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Credit FloridaVentureBlog/PayPerPost.com and Tim Draper. Donate To The BizWorld Foundation
I think I’ve learned to enjoy taking risks and going for uncertain change. I went through this today in a small way when looking for a new apartment. I had two choices:

Normal Apartment with a normal layout

or

A Loft apartment with a pretty different layout from what I’m used to.

What did I go with? The Loft. Why? I wanted to go for something different. I wanted to take a risk. honestly, I’ve never lived in a loft, but it’s something different. I think the same holds true for entrepreneurship and running a company: You Need To Take Risk. Want to know a bullshit statement, and I’m sick of hearing it from people who have no clue about or passion for running a business:

99% of All Businesses Fail….

NO…99% OF PEOPLE FAIL.

There’s a lot of reasons a business can fail, but its really comes down to the founders. It comes down to whether they really want to go to the point of no return. I’m talking to the point where up is down, down is up, you’re broke, and living a life that can make you filthy rich one second or dirt poor the next. People put in some half ass effort, and always have their fallback plan in the back of their mind. I think we’d see a lot more successful businesses if entrepreneurs could just act as if they will die unless their business succeeds. That’s right, value your success as much as you value your life, and see how much more productive you get. I think the entrepreneurs that see starting a company “as fun” and only a real business until things take off will fail. I will bet on that 100%. Guess what? Your business will not “take off” unless you consider this as serious. Your business will not take off until you risk it all. This may sound obsessive, but any true and/or successful entrepreneur will tell you: your startup must consume you. It all comes down to is risk. Will you risk it all? If so, take the risk, and don’t look back. Enjoy the ride, because it will change your life. It’s a ticket paid with blood, sweat, and tears.
[tags] entrepreneurship, publictivity, loft, web 2.0, risk, failing, winning,payperpost,tim draper, riskmaster,bizworld foundation [/tags]

I think there are two key traits I’ve learned over the past two years that a startup needs: Focus and Scale. They are two intertwined characteristics. Your focus is strengthened by your scale, and vice versa. I’ve touched upon this aspect before, but have never done an in-depth post on the issue.

Focus

Your focus should be drilled into your head. It should probably be envisioned in your mission statement. Focus is the goal of your company and its products. Your initial focus should be very narrow, targeted, and niche. For example: We provide learning tools to educational institutions that focus on preschoolers. Notice that Focus is made up of two things: what and who. In this case, the what is: learning tools. The who is: educational institutions. The what is usually shaped and molded to fit the who. These two aspects are what change with scale.

Scale

Scale, is the explosive growth of your company towards new verticals and markets. Scale expands the  who, while keeping the inherent goals of the what. In my mind, there are three levels of scale a company/ startup should go through in order to be succesful.

Initial Scale

This is going to be your first trial run. In the first few months, it will be where you start to grow and acquire your first customers. It is going to be very very small, but don’t be scared. In our example company, it might be preschools only in Florida. Eventually you will expand your initial scale to different regions: the southeast, the east coast, start over in the west coast, then make it nation wide. This in itself is one hell of a feat. If you can saturate your first market with your initial scale, awesome. You’re already a great company. Take your time with your initial scale, as this will teach you the most important lessons.

Expanded Inter-Vertical Scale

So you’ve saturated the first part of your vertical. In our example companies case, it was the preschool market. Some companies will just stay at this level, and be happy. If you want a homerun, you try to keep growing. Your next step is expanded inter-vertical scale. This is the first point you hit, that slightly changes your who. Our example company is still providing educational tools (the what), but they begin to provide their product to new markets within their vertical (the education market). It might be the college level, the high school level, disabled learning level,etc. This is where it might also make sense to raise a round of capital. It really depends if your revenues can sustain rapid growth or not on their own. At this point, you want the fertilizer to grow. You may hit some speedbumps as well. Expect that some inter-verticals will go well. ie- college market, but not the high school market. Once you’ve spent some time on inter-vertical scale, take a look at the results. More importantly, look at what you’ve learned. If so, it’s time to move ahead.
Mass Consumption and New Markets/Verticals Scale

