A Startup Isn't About One Big Idea, It's About A Lot Of Little Ideas

Starting a business is not about the big idea you have. Very seldom does someone come up with an earth shattering, ground-breaking business idea one day, and change the world a few years later. In fact, from my experience, the companies that do change the world tend to come about quite randomly, and the ones that started with an earth shattering idea tend to go bust.

Take Facebook for example. Mark Zuckerberg didn't invent social networking. He stole the idea from a couple of twins from Harvard who hired him to help build a website based on an idea that they stole from a company called Friendster. Six years later, Zuckerberg is a billionaire, the twins made cash by suing Zuckerberg, and Friendster is looking to sell for far less than their investors would hope for.

Twitter started as a side project. The original idea was completely based around sending status updates from your mobile phone. A few years later, that basic idea is still very much a part of Twitter, but it's turned into so much more. It's a new form of communication and it's changing the world as we know it.

The funny thing is, it took Twitter years to even understand what their idea REALLY was. Go look at the new homepage. It's all about real time search. What's happening right now? That's what Twitter is. Well, until three weeks ago, you could go to the homepage and the about page and any other page on the site and have no idea why Twitter was actually useful. The founders didn't even know. It took a lot of money, a ton of hard work and a lot of smart minds to wrap their heads around what the idea actually was and then figure out how they could present it to the world.

The point is, entrepreneurship is not about a big idea. It's about execution and it's about a whole boat load of little ideas that come from assembling a smart team of people and giving them the freedom to innovate.

That's why I loved reading about the new initiative by YCombinator. They will be issuing RFS's or Requests for Startups. Basically they give some ideas of what kind of company they are looking for and they will accept the entrepreneurs that pitch the best way to get the idea done. Obviously the people at YCombinator understand that startups need an idea, but the successful ones are the startups that make ideas come to life.

Over the past two years since starting Brazen Careerist I've realized this first hand. When Penelope and I first discussed starting a company, we had no idea what we were going to do. We knew the market we wanted go into, and we knew that we wanted to help people with their careers, but that's about it. No crazy ideas to change the world. Just a desire to do something great.

Since then, we've all had a lot of good ideas and a lot of bad ideas, and the whole team has worked their tails off to make this whole thing come to life. And finally after a couple of years, we have a pretty good idea of what our business is. All it took was not being able to pay rent occasionally, showering and living at the office some days, working when we were supposed to be sleeping, and cheering our one-man development team as he coded until 6 am.

All that stuff is called execution. And that's what running a business is all about. Every startup that's lived on for more than a couple months has done the same thing, and every successful start-up will continue to do the same thing.

My point is this. If you're dying to be an entrepreneur because you're full of ideas, just pick one. Put a plan together, create some milestones, pitch in some capital, recruit a partner or two, hit your milestones and execute on the plan that you created. Be prepared for sacrifice, instability, arguments, being terrified, and a serious lack of sleep. Because that's what the game is really all about. Your idea is just the beginning.

5 Startup Lessons From the Recession

Running a startup in a recession is not an easy task. All the experts say that survival is the name of the game, but entrepreneurs are hard-wired to move quickly, and simply surviving is not what you imagine when leaving your Fortune 100 job for life at a start up. It's been frustrating, but I've also learned a ton. Here are five lessons I've learned from running a business in a recession.

1. You can save money, you just have to do more work
In the past, we came up with a product idea, got a general sense of what we wanted the product to look like, and then passed it off to the designer. Inevitably, the designer would come back with a great design, but not necessarily what we were looking for. Then we would have to go back through multiple reviews and changes. This way of working is incredibly expensive and time consuming.

Now, we do a ton of work before passing anything off to a designer. We put a wireframe together, we review it multiple times and we do a complete creative brief before asking a designer to do anything. It's a lot of work, but that's what start-ups are all about. The harder you work, the more you learn. Extra preparation on the front end will save you a ton of money and time on the back end.

2. Some bills are more important than others
Deciding who to pay and when to pay them becomes a very difficult decision when you're trying to run a start up with little to no money. You have to constantly evaluate things that you would never normally think of, like, if I don't pay rent, will they kick us out or let us slide for a few months? Or, if I don't pay the accountant today, will I have enough in the bank to pay him in two weeks? Then there are other things like, how long can I personally survive without a paycheck?

The interesting thing is, when you're in a recession people are more understanding. Your landlord probably isn't filling his office space, so kicking you out is pointless. Your accountant can probably wait two weeks to get a $500 check, especially when he knows that $500 could keep your business alive. If you plan on bootstrapping your company, or waiting out a recession, you better get used to negotiating and in some cases, not paying your bills until you absolutely have to.

