High-Impact Entrepreneurship

Reprinted from startupweekend.org. See the original post here.

by Lior Levin

In 2011, it was difficult to go more than one week without hearing from a new tech startup that built the latest iPhone or Android app, or that launched the newest and best way to create, manage, and measure your social media profiles. Add to that on demand television and music, and data mining, and you’ve got a pretty well-rounded look at the landscape of tech startups in 2012 and beyond.

For companies building solutions like those mentioned above, it doesn’t take much money or even that much time to launch and start proof of concept. Long gone are the days spent perfecting pitches for investors, venture capitalists, or even crowdfunding partners (although, startups that get funded during seed-stage have been shown to be more successful).

Instead, the whole product is developed, produced, and marketed before investment money is even needed. These affordable, just-in-time products and services are exactly what have shaped the recent past of the tech startup age.

But can it really sustain the future of these companies?

Learning What Works – Two Keys to Success

Sometimes – often times – startup founders are just too close to their own company’s success to actually realize it. Because outside funding is not necessarily needed for so many small tech firms, founders are not given the opportunity – or the mandate – to learn how to grow a business from the ground up from people who have been there and done that.

Key 1: Mentorship

As the author in a recent Harvard Business Review blog post pointed out, there is much more to startup success than technology itself. “Though we enjoy writing about dropout tech legends, most times their success is catalyzed by others — they came up with the ideas and the investors provided the leadership and the non-tech factors (such as pricing models, branding, and promotions, among others) that propelled them to stardom.”

It takes more than a solution, no matter how awesome the solution is, to create success for a company. Mentors can often help startup founders see the forest for the trees, because it’s both normal and expected for startup founders to become consumed with their technology, and to tune out the other critical business factors.

In fact, mentorship is often cited as a huge propeller of success for tech startups. Companies like Y Combinator – a business incubator that provides seed funding for tech startup hopefuls – exist solely to prepare startups for success. According to their website, Y Combinator has funded over 300 startups since 2005. Among them? Such uber-success story companies as Scribd, Wufoo, and Posterous.

Key 2: Long-Term Vision

One of the side benefits of mentorship is the old adage that two heads are better than one. And sometimes, another person can help tech startup founders – who often go it totally alone – with long-term vision and planning. An article published on yespartners.com suggested that recent statistic evidence shows venture capitalists are more likely to fund companies in areas with high human capital – such as New York. “Experts think that top talent can be a silver bullet for many of the problems that ail a startup, such as a disorganized long-term vision.”

With no long-term vision, these companies are like annual flowering plants with shallow roots. They are easily trampled, victims of bad weather, and die every year, only to be replaced by others just like them.

After all, that’s where the money is, anyway – in the long-term vision. Big investors don’t plan to waste any more time or money in cool ideas that don’t get very far. It’s one thing to create an app or service that is very cool and that all of your friends would pay $1 for. It’s quite another thing to turn that money into profit.

Rest Assured, There is a Future for Tech Startups

No matter what the failure rate is for tech startups, there is no reason for anyone with an excellent idea to not pursue it. Not only is there money to be made, but there are great technological innovations waiting in idea stage for someone with creativity, intelligence, and passion to bring them to life.

There’s no reason for tech startups with promising products and services to go unnoticed anymore, with all of the many resources for leadership, planning, financial support, and programs to bring great minds together to build and sustain profitable companies. The future of tech startups is indeed very bright. All they need are a few helping hands.

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Lior Levin is a marketing consultant for the Tel Aviv University’s department of security, and who also consults for a neon sign store that provides custom neon signs.

Reprinted from under30ceo.com. See original post here.

By Daniel Stringer

Many small business owners have adopted the philosophy that “no one will care as much or work as hard as the owner.” While this may be true of individual circumstances, painting the entire entrepreneurial landscape with this broad brush is really far from accurate. Sure, if employees don’t have a stake in the company, they may not carry the same weight or responsibility as those who do, but the reality is someone’s work ethic, character, and commitment are not all motivated by simply the ownership percentage he/she may or may not have. If that were the case, you wouldn’t see any employee going above and beyond; taking the company they work for to the next level through hard work and dedication. You would never see teams come together weathering through tough economic times to regain success and overcome challenge. You would never see a young professional give his/her entire career advancing through the ranks of an organization making an impact in ways too vast to even define.

