Posts Tagged ‘Entrepreneurship’

Over the years, I’ve been privileged to be surrounded by many accomplished entrepreneurs. All of them have different stories about why they chose their path of entrepreneurship, and how their business grew, but all of them have one thing in common – instead of giving up when things went wrong, they learned to roll with the punches, and adapt to the given situation.

You see, the truth is, becoming an entrepreneur, or a small business owner, is a scary proposition. Whether you have capital lined up or you’re bootstrapping, and whether you’ve taken the plunge voluntarily or been forced to try your hand at entrepreneurship because you were laid off, there is always an element of fear involved.

Successful entrepreneurs leverage fear to their advantage. They feed off the excitement and exhilaration like an adrenaline junkie would when sky diving, leveraging the emotional high to keep them going, even when the chips are down.

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In the previous post we looked at what seeds funds are and why they are important.

In a recent blog post, Paul Kredowsky voiced his disapproval of the seed funding phenomenon. However, his post is less about the entrepreneur, than the seed funding companies themselves.
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The debate about whether the seed funding phenomenon is a bubble waiting to burst, or whether it’s a viable means of funding pre-revenue/start-up businesses still continues. This is my take on the landscape.

There was a time when if you wanted to fund your company you had four options, approach:

1. A bank
2. An angel investor
3. A venture capitalist

4. OR …… have an asinine risk tolerance and fund the project yourself with your own money.

At a certain threshold of funding, there was a catch twenty-two because banks are notoriously risk averse, and don’t normally fund businesses that have yet to prove themselves. Meanwhile, traditional VC firms couldn’t justify investing less than $3M-$5M in a Series A round, mainly because ROI based on growth trajectory (when investing in small amounts) wasn’t worth their while, especially when holding $700M+ under management.

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There is a trait among entrepreneurs that people both love and hate at the same time – their optimism.

Let’s face it, taking the leap from security into the unknown must be backed by a healthy dose of optimism. If that wasn’t the case, most people wouldn’t do it, would they? No one would start a business if they weren’t completely convinced deep down in their gut that they were sure to succeed.

However, if you want to build a strategic plan, access funding through angel investment or venture capital, and deal with those first few tough years, you need to temper your enthusiasm with a healthy dose of reality.

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For most of us, the concept of launching into a business venture with little or no capital, and trusting to our instincts, and the ability to work miracles on little or no budget, sounds like madness. To the entrepreneur, however, it sounds perfectly reasonable.

In fact, every day, around the world, millions of entrepreneurs decide to go for it – even though they don’t have multimillion dollar backers.

If you can’t find funding for your business, or if you’d rather go it alone, and build your company from the ground up the hard way (sounds crazy again, but many people do) then you’re going to have to learn to bootstrap!

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As the global economy undergoes more changes (and it will continue to do so) even more people will choose to take the plunge into entrepreneurship. Changes to corporate mindsets, downsizing and other upheavals in the “safe” world of formal employment are forcing many to embrace entrepreneurship, and start their own small businesses. Add to those the people with the burning desire to “be their own boss” and you have plenty of new entrants into the wonderful, frightening, exciting and exhausting world of being a business owner.

However, whatever your reasons for considering entrepreneurship instead of formal employment, there are a few traits you will need to cultivate in order to succeed.

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When you sign up to be an entrepreneur, buckle your seatbelt and hang on tight because you are about to go on the biggest and best amusement park ride ever. Seriously, entrepreneurs face challenges every day and yet the best ones know that each day is to be celebrated as a win, no matter what.

Think about all the phases an entrepreneur must go through to succeed. You’ll trip and fall a bit – and you may even secretly shed some tears from time to time. On other days, you’ll be beaming with the biggest smile friends have seen on your face in years. They’ll wonder what you’re up to or who you met or what happened to you all of a sudden.

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Speaking from personal experience, quitting my job to start my own company was one of the most unanticipated decisions I have ever made – and I wouldn’t change it for the world. Being an entrepreneur has led to the thrilling adventure which now defines my life.

Starting multiple companies over the years has brought an immense amount of passion, inspiration and love to my life. The entrepreneurial experience has taken me to places I would have never gone without having chosen such a path. Every day brings a new and continual flow of challenges that seem to be mini triumphs – high points of a life journey and human freedom.

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