This is the holy grail. This is where your company is dominating, and ready to reach its maximum potential. If you pull this off, or even begin to take the journey, you may be ready for an IPO. You are going to change the who for sure, and also modify the what slightly. In our example company, they may begin providing learning tools to educate and train. This could start to include the workforce, police academies, the government, and more. The same philosophies and strengths they applied to the educational market could be applied to new markets and verticals. This is very hard to do, and takes planning from day 1 as a startup. This is where your revenue charts are really making that “J curve”.

A quick example- Facebook.com

Initial Scale- The college market. Began with the ivy league, and eventually expanded to all colleges. Included 2 and 4 year schools.

Expanded Inter-Vertical Scale- High School and graduate/workforce market. Simply an expansion in the who to include more people

Mass Consumption and New Markets/ Verticals Scale- Opening up to regions and everybody. This is Facebook’s big test, to see if they are “that” hot. This fully scales their who and their what.

[tags] scale, focus, entrepreneurship, web 2.0, publictivity, startups, facebook [/tags]

Guy Kawasaki had an amazing post today, honestly one of the best posts all year regarding Venture Capital. It was entitled The Venture Capital Aptitude Test. Basically, it is a test to see how suited you might be for Venture Capital. He also goes into the fact that a good venture capitalist isn’t built upon an MBA or financial formulas, but an understanding of how a company works. Lastly, Venture Capital should be for those at the END of their career, not in the beginning. I couldn’t agree more. I’ve probably mentioned this before, but my goal in life is to exit a couple of startups, take time off to teach or contribute to society in a nonprofit manner, and then spend time as a VC to help young companies and the entrepreneurs behind them. Part III was the most interesting part of the test/ the one that was open ended. Here are my answers to the ones, I feel I have an answer for.

How do I introduce a product with no budget? (add 2 points)

Many ways to do this. If you’re talking about getting it funded from the getgo, get customers early on as funding. Sell them the product at a highly discounted rate, and get what you need from it. If you’re talking launching, there’s tons of ways. The first is to go and pick a niche to focus on. Find a small and select group to start your product off with. Find a group that you can work with hands on to build your initial critical mass with. Don’t go for everyone because you can’t afford it, and you won’t do it… trust me. Another way is through Public Relations. you don’t need an expensive firm at first. Do it yourself. Get your hands dirty. Put together a compelling story, and promote the story. More importantly, focus this with the first step. Target publications and bloggers that are focused on your niche. It’s much easier for niche publications to “get it”. Lastly, make the technology work for you. In consumer cases, allow it to have viral triggers that allow the content to be spread. If it’s for the commercial or business side, make it dead easy to use, and a piece of software that will force your customer to talk about it in a way that says “You need to try this software”. Let your customers be your sales force.

How do I determine if there’s really market demand for my product? (add 1 point)

Well, I don’t know if this is a question that should be here. If a VC has an entrepreneur ask that, I think they’ve invested too early. When an entreprenuer starts, they need to do their own diligence. Talk to people within your market. See if this product really helps them or fits their needs. If it doesn’t, then find a way that it can. take every ounce of feedback you can get.

What do I do if customers hate our first product? (add 1 point)

In the step listed above, you’re usually going to talk to very small portion of customers. It may turn out that the rest of your market, sees it a different way. There’s a demand for your problem, but your solution needs to be made better. Stay focused, don’t change the problem you’re fixing. Change the solution you’ve built. Once again, take in feedback like a madman and apply it.
How do I get Walt Mossberg to return my call? (add 2 points)- Couldn’t tell you, sorry.