3. You will want to quit, and so will your partners
There's no doubt about it, if you're running a company with little money, you can't move fast, you get nervous and you will want to quit. Every single person at Brazen has wanted to throw in the towel at some point. Penelope and I have had discussions about whether or not we should shut down and I've had conversations with the other guys about whether they should be looking for something else to do.

But a good rule of thumb is that the companies that don't quit don't fail. I'm convinced that the only reason the failure rate is so high for start-ups is because most founders can't get through the dip. We've been in the dip for more than six months now. If all goes as planned, we'll be able to actually run our business the way we want to very soon. But until then, we'll keep supporting each other when we're ready to call it quits.

4. If you don't share your ideas, no one will know you have them
For the past six months I've been brainstorming different products that Brazen should launch. I have solid reasons for when we should launch them, how they will improve our traffic and how each one will help us achieve our goal of being the top network for young professionals.

The problem was that I didn't verbalize my ideas well. I have tons of PowerPoint's and spreadsheets with projections and wireframes, but instead of organizing everything and presenting it succinctly, I let it pile up. Finally, after talking things through for two months, we've determined the right direction for Brazen to go. Investors like it, the board thinks it's great and the team thinks it's the right thing to do. And other than a few tweaks and updates, we're using the ideas that I had stored away on my computer for months. Going forward, I'll be sure to present my ideas in ways that everyone understands so we don't waste any more time.

5. Sometimes the best breakthroughs come from arguments
A few weeks ago, Penelope came into my office on a rampage. She screamed and yelled, and she called me a jerk. So, I yelled back. This went on for a solid ten minutes before it dawned on me. She wasn't mad at me. She was mad that we have such an amazing business plan, we know exactly where we should be and we know how we can get there, but right now, we're not even close.

I pointed this out. She agreed, and ever since then we've stopped blaming our lack of execution on not having money and decided to focus on putting processes in place and getting everyone to do their job. In a few weeks, the whole culture has changed. We all know exactly what we're doing, our meetings are productive, and we're all working towards the same goal, even if it's not as fast as we would like.

Bootstrapping or Angel Funding? (And Why I Don't Regret Partnering With Penelope Trunk)

My company Brazen Careerist is in a position that nobody wants to be in – out of money and in a recession. And because our CEO is Penelope Trunk, and we practice complete transparency, we're living the whole thing publicly.

Penelope recently wrote a post about the tough times we're having. As I read through the comments, and the strings on forums that picked up her post, I noticed many people said things like the business model sucked, Penelope was unstable, and we weren't going to make it. They asked questions like, why did we have to burn through cash so fast? Why didn't we bootstrap?

There was another minority who were more positive, they liked the business model and wished us well. That was nice.

Luckily, I already had my breakdown last month. I blamed myself and I blamed Penelope for letting the company blow through so much cash instead of trying to bootstrap the whole thing. But after a month of beating myself up, I realized that we made a conscious decision to go big and bring in funding from day one, and we knew what we were getting into.

We could debate for days which way is better, but here are a few things to consider before you decide between bootstrapping and angel funding for your internet business.

How Long Can You Survive Without a Paycheck?
If you and your business partners can survive without a paycheck for a year, then bootstrapping your company is a good idea. On the other hand, if you don't live in your parent's basement, have little in your bank account, and have monthly bills to pay, pursuing funding is probably your best move. At Brazen, we calculated that we could make it six months without funding, and that's about how long it took before we raised the initial round.

Can You Make Money Fast?
If you can't survive without a paycheck and you don't take in funding, you need to start generating revenue, fast. Unfortunately, most internet companies take time before they start making money. And even if you do bring in some revenue, what about operating costs? Can you afford hosting, servers, office space, freelancers, insurance, etc., and still have enough to take a paycheck that keeps you above the poverty line? Make sure you can before you decide to bootstrap. If you can't, it's probably time to investigate your local angel network.

How Many Co-Founders Do You Have?
The more founders there are, the more cash you need to pay them. This gets even stickier if your partners have a family. Not only are they risking their own livelihood, but they're putting their kids and spouse at risk by not taking in angel money. It's hard to start a company alone. But it's also hard to generate enough revenue to pay three or more people. Not taking in money and "staying lean" probably also means "staying lonely." If you want to bootstrap your business, you may be best off starting it with one other person at most, or keeping your day job.

What Skills Do Your Co-Founders Have?
Let's assume you're an internet start-up. Are the founders all developers? If they are, you should consider bootstrapping. Developers can do the work needed without freelance costs. But what happens after you develop the software? How do you market it? How do you create a sales strategy? How do you sell? What if your site becomes popular? Who has the connections and negotiating experience to raise the money you will need to scale your business? Co-founders who can do the work needed to keep costs down are good, but so is a little variety in experience.