So why is it that entrepreneurs, leaders, and managers seem to see their teams and employees more as a necessary evil rather than a valued asset? Instead of believing in their team, they are just waiting for them to fail only to reinforce this belief that “no one will care as much or work as hard as the owner”.

We’ve seen a shift in our culture over the last 50 years or more. There is a lack of loyalty between the employees and the companies who employ them. The above saying is common enough but what if the cultural shift we’ve seen also has to do with this idea: “Leaders, Managers, and Owners will always care more and fight to protect their own interests before the consideration of those they employ and lead.” While I don’t think this should be true, I wonder how often it is true…

A leader doesn’t have to say these words to communicate to the team that they are expendable, valued for what they produce over who they are, and protected only when in the best interest of the owner, leader, and/or manager.

Loyalty isn’t something to be demanded from those you lead. It’s something to be inspired by first demonstrating it. Respect is earned before reciprocated. Trust is given once proven.

Entrepreneurs and leaders can fault the disloyalty and lack of commitment on the part of the working population but will never find a solution to this until their leadership is first analyzed. A leader leads from the front. A committed team responds to a committed leader. A loyal team responds to a loyal leader. A trustworthy team responds to a trustworthy leader. And a team capable of working and caring far more to advance the mission of the organization than even those who have a stake in the equity is possible. But it starts at the top.

We’ve had employees who do not carry forward the vision of our company like we do. And they’ve had to make the transition off the team. But we also have team members who work harder, have greater skill, and just as much passion for what they do than anyone else who could fill their role. Great organizations are not built on the commitment of one person but on the backs of a team who all adopt the vision as their own; advancing it forward with passion, commitment, and determination to see it fulfilled.

–

Daniel Stringer is a successful entrepreneur and musician and has traveled all over the world. While touring with the Phoenix Boys Choir in 1999, he recorded the world-renown CD, Penderecki’s Credo at the Oregon Bach Festival, which later went on to win a Grammy Award in 2001 for Best Choral Performance. He founded and managed the non-profit organization, Phoenix Rock For Life, and has built 2 successful companies since: Total Care Connections and Stringer Associates. He was ranked as one of the top 35 entrepreneurs under 35 years old for 2010 and his company has been featured on PBS, Phoenix Magazine, AZCentral.com, Arizona Republic, and Inside Business.

Reprinted from womenentrepreneursecrets.blogspot.com. See original post here.

By Jack Canfield

Good things come to those who ask!

Asking for what you need is probably the most underutilized tool for people. And yet, amazing requests have been granted to people simply because they’ve asked for it!

Whether its money, information, support, assistance, or time, most people are afraid to ask for what they need in order to make their dreams come true.

They might be afraid of looking needy, ignorant, helpless, or even greedy. More than likely, though, it is the fear of rejection that is holding them back. Even though they are afraid to hear the word no, they’re already saying it to themselves by not asking!

Do you ask for what you want or are you afraid of rejection?

Consider this: Rejection is just a concept. There is really no such thing as rejection! You’re not any worse off by hearing no than you were before you asked. You didn’t have what you asked for before you asked and you still don’t, so what did you lose?

Being rejected doesn’t hold you back from anything. Only YOU hold yourself back. When you realize that there’s no merit to rejection, you’ll feel more comfortable asking for things. You may just need a bit of help learning how to ask for what you want.

How to Ask for What You Want

There’s a specific science to asking for and getting what you want or need in life. And while I recommend you learn more by studying The Aladdin Factor, here are some quick tips to get you started:

1. Ask as if you expect to get it. Ask with a positive expectation. Ask from the place that you have already been given it. It is a done deal. Ask as if you expect to get a “yes.”