How do I get to the folks who run Demo? (add 1 point)

I’m lucky enough to know a couple of companies and CEOs that have presented at DEMO. If I didn’t, Id first try to network and find a way in. It’s a small world. If that doesn’t work, I’d then try to talk to Chris personally or someone on her team. If you can find a way to meet her in person, that helps so much better. Remember the focus of Demo, and that it is to show groundbreaking new technology. Highlight that, show her why it’s going to be demoworthy. Her job is to sell seats to that conference. Show her why your technology is going to be worth it to the people paying her big bucks. She will not put crap on stage. Show her why you’re better than the large percentage that gets rejected. There are also different “product categories” each year at demo. See if you fit into one perfectly.

How do I get a plug in TechCrunch? (add 1 point)

DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT, AND I REPEAT DO NOT PITCH MIKE LIKE A NORMAL REPORTER WITH BUZZ WORDS AND A PRESS RELEASE. Believe it or not, Mike is quite an accesible guy. He knows everyone, and there’s a good chance you can find a way to talk to him if you live out West. If not, try to catch his attention. Once you get your couple of minutes of Mike’s time, show him why you’re product rocks. Show why it is different, and how it can benefit his readers. It’s just like DEMO. Mike has pageviews to deliver, and a crappy product won’t deliver it. Also, if you can, give him the first scoop. He’s a fan of that, and honestly, it’s the best place to have the news break.

How do I get the folks at Fox Interactive to return my call? (add 1 point)- Couldn’t tell you specifically. Haven’t dealt with them. If it were Yahoo! or Google, I’d say network, network, network.

How do I dominate a segment when there are five other companies doing essentially the same thing? (add 2 points)

Start small, focus, and differentiate. Don’t go after the entire market. If you’re trying to compete against an 800 pound gorilla, don’t try to take out the entire gorilla. Go for his legs. Once you start small, focus on his legs and keep hammering away. If you take his legs out, he’ll fall. Lastly, differentiate. Don’t go after the gorilla with the same things he has. Guess what? He can hit you back with the same thing, and harder. Hit him in his legs from an angle he doesn’t understand. Provide something new and innovative, but for the same space.
How much time, energy, and money should I spend on patent protection? (add 1 point)

This could be an opinion question in some respects. I think it depends on the company. If you’re a biotech, well, then a lot. If you’re a consumer space product with social networking, don’t focus too hard or put too much money. Explore your options. Protect yourself, but don’t become a boy in a bubble.

We bet on the wrong architecture for our product, what do I do now? (add 2 points)- Not entirely too sure on this one.

What kind of people should I hire: young, old, unproven, proven, cheap, expensive, local, remote? (add 1 point)

So the first thing that matters is making sure someone gets it. Make sure they get your company, your mission, and passion. Set the older and proven individuals as guides and cleanup to the younger unproven guys. Make sure they keep them on track and away from mistakes. Let the younger and unproven guys more onto the creative side initially. Let them formulate the initial ideas, but let the older and proven guys make it perfect. Local or remote depends on the company. Weblogs Inc is mostly remote. A lot of development can be done remote, but make sure the developer is disciplined.

How do I get them to leave their current jobs without throwing a lot of money at them? (add 2 points)

You better be a damned good CEO. I’m talking top notch. You have to be able to sell the dream with your passion. Make these guys see what you see. Make them dream. Most importantly, they’re going to work for you. They’re going to work with you. Make them feel important and not just another number. Let them feel like there will be creative freedom and leadership available with them in the startup. Show them the potential of the company, and the rewards of taking a risk with a lower salary, but great options. This still scares a large amount of people after the first bubbles, but if you sell them the dream and show that the company has a plan, you can do it.

How do I tell my best friend that he can’t be chief technical officer just because he was a cofounder? (add 2 points)

A company isn’t about, you or him, it’s about the company. A cofounder should understand that decisions have to be made to better the company. Egos are checked at the door. Make your best friend understand, that he’s done an amazing job, and brought the company to where it was. Let him know, that someone else who is better equipped can take the company to the next level. Also let him know, that he will have tons of input, and still involved creatively. Don’t just cut him out.

How do I get to the buyer at BestBuy to return my call? (add 1 point)- Haven’t dealt with them personally.

