How Do You Know Your Start Up Is Going To Make It?

 

So, in my spare time that I don't really have I work at a startup. My favorite thing about this startup is that it's a startup of startups. We are, in fact, a startup incubator. I've learned a crazy amount of things about myself during my time here, particularly around how I'm motivated, how I react and how I affect others.

I've also learned a lot about business. Sure, as a consultant I also learned a lot about business, but this is a different type of business. A startup is truly a different type of animal. It's the rawest, truest, most genuine sense of company-- of a business. In many ways, it's very personal and can cause people to act and react irrationally-- the term "entrepreneur complex" is a real thing. They get too attached, too defensive, too emotional. But how can we possibly blame them? These small businesses are essentially their children. Their way of expressing themselves to the world.

Here are some things I've noticed though on start-ups that have not done so well:

1. Start with the leader: Ask why they want to start their own business. You'll get a variety of answers. Sometimes, they're deeply personal ("My dad always wanted to do this and I feel like I've always been driven the same direction"), sometimes they're optomistic ("I really think I can change X about the world") those I think are okay answers. You want to stay away from "because I've always wanted to own something of my own". These types of answers-- answers that insinuate ownership and the desire to be THE anything (The Leader, The Owner, The Most Important Person) usually mean that they want to own something more than create something. And those are two very different things.
2. Start with the team: Stay away from start-ups who are overly dependent on personal relationships within their company. If the founder has his sister as his legal counsel, that's fine, but if his mother's his brand manager and his father his accountant? Be careful. Be extra careful if they're love interests. If someone decides to have their boyfriend/girlfriend as Chief Strategic Officer, run.
3. Start with work division: Do they want to know what goes into their website? Normal. Do they want to know what language they should use in their marketing? Normal. Do they not care at all? That's scary. If the entrepreneur seems overly focused on delegating, get out! They should at least be willing to learn what it takes to get their business off the ground. It usually implies the lack of desire to actually work for their goals, and they'll most likely delegate to whomever is closest-- you.
4. Start with integrity: For everyone involved, try to suss out some motives. If the founder has multiple arrests on his record and most of them are for fraud or embezzlement, that is probably not going to bode well. This is where the importance of due diligence comes in-- I'll admit that I've had a client that carefully hid his indiscretions for a long time. Let's just say that it always comes out eventually in their personality. Don't associate with crooks.
5. Start with connections: Relationships with people in the industry, general passion and ties to the content of what they're working on. These are great things to have. Not as critical as maybe some of the ones above, but still important to have. Have an entrepreneur who makes hats for cats but has never owned a cat and is deathly allergic? Probably not going to end well.

Obviously this doesn't hold true as a rule across the board, but I think this is a good way to start. In choosing companies I work for or colleagues I work with, I've noticed that these rules always hold.