How can you reduce the risks of entrepreneurship?

Don't put all your eggs in one basket! - Strategic Investment: Balance your investment in a bootstrapped startup by starting small with a MVP. Avoid putting all your income and savings into it at once. Reinvest profits and allow the business to scale sustainably. - Diversify Revenue Streams: Experiment with different revenue streams but don't spend too long on unproductive ventures. Focus on the revenue streams that make economic sense. - Target Diverse Customer Segments: Expand your customer base. Avoid relying heavily on a single customer group to mitigate the risk of sudden market changes or fluctuations in demand. - Explore New Markets: Expand to new geographical locations or demographics. This helps spread risk across multiple markets.

Hay mucho contenido teorico sobre esto, pero puedo aportar en una historia de "aprender a las duras". Después de hacer EXIT de mi empresa a ebay en el 2011, pensaba que sabía como crear startups y venderlas. Después de salirme de ebay, tenía la gran idea de construir el airbnb de Latam. Invertí mis ahorros y logré levantar $ de 22 inversores. Con más de $2M fui desde la idea a comenzar en 5 paises sin hablar con clientes que teníamos y sin se?ales de PMF. Confiabamos demasiado en la idea. Pero no funcionó y tuvimos que pivotear, pero ya nadie quería invertir en nosotros. Habíamos gastado todo el dinero y no habíamos logrado los KPIs que necesitabamos para levantar una Series A. Fue un fracaso doloroso que me generó 6 meses de depresión

Another way to validate is to seek mentorship. Don't hesitate to reach out to experienced entrepreneurs or industry experts for guidance and insights. Learning from others' successes and failures can help you navigate the entrepreneurial journey with greater confidence and foresight.

Strategic partnerships, particularly in the field of defense innovation and emerging technologies, can be a powerful tool for growth and success. Partnering with more experienced individuals or organizations can provide access to a wealth of knowledge, resources, and networks that can significantly enhance your strategic initiatives while minimizing your risks.

For any venture I'd consider now, the first thing I'd think of is why could I uniquely succeed at this particular venture? High growth startups and even personal businesses can be so hard that you don't want to just jump on an idea you come across if there isn't a compelling fit - i.e. founder-idea fit. Carefully match the proposed venture with your unique experiences, strengths, and advantages.

A great way to build against uncertainty is to diversify your product and service offerings. This shields you from market fluctuations and uncovers new revenue possibilities. No more relying on a single product or service. The easiest way to do this is to widen your product range or tap into adjacent product opportunities. Consider your options: 1. One-time product payments 2. Subscriptions 3. Community offers 4. Live events 5. Recurring payments The point is to offer your product to people in the way they want to consume it at a price they feel comfortable paying.

Continuously monitor industry trends, technological advancements, and customer preferences to spot new revenue-generating possibilities and stay one step ahead of the competition.

I would suggest going All in! Diversification of income gives you a second option, but a direct impact to your brain for personal motivation is the best way.. But it's also the most risky option.

Having different forms of incomes is crucial in 2023. Offering different types of programs in different formats is a great way to reach multiple clients and at multiple price points. You can have your 1:1 offering which is your high ticket service, then a course for your middle ground and you can offer some kind of master class as a low ticket option. Other great formats are subscription models or having downloadable guides that customers can purchase from your website.

Starting a new business is always a significant personal risk, especially if starting on your own or with a small group of co-founders. Here are a few tips I would give to any founder: - Make sure you have a "safety mattress" prepared: save enough money to cover all your expenses for at least six months in case you end up without income. - If you have a full-time job, the safe option is not to quit until your startup generates revenue. - leverage your skills to gain some extra income - provide consultancy and training if your profession allows it Having multiple sources of income and a safety mattress allows you to make bolder moves with your startup and take on some additional risks while staying financially safe.

Be lean and mean. Embrace the "lean startup" approach: Start small and prioritize essential expenses, ensuring you have a solid foundation before scaling up, which reduces the strain on your cash flow.