How do I handle a customer who wants to send back his purchase for a full refund? (add 1 point)

Don’t pull a Vincent Ferrari. Find out the problem, and see if there is some insight you can provide, that they might not know. Also be willing to bend on pricing. a little bit of profit, is better than none. If worse comes to worse, let them go, and let it be easy. Your reputation is just as important. Their customer experience, even though they didn’t keep the product, will get around. Make sure it gets around in a great light.
How do I fire people? (add 2 points)

This part sucks, it sucks a lot. You need to not let it get personal. Take a step back, and understand this is the life and job you selected. Something happened, that has brought it to this point. Make sure you have exercised all other options before going here. Don’t fire someone off of emotion, and more importantly don’t keep someone off of emotion. If you do fire them, be straight forward, but also kind. Let them know the positives, but also let them clearly know why they were fired. Don’t let them go home without understanding the reasoning behind it. Also make sure any benefits, severance, or help possible can be offered. If you’re able to write a reference, note that you will.

How do I lay people off? (add 2 points)- I’ve had to fire people, close friends and cofounder, but never lay off. I have an idea, but not a correct answer.

So biff, taylor, tiffany, and sebastian, go become an entrepreneur. Forget most of the things you learned with your MBA or undergrad degree. If you need to calculate formulas, then it should be useful. Listen to your gut, not a textbook. Learn from your successes, but more importantly learn from your failures. You will fail. you will fail multiple times. It will be one of your greatest lessons. For no textbook or case study can ever teach you this. Go out, change the world, be an entrepreneur, and then maybe after that go become a VC. Just because you cranked out some numbers at JP Morgan over a summer internship, doesn’t qualify you as a venture guy or gal. Honestly, I think it hurts you. Hope this was helpful.

[tags] web 2.0, guy kawasaki, venture capital, venture capital aptitude test, publictivity, ceo, tech crunch, VC [/tags]

If you know me well, you know my goal is to exit one or two companies, maybe do the VC thing, but ultimately have enough money to give back and educate about entrepreneurship and technology.  I’m working on volunteering my time to a boys and girls club in Miami to teach kids about technology and entrepreneurship.  If you know of anything like it, that could use my help in Miami pleease let me know. Anyway, when I was about 16, I was part of a program called Presidential Classroom.  It was a week long program that let bright students around the globe engage in a mock united nations debate.  Think about it as Model UN on steroids.  The program also took students around DC, introduced them to other students, and let them listen to guest speakers. I think the same program would be awesome for students in high school interested in entrepreneurship (specifically juniors and seniors).  Let them develop a company over a week, present it, interact with students, get investor feedback,etc.  Have guest speakers, take them on tours of tech companies,etc.  I think this would be an awesome experience.  Just a random thought in my mind.  If anyone knows of something like this, or just wants to shoot around ideas about this, please contact me at: jason [at] publictivity.com.

[tags] presidential classroom, web 2.0, entrepreneurship, publictivity, goals [/tags]

I’ve watched Startup.com multiple times. Last time I had watched the movie was about 14 months ago, right after Frank and I decided we were going to leave my first venture to strike it out on our own. Watching the movie again, I’ve noticed I’ve learned a LOT. I think you really notice how much you learn, by going back and looking at old scenarios later on in life. Startup.com is an interesting movie, and brings out the best and worst of the old dotcom bubble. I think there’s a few obvious and huge errors the guys made at GovWorks:

Focus

For a ten minute period, about twenty minutes into the film, Tom and Kaleil are arguing about focus. They’re both on different pages, and worst of all in front of a VC that’s invested in them. Why in God’s name are they arguing about focus after raising a round of money? This is Startup 101 stuff, get your focus down. Yes, you will have to adapt, but without a simple focus, your startup is done. Example: Riya.com, now Like.com has adapted and changed, but their focus is the same: facial and visual recognition technology. They have adapted it to search recognition, but it’s still the same business. Look at Facebook, connecting people through a social directory. Three years down the road and it’s the same focus, but expanded outwards. There are three levels of focus throughout the business:

1. First Initial Focus: We provide X for Market Y, which makes Market Y work better.

2.Adaption Focus: Keeping the same focus, while adapting to feedback from your customers. Make the business better, but still Provide X for Market Y, to make Market Y better.

