d like featured on GreenhornTV, please send an email to jason [at] greenhornconnect.com and put “GreenhornTV” in the subject line.
Many people have written tips, guides and questions for aspiring entrepreneurs. Many of them are excellent, but I don’t think anyone has captured the essence of the stages a young entrepreneur goes through and specific advice for what they should do at each stage. As part of our efforts at GreenhornConnect.com, we want to create a central location that provides the information that an aspiring entrepreneur needs to go from starting out (Is this for me? What should I do?) to evaluating an idea (What goes into a business plan? How do I build a team?) to being a real business (Do I need investment? What tools should I use?).
In the coming weeks, I’ll be writing different sections of this guide in my blog, pulling from my experiences, what I’ve read and advice I’ve heard from others. If you read this and think something is missing or disagree with any of the advice, please comment; I want this to be the best guide possible and will gladly give you credit for your contribution. Thanks.
You’ve read a lot about startups and love every minute. You’re starting to take interests in specific industries and startups and may have a few ideas of your own. How do you get “plugged in” to the community?
1) What’s Out There?
If you ask any established entrepreneur what events are out there, they’ll tell you that there are too many to count. If you ask the average aspiring young entrepreneur the same question, they’ll give you a blank stare. So how do you go from nothing to trying to be 3 places in the same night?
Similar to reading material mentioned in Part I, there’s an impressive number of events to consider attending. It can be intimidating to get out there at first, so to build your confidence up, here’s a list of the best organizations in Boston for young entrepreneurs:
Most events take place in the evening so it’s a slightly relaxed environment, but it still means you need to be prepared:
Dress the part: No one wears a suit or tie to the majority of these events, so don’t worry too much. Just make sure you’re not wearing that wrinkly, smelly shirt from the corner of your room and that you’re generally put together. A good rule of thumb for dress is that the higher the cost of the event, the better the dress required and if the event is during the day on a weekday, it will also be more formal (usually suits or sports coats with no tie). If in doubt, ask the event organizers or look at pictures from previous occurrences of the event.
Have a Business Card: The reason you’re getting out there is to make connections with others in the community. Business cards are the currency at these events, so make sure you have one. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy, and you’re not expected to have a startup even; simply having a card with your name, email, twitter id, and phone number is very effective. If you don’t have a company, don’t be afraid to list some of your entrepreneurial interests on there (i.e.- “Cleantech Enthusiast”). For about $15 you can get at home business cards that you can make with Microsoft Word and your printer. Most people won’t notice the difference or care.
Have a LinkedIn profile: LinkedIn is your online resume and contacts manager. After events, go on LinkedIn and look up the people whose cards you got. Request to connect with them and mention something about meeting them that night in the request message; people appreciate personalization and it shows you were listening. Don’t feel like you have enough to list on LinkedIn? Add all your work experience you can, including internships and if substantial, volunteer work. If you’ve done any interesting side projects, list them. And of course, go into detail regarding your education, so people see what your skills and interests are.
4) What to Expect
Many of these events are crowded and overflowing with energy. There will be clusters of people talking excitedly about their startup or a topic of interest to entrepreneurs. It can be intimidating at first, but try your best to be confident and extroverted. Remember, if you’ve been reading about the community, there’s a great chance you are familiar with the topic they’re discussing, so don’t be afraid to jump into the conversation. Cort Johnson, the leader of the young entrepreneur organization, Dart Boston, wrote a great piece about what most of the community is like. Be prepared for it and you’ll be fine. Asking a good question will always impress older members of the community as it demonstrates your understanding of a topic and a desire to learn more. Try to think of a few questions that come up as you’re doing your daily reading/skimming and bring them with you to an event.
5) Be Patient
Not every person you meet is going to be the perfect connection and not every event will be of great value to you. Try to take away at least one good contact from each event you attend and make note of what events you like best. Try to return to those events and similar ones. When you meet people you do make a good connection with, ask them what events they like going to and try them out if you haven’t already. After a while of doing this, you’ll settle in and find that there are certain events you look forward to every week and some people that you always see at events. The great thing about seeing the same people is that you can “warm up” by saying hello to them at an event before going out and talking with new people.