2. Assume you can. Don’t start with the assumption that you can’t get it. If you are going to assume, assume you can get an upgrade. Assume you can get a table by the window. Assume that you can return it without a sales slip. Assume that you can get a scholarship, that you can get a raise, that you can get tickets at this late date. Don’t ever assume against yourself.

3. Ask someone who can give it to you. Qualify the person. Who would I have to speak to get… Who is authorized to make a decision about… What would have to happen for me to get…

4. Be clear and specific. In my seminars, I often ask, “Who wants more money in their life?” I’ll pick someone who raised their hand and give them a quarter, asking, “Is that enough for you?” “No? Well, how would I know how much you want? How would anybody know?”

You need to ask for a specific number. Too many people are walking around wanting more of something, but not being specific enough to obtain it.

5. Ask repeatedly. One of the most important Success Principles is the commitment to not give up.

Whenever we’re asking others to participate in the fulfillment of our goals, some people are going to say “no.” They may have other priorities, commitments and reasons not to participate. It’s no reflection on you.

Just get used to the idea that there’s going to be a lot of rejection along the way to the brass ring. The key is to not give up. When someone says “No”— you say “NEXT!” Why?

Because when you keep on asking, even the same person again and again…they might say “yes”…

…on a different day
…when they are in a better mood
…when you have new data to present
…after you’ve proven your commitment to them
…when circumstances have changed
…when you’ve learned how to close better
…when you’ve established better rapport
…when they trust you more
…when you have paid your dues
…when the economy is better
…and so on.

Kids know this Success Principle better than anyone. They will ask the same person over and over again without any hesitation. (can you relate?)

Getting a good perspective on rejection and learning how to ask will make a world of difference for you as you work toward your goals. Practice asking and you’ll get very good at it! You’ll even speed your progress by getting what you need, or improving yourself in order to get it later.

Make a list of what you need to ask for in all areas of your life, and start asking.

Remember, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE… if you dare to ask!

Jack Canfield is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. His success tips are offered are www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com.

Reprinted from Endeavor Brazil’s Endeavor Mag. See original post here.

By Cássio Spina

Translated by Jack Connor

The term Angel Investor, or Business Angel, was coined in the U.S. in the early twentieth century to describe investors who bankrolled the production costs of Broadway plays, taking risks and providing implementation assistance in order to take part in the financial rewards. The concept evolved into investments made by individuals, usually professionals or successful entrepreneurs in start-ups, providing not only financial capital but also intellectual support for an entrepreneur through their experience and knowledge. This is how it ended up being known as Smart Money.

For their investment, the Angel-Investor receives a minority equity share and has no executive position in the company, rather acting as an advisor guiding entrepreneurs and participating in strategic decisions, greatly increasing their chances of success as well as accelerating development.

The angel investment in a company is usually done by a group 2-5 investors, both for dilution risk as well as to share the commitment. It is worth noting that the current trend for performing the most efficient angel investment is by designating an investor-leader (Lead Investor or, sometimes just as a Deal Leader) that makes the pre-project evaluation and negotiates with the entrepreneur, which is then presented to other angel investors (in this case called followers). With this investment method the process is faster and more effective, as accomplishing the whole process as a group can be exorbitantly slow, since it can be a challenge to reconcile investors’ schedules for even a simple meeting, not to mention that consensus can take months to reach.

Of course, the lead investor must receive additional compensation for his added dedication, not necessarily in money, but by having a different percentage share of the business, as they must make more time available to accomplish this whole investment process. Nothing prevents a single angel investor from acting as a business leader for one company and a follower for another, it actually allows them to increase productivity and opportunities. On the other hand, if the main activity of the angel investor is with another company, and they have little willingness to engage in the entire investment process, it is recommended that they become a follower.

Endeavor is pleased to make public the following transcript from a presentation at the 2011 Endeavor Entrepreneur Summit in San Francisco. The event, which assembled over 450 entrepreneurs and global business leaders, featured dozens of entrepreneurship-related presentations by top CEOs and industry experts.

