Blog 3.5 - Lesson #5 about year 1 of Start-up
Blog Caveat
? This isn’t going to include the obvious ‘lessons’ that aren’t really lessons because they’re inherently known and understood to be fact: "It’s hard" "takes a lot of work" "requires a lot of patience" "a little bit of luck" "it ain’t always pretty" etc...etc.
? After writing the list with full explanations and getting to 3,000 words, I’ve come to the conclusion that ain’t nobody got time for that! So due to the limitations of the style of blog LinkedIn allows I’ll release the details of each 1-day at a time. #Cliffhanger
? Comments and questions are greatly appreciated. Let’s start a conversation.
Lesson #5 about year 1 of Start-up
5. Identifying and asking someone to be your mentor is the most invaluable relationship
Issue this alleviates: While you might have all the brains, capabilities and ideas to be successful. When it’s your first time doing anything, there’s always going to be a gap called experience.
What happened for us: While at a conference speaking about our Start-up, we had one of those instant connections with a seasoned executive with 3 businesses successfully started and running. Call us opportunistic, but after only 10 minutes of talking, we had to ask for him to come to our office and meet with us again! Fast forward a couple of weeks, we spent 5 hours in a room having the single-most engaging conversation we’ve had in our entire 1st year of operating. What started out as a conversation with someone who literally knew nothing about our industry ended with us taking away an entire business plan, new focus, direction, and blueprint for what will take us to the next level!
Why this was important: There’s a lot of time and money that can be saved through reaching out to those with first-hand experience. And what’s more important to a business than time and money? After just 5 hours we were able to see our business, opportunities, challenges, and goals to absolutely shoot for. There was a new sense of purpose and direction. Often times the first thing, second things, or even third fourth and fifth thing you try at the start of your business isn’t what end up taking you to the promise land. We were fortunate to have a seasoned mentor’s perspective, them being able to identify what stage our business was at, and what were the absolute corporate musts for us to attain to continue forward.
Lessons 1-4, 6 - 10
1. It really helps when your product serves the needs/interests of your friend group
2. How you portray yourself to your market is more important than the reality
3. You need to be cocky enough to believe you will be the 1% that is successful
6. Don’t be afraid to take a step back and pivot
7. It’s okay to take up a job when you realize you need money to keep you going
8. It’s really hard to motivate people without paying them
9. Talk to your parents about what you’re doing
10. Every platform is super important to be on, even LinkedIn for the eSports industry
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