3. Expansion Focus: Take what you’ve done in Step 1, and expand it to other vertical businesses. Keep the same core focus of the business, but do it for Market X and its coordinated verticals.

Relationships

Business is all about relationships. There is nothing more important than relationships. Your cofounders? Should be like brothers. Your Investors and VCs? Should be like fatherly figures for advice, not Warlords. Granted they NEED to be hardasses. In Startup.com, the company lost TWO of its cofounders. It seemed to be at odds and constantly fearful of their VCs. Everyone that you have a business relationship needs to do one simple thing: GET IT. Either they get it or they don’t get it. They need to see the same vision as you. Without that, it’s not a relationship, but two people fumbling around trying to explain some odd contraption to each other. Get Co-Founders who you trust like family and VCs that are with you.

Don’t Be a Fool With the Money

I know it was the bubble, but please don’t be an idiot with the money. 30 employees, only 200k in the bank,etc. WTF? By the way, did they even run a damned company. All I saw were trips to the Valley and across to New York to raise more money. The valuations I heard, seemed like they were diluted to hell and back. The product wasn’t even close to being launched and they were burning through money. I’d love to see with how little money and scarce resources that a Web 2.0 company could build something like GovWorks. I’d be astonished. You know what, we’re not in a bubble. We have startups who are more nimble and can do it with very little money. Not to tout my horn, but we’re a small team of 3 right now and are building this product with very little money. Why else aren’t we in a bubble? The products are more focused. They may seem ridiculous to some, but that’s because they’re not mainstream products. The products are niche. They serve actual needs that people actually have. Calling this a bubble brings pageviews, that sells advertisements. It’s not a bubble, and I’m happy to be in Web 2.0.

[tags] web 2.0, web 1.0, startup.com, publictivity, startups, failures, riya, like.com [/tags]

If you’re reading this blog, you probably know what Tech Crunch is. It’s the place to go for Web 2.0 reviews and information. It’s run by Mike Arrington, and now includes many blogs in the “Crunch Network”. I met Mike, who was a very humble guy just taking some pictures, at an event that was thrown at the famous Tech Crunch House/Ranch in September by Noah Kagan. It was a VC vs. Entrepreneur Wine Tasting Event. Yes, the VCs beat us. Anyway, Mike is at over 139,000 readers, and that’s happened in less than a year and a half. When I was searching the internet a few months ago, I somehow stumbled upon Mike’s first personal blog. I think this is really cool to see, and an inspiration for bloggers as well. It shows when mike was just starting out with Tech Crunch and had just gotten into blogging. One post shows “Tech Crunch Gaining Subscribers“… 63 Subscribers. Well, hes at more than 2,000 times that. There’s a lesson to be learned here: Even the the big guys were once just “starting out”. We all long to get to the place where “We’re kind of a big Deal”, but sometimes don’t want to wait. It happens, and one day you’ll be there if you do two things: Stay Patient and Stay Focused. We all have to go through the rites of passage and pay our dues. I haven’t fully paid my dues, but I’ve been doing the startup thing for 2 years, and I will tell you: Failure Rocks. It will increase your knowledge exponentially. So in the end, stay focused and stay patient, because one day you can be a big deal too.