Overview: Salim Ismail, successful angel investor and entrepreneur, former vice president of Yahoo! and current executive director of Singularity University discusses what Singularity University is and does and how technology will radically change the future.

Bio: Salim is a successful angel investor and entrepreneur – his last company, Angstro, was acquired by Google in August 2010. He has operated seven early-stage companies and is a frequent speaker on internet technologies, private equity and entrepreneurship. For the last two years, Salim has been the Executive Director of Singularity University, which is training a new cadre of leaders to manage exponentially growing technologies. Prior to that, Salim was a Vice President at Yahoo! and the Head of Brickhouse, Yahoo!’s internal ‘ideas factory’ where game-changing ideas were brought in, built and launched. The unit analyzed thousands of ideas and launched four products during that year, the latest being Fire Eagle. He also serves as co-founder and Chairman of Confabb.com, co-founded PubSub Concepts and is also on the board of Breakthrough (www.breakthrough.tv), a global human rights organization focused on violence against women, racial justice, and immigrant rights. He Twitters his thoughts at @salimismail.

From the full remarks:

Salim: Singularity University is a nonprofit organization in Silicon Valley. We are a nonprofit and educational university founded by Google, Nokia, Kauffman Foundation, etc. And we basically pivot around the idea that computing is going up exponentially. You are familiar with Moore’s law, right? It shows that price performance of computing has been doubling every 18 months for 60 years. And this is driving a lot of the innovation and underpinning a lot of the destruction that is happening in the world today.
(more…)

Endeavor is pleased to make public the following transcript from a presentation at the 2011 Endeavor Entrepreneur Summit in San Francisco. The event, which assembled over 450 entrepreneurs and global business leaders, featured dozens of entrepreneurship-related presentations by top CEOs and industry experts.

Overview: Andre Ferreira (Ernst & Young, Brazil) describes the economic prospects of Brazil in an intimate Q&A session. Andre Ferreira works in strategic growth markets for Ernst and Young in Brazil.

Transcript:

Andre: Today the objective is to understand what you guys are looking for with Brazil and Latin America. So would you like to know a little about Brazil? The size? The issues?

Question: Issues and culture and how you perceive foreigners.

Andre: Recently we had a great newspaper, a financial newspaper. In the first page we saw that Brazil is issuing visas for foreigners working in Brazil at a higher level than ever before. Nowadays we have few resources in terms of human capital. This has become a challenge nowadays so foreigners are very welcome. In Brazil, one of the challenges is the government. They do not provide enough resources for our population. In the last 8 years, we faced a huge change. More than 40 million people went from the poor to the middle class. And they are looking for health assistance, for education, so those kinds of businesses became very huge businesses. As a result, there are a lot of people we need to prepare to work. This is good for education and in the coming years we will have better prepared people. In the last five years, three or four or five private university companies became listed companies. We have an issue, which is education, but we also have opportunity for the companies that are looking to fill those positions. It is the same in the health field.

This is a picture of Brazil. We have the regulation, but it is not so clear. The rules are references, not to be fully in compliance with. We used to say that we pay taxes as the richest country, but we receive as a poor country. This is why there are a lot of opportunities for private companies that fulfill those needs. Nowadays, Brazil is experiencing a boom due to the transition and change of power. More than that, we have those sporting events in 2014 and 2016 and we need more infrastructure facilities. This is also a challenge because we need some investment from the government. When we look at Brazil 10 years ago and we look at Brazil now, we notice a dramatic change and many opportunities. In the beginning of any company and any business, there are few resources, few management resources, few human resources, but nowadays everyone is looking for ways to invest in Brazil. There are a lot of opportunities. My suggestion depends on your business. You can have different ways to get there. You have to evaluate very well and try to find a reliable company to invest in. (more…)

Reprinted from Mariano Amartino’s blog, Denken Über.

Original post here; translation appears below, followed by the original version in Spanish.