When you first start your business all the money you will make from your business will be spent on your business. You need to be extremely careful with your spending and very intentional where you spend your money and what the ROI is. Some of the things that can add up and a lot of people forget about are: - subscriptions - tech marketing tools (try to streamline and do your homework to find platforms that are multipurpose)

In an early stage start-up it's easy to over complicate the cash flow models. Most start-ups are small and the revenue lines/business models simple. Don't overcomplicate the numbers, keep it simple and make sure your projections are backed by strong assumptions. Note down the assumptions you do make and reassess regularly to ensure that they are still valid. Be prepared to change in the face of new information.

3 types of actions can help: 1. Leverage all non-dilutive funding options to increase your company cash. You have to be on the look, many are available for early-stage: subsidies, incubator/accelerator fundings, small bank loans, etc... 2. Build a simple yet efficient cash flow forecast model to be able to anticipate cash status in the next few months. Update twice per month with the latest info you may have (new customers or churn, new hirings, bank account statement...). It is vital to stay close to the cash situation; only a founder can do that in the first 2 years. 3. Make sure you optimize your customers payments. You need to negotiate payments in advance as much as possible. Even if it means offering a small discount.

Never forget the Pareto Principle: 80% of your Revenues come from 20% of your Customers. The rest is... commentary. Realize that Intense Competition drives profits into the ground. And before you know it, you might be already digging... Are you "competing" too much?

Use a Score mentor. Its free and confidential and is essentially a wisdom council for the life of your business. go to Score.org

Once an idea is validated, you are off to a good start. However, at this point, the journey has just begun. Initial stages of entrepreneurship are fraught with a variety of challenges and risks. Looking back, I am glad that I had co-founders to brainstorm with and be each other's emotional support. Together we were able to sustain the startup journey of 6+ years through ups and downs. Tapping into a community of fellow entrepreneurs is a great way to learn from and get input on issues. Recruiting experienced advisors is another way to reduce risk of poor decisions.

In my experience, as a board room consultant and innovation facilitator, and according to scientific research top performing teams combine both great DIVERSITY with high TOLERANCE. Especially tolerance is a huge challenge in teams of consultants as most of them consider themselves as SUPERSTARS (in the making) and behave as ‘prima donnas’. The two key to getting tolerance in a team of superstars are: mutual interdependence and trust. The big dillemmas for clients to be solved create awareness of being dependent on each other to be able to perform at top level. After this awareness comes the trust that the team can create anazing client solutions which will spark the tolerance needed.

When you have a strong and reliable team you will feel supported and it will reduce the sense of anxiety. A lot of people make the mistake of hiring people that are not as smart as them. I think this is a huge miss because having a strong team and smart team will also boost your capabilities. You want to have people who have completely different skill sets than you.

Building a strong team means getting them excited about the mission and vision of the business. It can seem daunting and over confident of a start up to say they are going to change the world - but dream big. Inspire your team to work towards a shared goal and morale and motivation will remain high. To do this you must have a clear vision of what you want to achieve and know how to communicate it. Building the brand happens just as much internally as externally. Letting your team be a part of building the vision rather than dictating what it will be is essential. However, do not assume that your team understand what you are building unless it has been communicated. As a leading you need to light the way, but remember to explore together.

Balancing Success & Failures - You can’t learn from your mistakes by focusing only on successes… - And you can’t succeed by analyzing only your failures…

It is widely held lore at Amazon Web Services that there's "no compression algorithm for experience". Surround yourself with people that offer feedback, guidance, and support. It is lonely at the top. Have external voices. Listen to those that have no self-interest in the outcome. Other founders and entrepreneurs are often very willing to mentor and support others. Learn from, and be guided by, the experience of others.

Oftentimes, we don't see our own flaws. We have a "blind spot" when it comes to our weakest areas that need improvement. This is why utilizing feedback is key. First, seek feedback from your team and ask where you could improve. Don't take the feedback you are given personally. Instead, use the feedback as an opportunity to grow. View it as a helping hand that will strengthen your skills in weaker areas; ultimately making you a stronger individual.

Fiercely defend your ideas, but remember to listen to feedback and adapt as necessary along the way. Folding under the pressure of debate can be just as detrimental to ideation as not taking feedback onboard. Train yourself and your team not to take feedback personally, put every idea through a gauntlet of criticism to ensure that it comes out of the other end stronger and more targeted. Negative feedback from customers is the only feedback that truly matters. It is always great to hear positive feedback, and get rave reviews, but it is the unhappy customers that shine a light on areas for improved. That's not to say you should seek to gain negative reviews, but you should analyse them deeply and honestly to find the improvements required

Implement data analytics tools to gather quantitative feedback from your audience. These insights can uncover trends and patterns.