[tags] tech crunch, mike arrington, web 2.0, publictivity, blogging, noah kagan, failure, learning [/tags]

Ahh, so everyone is curious what exactly happened to theWeblogWire. Let me give you the background story. In early June, Frank and I, had decided that we wanted to start developing technology for the Public Relations industry. We stumbled upon the opportunity, just due to interest at looking at the market opportunity. Frank and I had been spending the past 9 or so months evaluating opportunities and startup ideas. Some were built, some were just conceptualized,etc. We figured, hey why not at least look at the PR Software Market, and Frank had a PR firm contact. Well, it turns out, the PR industry was ripe for some great software, especially on-demand software. It really just hit us the right way. Know when you see that beautiful girl for the first time? This was her, in a business form. Boy was she looking good. At the same time, Brian Breslin, who designed theWeblogWire, was interested in doing a startup for 500 dollars in under 1-2 weeks. We said, hell why not? Let’s break into the PR industry by creating some initial buzz, and generate some leads for our main focus: Publictivity (at the time, StartPR and originally: Software Services). At worst, we’d gain some credibility, insight, and buzz, and at best, a real money maker. Fast forward a two months into it… we realized theWeblogWire would be a startup itself, requiring tons of time. We were so involved with Publictivity, that we just couldn’t handle a side project. So Frank and I made a decision (Brian stayed working for his design firm Infinimedia) to be focused. theWeblogWire was near and dear to our hearts, but personal emotions cannot get in the way of a business… it just can’t. So we decided we were going to let theWeblogWire be, and stay focused 110% on Publictivity. It was a valuable lesson for us: Stay Focused and Keep Your Eye on the Prize. If I can give ANY piece of advice to an entrepreneur, it is to just stay focused. This whole entrepreneur thing takes time. When you’re underfunded, understaffed, underexposed, and underdogged you need EVERY ounce of energy you can get. I hope this clears any questions up that some of you might have. If you used the service, Thank You!

[tags] theweblogwire, publictivity, web 2.0, startups, pr, startpr, public relations, software on demand, sas [/tags]

We had internally called Publictivity, StartPR for the better part of five months. We officially decided upon a launch name for the project about a month ago. Frank gets the credit on this one. Publictivity, if you couldn’t tell is a combination of Productivity and Public Relations. So what are the steps towards getting the right logo for your startup? There’s quite a few, and I’ll guide you through what we went through in the past few weeks:

Overall Feel-Overall feel of a logo is the huge first step. It should coincide with what your product defines. In our case, we’re business software. We had to go with a more professional and straight forward logo. If you’re a consumer app, or possibly a brick and mortar business, there are other feels. Consumer apps tend to be more bold, “fun looking”,etc. Brick and Mortar businesses tend to have a feel that can easily translate into a physical logo to place above the store.

The Colors-Most likely, you will have started some of the design for your application. If so, pick colors that match the application or compliment the scheme. You’re also going to want to have “alternate colors” developed, that will present alternate options. This is pretty straight forward. If you haven’t picked the colors for the design of your app, then you should do that first.

The “StandOut”-What is going to be noticeable about the logo? Sometimes it is a graphically designed letter, an accompanying icon, or something very clever. Look at FedEX’s logo. Inbetween The E and the X, it forms an arrow. Very cool, right? In our logo, we have the P designed graphically. In MySpace’s logo, there are the group of people. Basically, pick something that makes the logo distinguish itself. Make it a talking point, or something that if a person was only able to see that part of the logo, they would know it was your company.

The Slogan-This is sometimes very easy or very hard. We had to play around with words. At first, we had it as: Making Public Relations Productive. Well, that was kind of arrogant. We made it seem like PR practitioners did nothing all day long, which is far from true. Then we had Making Public Relations More Productive…. whoops. We’re a combination of productivity and public relations, not productive and public relations. Finally it came down to: Increasing Productivity in Public Relations. Not arrogant, and had productivity. The slogan should be your ethos, the one sentence that defines your product. For example, Sales Force is “Success On Demand”. It defines that their product is on-demand, and gives you the feel that it increases your productivity. Very short and very simple. Perfect.

Picking a Design Company-First rule of thumb… DONT CHEAP OUT. You will pay for it in the long run. The extra 75 dollars you save, will bite you in the ass. It will cost you more time, energy, and give you a logo you don’t want. Also be sure to check that you retain the IP rights to the logo. Also look up some past reviews on the company. In our case we went with LogoJeez. Reason being? NOTHING TO PAY UP FRONT. That’s right, they do all the work, and if you don’t like it, you don’t pay. We got 5 different options, and from those 5 different options we could revise one logo upto four times. Hands down, go with LogoJeez. We were able to receive a discount that made the bottomline price 208 dollars. Well worth it.

