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Just read this article written by [tag]Marc Andreessen[/tag] via [tag]Michael Parekh[/tag] website, what Marc said on his article is so true and like Michael Parekh said really ‘hit home’ for me, too.
Below are some except that I truly understand and ‘get it’. Marc Andreessen article is here
Second, in a startup, absolutely nothing happens unless you make it happen.
This one throws both founders and employees new to startups.
In an established company — no matter how poorly run or demoralized — things happen. They just happen. People come in to work. Code gets written. User interfaces get designed. Servers get provisioned. Markets get analyzed. Pricing gets studied and determined. Sales calls get made. The wastebaskets get emptied. And so on.
A startup has none of the established systems, rhythms, infrastructure that any established company has.
This is so true, when I was working with Ingram Micro as a product manager; my General Manager (GM) does not come into the office that often. But the business still continue, everyone know what to do, everyone knows his/her role in the company. The only time I receive or hear from my GM is when I authorized a sale below cost. This is where I need to come in with the supporting document to justify my decision. Otherwise, it’s business as usual.
Third, you get told NO — a lot.
Unless you’ve spent time in sales, you are probably not familiar with being told NO a lot.
It’s not so much fun.
Go watch Death of a Salesman and then Glengarry Glen Ross.
That’s roughly what it’s like.
You’re going to get told NO by potential employees, potential investors, potential customers, potential partners, reporters, analysts…
Over and over and over.
And when you do get a “yes”, half the time you’ll get a call two days later and it’ll turn out the answer has morphed into “NO”.
Better start working on your fake smile.
Like I said previously on the video about 8 things that lead to success, I know the closing average on a sales call but it can be morally depressing when you get so many ‘NO’. At times, you might think, is this journey worth all the humiliation/rejection.
Eighth, there are lots of [tag]X factors[/tag] that can come along and whip you right upside the head, and there’s absolutely nothing you can do about them.
Stock market crashes.
Terrorist attacks.
Natural disasters.
A better funded startup with a more experienced team that’s been hard at work longer than you have, in stealth mode, that unexpectedly releases a product that swiftly comes to dominate your market, completely closing off your opportunity, and you had no idea they were even working on it.
At best, any given X factor might slam shut the fundraising window, cause customers to delay or cancel purchases — or, at worst, shut down your whole company.
Now, this one is another true fact, when I was in Los Angeles with a small I.T. hardware firm. The company was already under financial duress due to other reasons. There was an order of 60,000 usd of computer hardware coming from Orange County. After delivering the products, a week later, Orange County declare bankruptcy (December 6, 1994).
On March 1995, we sold the Orange County invoice to a collector for 18,000 usd and the following May, 1995 we shut down.
Next, I really like what Michael said below:-
One thing I’d add would be that more likely than not, the startup will need to meaningfully change it’s product and/or service direction at least once or more in the first three years.
Almost every startup you can think of started off as one thing and eventually became something very different way before making the transition from private to a public company.
Microsoft in it’s earliest days was a programming tools company, not an operating system and application company.
Yahoo! started out as a directory of websites, not a media portal/web-based online service.
Google, of course started out as a search company, but didn’t become the Google money machine we know, until it built it’s keyword advertising system.
These are only the most well-known examples.
You can read the rest of Michael Parekh article here
Again, this is what happening to me at [tag]milaga.com[/tag]. It’s started out as a online/offline media company and now it’s evolve into a financial information with introducing broker attached. Now, is this the final form for milaga? I can only say, I don’t know. For now, this is the direction it’s moving but it could change.
Anyway, this is my take for now on [tag]the challenges of being a startup[/tag].
Popularity: 7% [?]
Filed under: Startup Biz by yopy,
published June 21, 2007