By Mariano Amartino

Translated by Jack Connor

The people at Endeavor just released this video which is a collection of more than 200 interviews with selected entrepreneurs asking the question “How can a country where everything seems to be going bad have such a thriving Technology community?” And it’s interesting to see that the numbers show this sector is still growing.

Now it’s interesting to see a detail that many people miss, which is the constant back and forth that exists in every healthy ecosystem in existence; for example, mentoring and strategic advice form a part of the individuals and the network which the video mentions.

In the video they name several entrepreneurs who have been successful in their time and who are now more generous than anyone could’ve hoped; some examples from the video include Wences Casares, Marcos Galperin, and Andy Freire (it would be impossible to mention all of them without forgetting someone). But something which particularly caught my attention is how they map out Argentine tech companies created since 1999 until today (within their range of influence, not 100% of them), and how they measure the influence of each one based on three parameters:

- Were mentors for other entrepreneurs
- Invested in other business
- New businesses created by ex-employees

Which is coherent enough to understand the relationships which exist in this market. Looking close up you’ll see that the world is smaller than could’ve been imagined, and that the relationship between influential businesses (based on these three parameters) with other less influential enterprises is gigantic.

Now this leaves me thinking that if in this complicated, competitive, and jealous business environment we have been capable of creating more than 81,000 employees and more than $1.5 billion in revenue…What would we be capable of doing if we amplified the spectrum of influence over small and innovative businesses?. Putting forth an example: looking strictly at the numbers from Patagon’s exit its weight is incomparable relative to that of Digital Ventures, but looking at the video you’ll see that the positive, multiplicative influence on this ecosystem makes its importance come closer thanks to constant investing activity (un example of two people who always surprise me by their generosity: Casares y Voltes, who are always available to give advice or respond to an email.)

Backtracking a little, if in this time period there were no accelerators or incubators (now there are two), and no specialized funds (now there are also two), if big business has a presence in this market (from MSFT to Google), and now there is a technology district and a National Agency of Science and Technology, why can’t we make this effect even bigger?

Where I’m going with this is that in order to sustain the success of these businesses (beyond just financial exit strategy) and ensure that there is an inspirational environment, an analysis is necessary of who are the successful nodes, how these nodes inspire others (because inspiration is invaluable when it’s real) and what makes these nodes successful to society so that we know what we should replicate and what we should not.

I don’t know if the phrase “multiplier effect” is correct or not, but we should, as an industry, see if we can really measure the influence of the people in our market so that we can learn from these parameters to compete better and more often…against others who may have a better infrastructure, but not the same spirit.

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Original Spanish version

El efecto multiplicador: o como una red de emprendedores crea un ecosistema

La gente de Endeavor acaba de liberar este video que es un resúmen de más de 200 entrevistas a emprendedores de los seleccionados por ellos y preguntando ¿como puede ser que un país donde todo parece estar mal puede tener una comunidad tecnológica tan grande? Y es interesante ver que los números muestran que el sector sigue creciendo casi sin parar.

Ahora es interesante ver un detalle que muchos pasan por alto que es el constante ida y vuelta que se fomenta en cualquier ecosistema sano que exista, por ejemplo el mentoring o los consejos estratégicos forman parte de la cultura de algunas personas y de esa red que se menciona.

Dentro del video se nombra a algunos tipos que marcaron hitos en su momento y que hoy son bastante más generosos de lo que uno puede esperar; algunos ejemplos del video: Wenceslao Casares, Marcos Galperin o Andy Freire (y otros que sería imposible mencionar sin olvidar a alguno) pero si algo me llamó la atención es como mapearon las empresas de tecnología creadas en Argentina desde 1999 hasta hoy en día (dentro de su rango de influencia no el 100% de ellas) y como miden la influencia de cada una en base a tres parámetros:

- Fueron mentores de otros emprendedores

- Invirtieron en otras empresas

- Nuevas empresas creadas por ex empleados

Lo cual es bastante coherente para entender la relación que existe en este mercado, si uno mira de cerca va a ver que el mundo es más chico de lo que imagina y que la relación de empresas influyentes (basadas en estos tres parámetros) con otras menos influyentes es gigante.