Revising It-This depends which company you go with. At the end of the day, you need to be picky. Revise it, and add what you really want… you’re paying for it! We used all four rounds of revisions we were allowed. Also, modify the version you get in photoshop, and send back detailed instructions to the artist. Trust me, this helps. No one can see what you see, but it helps them get closer to it.

So thats about all. Your logo is important, and take your time with it. This is the logo, slogan, and branding that will *hopefully* be seen by millions of people, and most importantly YOUR CUSTOMERS.

[tags] web 2.0, logos, logo design, logojeez, corporate branding, publictivity, myspace, web 2.0 logo design, tutorial, startup logos, startups, fedex [/tags]

I’m from New Jersey, if you already don’t know. I was proudly born and raised in Norwood, NJ, a town only a few miles from New York City. Growing up, 50% of everyone you knew would attend Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Some of my best friends go there, and I’ve even taken a class there in the past. If you haven’t partied there, trust me you ARE missing out. This is coming from someone who has gone to the University of Miami, so trust me on this. Anyway, up until recently, more like this year, Rutgers football, well hasn’t been anything too amazing. Fast forward to this year, and Rutgers is a Top 10 football program, that’s right, and undefeated. One of the key ingredients according to their Fearsome Leader, Greg Schiano, is “The Chop”. What is it? Simply put:

“Coach Greg Schiano has instilled the phrase with the No. 14 Scarlet Knights, his way of telling the team to maintain focus no matter what the situation. “

This applies easily to a football game, but it applies to business just as easily. Here are some simple scenarios where “The Chop” applies to business.

1.) STAY FOCUSED

A startup will throw you tons of curve balls. Your team is small, your budget is limited (even if you are venture or angel funded), and your immediate future is uncertain. This may even be your first startup, which makes it even harder. The best thing you can do as an entrepreneur is to keep moving forward. Set your goals up, and then knock them down. If things come along in between… which they will, ignore the drama/ bullshit, and take care of the very few that are important. Once that’s done, get back to your goals and keep chopping. If you have a goal, just get it done. SEE A GOAL, CHOP IT DOWN UNTIL IT IS FINISHED.
2.) Adapt And Keep Moving

In Football, you may lose your quarterback due to injury in the second quarter or receive an unjust penalty. Guess what? Life is unfair. Football teams that succeed adapt to the changes, and stay focused on their goal of winning the game. As an entrepreneur, you may get thrown curveballs, have a venture deal fall through, lose a partnership, have downtime, lose a key team-mate,etc. The best thing you can do is understand the situation, take it in, and ADAPT. Once you’ve adapted, stay focused on your goals. See a curveball, CHOP IT DOWN.

I hope everyone found this useful. Entrepreneurship is a lot like a football game:

• It is long. Football is not one quarter, one game, but a series of games leading to a championship. Sometimes games have overtime. YOU HAVE TO BE IN IT FOR THE LONG RUN.
• You will lose. It’s inevitable, you will lose some games. You really lose, if you do not learn what you did wrong during those games. Same thing with entrepreneurship. LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES.
• It is a team sport. Football is a team sport, and the best teams succeed. Entrepreneurship is the same. Ask any venture investor, potential hire, advisor, or even seasoned co-founder… THE BET IS PLACED ON THE TEAM.

I’m not a sports expert by any means. If anyone has any contributions to this post ie- analogies, insight,etc. post them in the comments. I’ll add them to the post. Thanks again everyone.

[tags] rutgers, football, bcs, rutgers football, greg schiano, new jersey, entrepreneurship, rutgers chop, the rutgers chop, scarlet knights, business, web 2.0, blogging, startups, jason l. baptiste [/tags]