6) Keep it in Perspective
Networking is an important part of being an entrepreneur; it helps build the connections that will help you find what you need to make your business successful. It also introduces you to other people with the same “genetic defect” you have, which can be reaffirming. Remember, going to events should be enjoyable and provide some great learning opportunities; if you aren’t having fun, you’re either going to the wrong events or doing something wrong. And if you’re actually missing spending your nights in front of the TV, entrepreneurship may not be for you.
In the end, networking is just a small part of the process of being an entrepreneur. It’s a tool along with many others. Any startup is dependent on customers, which are usually not your fellow entrepreneurs. So, don’t get too caught up in networking and forget about them.
Are you getting your feet wet by networking and attending community events?
This is ongoing series to try to build a comprehensive, lasting guide for aspiring entrepreneurs. I would greatly appreciate any input in the comments below to make this the best it can be. Thanks!
Many people have written tips, guides and questions for aspiring entrepreneurs. Many of them are excellent, but I don’t think anyone has captured the essence of the stages a young entrepreneur goes through and specific advice for what they should do at each stage. As part of our efforts at GreenhornConnect.com, we want to create a central location that provides the information that an aspiring entrepreneur needs to go from starting out (Is this for me? What should I do?) to evaluating an idea (What goes into a business plan? How do I build a team?) to being a real business (Do I need investment? What tools should I use?).
In the coming weeks, I’ll be writing different sections of this guide in my blog, pulling from my experiences, what I’ve read and advice I’ve heard from others. If you read this and think something is missing or disagree with any of the advice, please comment; I want this to be the best guide possible and will gladly give you credit for your contribution. Thanks.
PART I: Starting from Scratch
You recently had the epiphany you want to be an entrepreneur, but really haven’t gotten started yet. Here’s what to do…
1) Is this for You?
When you first decide you are really interested in entrepreneurship, the key is to get informed. It’s easy to say you love startups, but it’s another thing to truly understand what you’re saying. The best way to determine if it is for you is to start reading. Read inspirational articles written by entrepreneurs like Ken Morse, Paul Graham and Mark Cuban. Still interested? Talk to family and friends and try to find people who are entrepreneurs that you can talk to about what it’s like. After hearing about all the challenges, long hours and risk of failure, if you still want to be an entrepreneur, read on…
2) Try EVERYTHING…Be Curious
A key trait of being an entrepreneur is a desire to learn. When you’re getting started, you should try to take in everything you can to learn about different types of startups and roles you can fill in a startup. Fill your Google Reader with industries you’re interested in and blogs in areas you want to learn more about. You don’t have to read every article, just the ones that interest you; simply reading the headlines of the other articles can help you to grasp where different industries are technologically. There are also great websites, magazines, books, and presentations you can check out. Ask other entrepreneurs what they read. Add what you like to your list and leave the rest.
3) Overwhelmed? Don’t know where to start?
If you really need a few starting points, here’s a few sites, blogs and items I personally like best (note: This is somewhat Boston biased, because that’s where I live. Find things in your area to get a view of your local entrepreneurship scene):
The takeaway from this is not to copy me; instead, notice the diversity. There are newspapers, tech focused media, business sources and established entrepreneur blogs. The idea is to get as many perspectives as you can. Try to build a similar list based on your passions and location.
4) Study those you Admire
As you immerse yourself in all of this entrepreneurial content, you’ll start to find certain personalities and businesses keep coming up. Find the ones that resonate most with you and follow them more closely. If the founder of the company has a blog, read it. If they have a book, buy it. If they’re going to be speaking and you have a chance to see them live or on video, watch it. And if you are fortunate enough to have the chance to sit down with them, make the most of it. Focus on how they got where they are. Learn from their mistakes and try to understand what made them successful and emulate that.
Still in love with entrepreneurship after starting the learning process?
This is ongoing series to try to build a comprehensive, lasting guide for aspiring entrepreneurs. I would greatly appreciate any input in the comments below to make this the best it can be. Thanks!
Ever wonder what makes a leader great? Ever spend time thinking about what the strengths are in your personality or how you might be able to become more like great people around you?
As a young entrepreneur, it’s not easy to understand how venture capital really works. There are tons of horror stories that spread through the community like urban legends and phrases like “Term sheets” and “Down Rounds” can sound foreign. Amidst all of these questions is an aura of uncertainty about how the whole system really works. Fortunately, there’s Jeff Bussgang’s book,