If you aren't ready to dedicate 24/7 to your start-up, don't do it. If you have a family and they are not 100% behind the effort you must give, don't do it.

In my experience, the key is to treat the journey more like a marathon than a sprint. In a marathon, you still need to put in a solid amount of effort but you're constantly mindful of your pace and energy levels. Going too strong out of the gate, a mistake I made with my first startup - PUSH, definitely caused me to burn out and slow down significantly before re-calibrating and picking things back up. My advice: - Monitor your energy levels, ask yourself: am I still enjoying the work? Am I waking up energized or lacking motivation to work? If the answer starts to dip to the latter, time to schedule in a break. - Consciously plan breaks way in advance, lock them into your calendar and inform your team as early as possible.

The concept of work-life balance is misleading and to be quite honest, dangerous. It sets people up for failure in so many ways. A better concept is harmony. How can you harmoniously work and live your life? Abandon the “balance” and focus on giving value and to the right people at the right times.

Time blocks for self-care is key to ensure some sort of balance with start up life. For me, that means a time block of yoga or running 3-4 times a week. Test which times of the day you are more likely to get it done. For me, if it's not done by lunch it's less likely to happen. I notice a huge impact on my productivity and clarity of thought if I fail to get these time blocks in each week. P.S. Extra points for a calendar colour code system! :)

Entrepreneurship is not for everyone. It can be a great ticket to mental stress, relationship strain, financial troubles and self-doubt if one doesn’t learn to deal with the uncertainties. I always set aside time on the calendar to spend with family and some personal leisure time. Without that, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy upsides like time freedom, leverage, financial outcomes and impact. I feel before going all-in, it’s always better to validate the concept on the side and get some cash flow going. And it’s better to ease the family into entrepreneurship and gain their support which also helps navigate mental stress due to lack of support.

He tenido la suerte de haber tenido 3 exits, pero fue muy doloroso superar mis más de 20 fracasos. Es muy importante el descubrir y conectar con el propósito de cada uno. Solo así podremos tener nuestra mejor versión y dar el ejemplo de liderazgo. Fundamental empoderar a nuestros colaboradores, asociarlos, buscar su desarrollo personal y profesional. Estar a disposición de ellos. Generar Comunidad. Conectar la visión con las prioridades del a?o, del trimerstre, de la semana y del día. Todo al calendario y cada hora esté conectada con las prioridades propuestas. FOCO! Finalmente poner las prioridades personas por encima de las profesionales. Sumar a tu familia a la definición de las mismas para que te acompa?en en el proceso.

Make an impact larger than your own life, like Gautam Buddha did, Steve Jobs die Businesses die and are born but the impact never dies, it lasts way longer than your death

Entrepreneurship can be helpful in many ways outside of revenue streams. It helps us understand and learn the process of many business skills that apply to the rest of our daily lives. Don’t want to take too much risk but still learn from the process? Start a side gig by selling something you care for (a product that you can get in bulk or even make) and see how the experience goes. If it goes slow then you didn’t have a lot of upfront expenses or risk, but if you start getting traction you may have another revenue stream or even open doors to other opportunities. At the least, you will feel empowered that you took action and that’s the fuel of entrepreneurship. Good luck out there!

I like to share with you that in a culture that embraces risk, change and innovation FAIL stands for ‘FIRST ATTEMPT IN LEARNING’. Encourage others in your organisation to explore, experiment and learn by sharing this quote ???.

Entrepreneurial risk is often overstated by popular culture and social norms. Other career paths are often just as risky while being subject to circumstances out of one's control: layoffs, relocation mandates, office politics, burnout, lifestyle creep, depression, workplace injuries, etc. Job security in the private sector is largely a myth in this era of Zoom firings. Besides, there is a more insidious and pernicious risk people rarely speak of- one to your spirit and well-being- the constant energy drain from living passively in fear of tomorrow, as faceless institutions control your life and environment while others capitalize on the fruits of your labor. There is a reason we have become so cynical and depressed as a society today.