Ahora, esto me deja pensando que si en este ambiente complicado, mercado competitivo y celoso, somos capaces de haber generado más de 81.000 empleos y más de u$s1.500 millones en ingresos en 2010… ¿que seríamos capaces de hacer si logramos ampliar el espectro de influencia de las empresas más chicas e innovadoras? Pongo un ejemplo: si uno mira los números fríos del exit de Patagon el peso relativo sobre Digital Ventures es incomparable pero si uno mira los parámetros del video va a ver que la influencia positiva o multiplicadora sobre el ecosistema se acerca un poco gracias a la acción constante de los fundadores (ej de dos personas que siempre me sorprenden por su generosidad: Casares y Voltes que están siempre dispuestos a dar un consejo o responder un mail).

Entonces vuelvo un poco atrás ¿si en este tiempo no había ni aceleradoras/incubadoras (ya hay dos), ni había fondos especializados (ya hay dos), si toda empresa grande tiene presencia en el mercado (desde MSFT hasta Google) y ahora hay hasta un distrito tecnológico y una agencia nacional de ciencia y tecnología porque no podemos hacer que este efecto sea más grande aún?

A que voy con esto a que así como sostengo que las cosas hay que hacerlas bien (más allá del éxito financiero) o que hay modas inspiracionales (“hu hu hurra.. da todo de vos!”) es necesario un análisis de quienes son los nodos exitosos, de como estos nodos inspiran a otros (porque la inspiración es valiosa cuando es real) y de que es lo que hace que estos nodos sean útiles a la sociedad para saber que cosas replicar y que cosas no.

No sé si la frase “efecto multiplicador” es correcta o no, pero deberíamos (como industria) ver si realmente se puede medir la influencia o no de las personas en nuestro mercado y que podemos aprender de esta parametrización para poder mejorar y así competir más y mejor… frente a otros que tienen mejores infraestructuras pero no sé si tanto espíritu.

Reprinted from informationarbitrage.com. See original post here.

By Roger Ehrenberg

For me, investing in seed stage companies has never been about making money: it has been about passion. Passion for the mission. Passion for the founders. Passion for those in and around the company. Yes, making money is always the hope but not the objective function I’m solving for. In my experience if I get the passion right, the money often (but not always) follows. I can honestly say that I haven’t invested in a company for which I did not have passion. “This founder’s great and it’s sure to be a money-maker but I hate what they do” are not words that have ever passed through my mind or over my lips. Being partnered with founders and helping them build their businesses is simply too difficult and too emotional for it to be a clinical exercise. Without passion, being a venture capitalist would an absolute nightmare, at least for this investor.

But one of the hardest things I have to do is to distinguish between passion and performance, and to provide real guidance and support when it is required. It is a very fine line between being helpful and being domineering, and it is also important to balance the company’s needs with the skills, abilities and interests of its founders and employees. This is particularly challenging as companies scale. Sometimes founders can rise to the challenge of ramping an organization and all it entails, while other times they are better suited to narrower roles that play better to their strengths. Even while this might be the right thing for the company, it is still often an emotional transition and one that needs to be handled with thought and care by the founders, other members of senior management and the Board. Falling in love with a company and its founders can be dangerous if challenging, honest conversations can’t be had and difficult but necessary management changes can’t be made. The most important thing for a fiduciary to remember – be they outside investors, independent Board members or founders – is the focus on doing the best thing for all shareholders. Bringing everything back to this core principle helps focus everyone’s attention while making the difficult decisions a little bit more straight-forward.

That all said, it is still hard as hell to provide painful feedback to people whom you care deeply about but who simply need to do better job or else shift roles. Just because it may be the right thing to do doesn’t make it any easier, and passion for both the people and the companies makes this important task even more challenging. But as a partner to management I owe it to the founders and to other shareholders to step up and have the necessary “tough love” conversations. Because if not me, then who?