How Fast Do You Want to Scale?
Most entrepreneurs are not patient. It's not in our blood to wait around and see what happens. By the time Brazen has launched a new product or feature to the public, I'm already embarrassed that it's not good enough because I'm ten steps ahead in my own mind. In a world of constant information and customer feedback, you better be able to respond to your customers' needs. And if the business does begin to take off, you better have the resources to scale it. Can you do this if you bootstrap? With the right team members and preparation, maybe. But it's never easy.

What Do You Want to Learn?
Taking in funding has taught me how to hire people, how to manage people, how to let go of people, how to manage a budget of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and how to pitch a big idea to potential investors. If we bootstrapped, I would have learned a lot too, like how to manage a tight budget, how to be frugal, and how to make a high pressure sale. Each way teaches you a ton, but the question you need to ask is, what types of things would you rather learn?

What Percentage of the Company Do You Own?
Bootstrapping is a great idea for young people with nothing to lose. Typically, founders split the pie evenly when starting a company. But if all the founders are young, inexperienced, and have never run a business before, this isn't always the best move, because your fifty percent equity share has a good chance of equaling $0 if the company goes under. On the flip side, if you partner with someone who's been there before and can provide some guidance, connections and money, you might only get fifteen percent, but that small percentage may have a higher probability of putting some cash in your pocket when your company is acquired.

How Big Is Your Idea?
Do you want to be the next Facebook, Amazon or Salesforce.com? Or do you just want to have fun and make a few bucks? Most entrepreneurs think big. If you bootstrap, be prepared to think small, at least at first. Once you find a niche and begin to take off, you can start to think big and pursue some cash. But shifting from thinking small to big right in the midst of it all is not an easy task.

At Brazen, we knew from day one that we were taking in funding, scaling a business and hopefully making a big splash. I don't regret the decision for a second. We've all learned a ton and had a lot of fun. Now we're learning how to cut costs, change a business model and make it through the toughest financing environment in history.

Bootstrapping is one way to run a company; another is to take on investors. Whichever you decide, be sure you know what you're getting into before you start. And don't forget to have fun.

How I Cleared My First Career Roadblock

"Bill. Sit down! Bill. Sit down! OK, don't."

"Susan! Sit down! Sit down!"

This was my lesson in leadership. First hand, in front of a group of 15 experienced managers, executives, artists and actors, my task was to command them to sit down. They weren't allowed to sit until they believed me.

I was at TAI in New York City attending a course called Communicating with Power and Presence. Originally started as a training studio for actors, TAI now uses acting principles to train business people to be more visionary thinkers and more effective leaders.

My goals were a little different. I wanted to learn how to command a room. I needed this skill: I'd become a public speaker. My speeches were about managing, recruiting and retaining Generation Y, so the audiences I presented to were much older than me. It was totally rewarding, but it was also completely intimidating.

I was in an interesting position because my speeches consisted of me standing in front of an experienced audience, and more or less telling them how to do their jobs. The only way for an audience to take me seriously was for me to command their attention and respect, and actually connect with each audience member – not necessarily an easy thing for a 24 year old to do.

So, after listening to Penelope Trunk rave about the course for months, I finally took the plunge and found myself at TAI, learning how to command a room and connect–by standing in front of a room full of people at least ten years older than me and commanding them to sit down.

Nobody sat.

Elise, our instructor and a former actor, told me to follow her lead. She punched the air. She screamed at the top of her lungs. And she stomped her feet.

I laughed and shook my head. But eventually, I followed her lead. I punched, I screamed and I stomped.

Then something clicked.

I pointed at Bill.

"Bill, sit down!"

He sat.

I turned left. "Susan, sit down!"

She sat.

One by one, I went through the entire room, truly connecting with each person and forcefully, but politely asking everyone to sit, until no one was left standing. Then, I gathered myself and said,

"Stand up!"

The entire audience stood.

I thanked them, and returned to my seat.

My heart was beating out of my chest. I felt completely ridiculous. But I also felt powerful. I felt like I had finally come full circle. In many ways, I finally felt like I was an adult.

As the course went on, I learned a lot about myself and a lot about other people. I watched each person go to the front of the room hesitant and nervous, only to sit down 45 minutes later with satisfied grins on their faces.

I learned that anyone can overcome what once seemed impossible. As I watched Bill, a 50 year old man, nearly break down in tears of happiness, joy, or maybe just relief, after slowly reciting his speech and connecting with every person in the room, I learned that anyone, at any age, can overcome what stands in their way.

At this particular point in my career, connecting with an audience was what stood in my way. The Communicating with Power and Presence course was my first step toward developing myself as a public speaker and a leader. As my life and my career go forward there will be other roadblocks and setbacks. But now I know there is always some way to clear these obstacles. The trick is to be proactive about it.

Whether its by taking a course at TAI, finding a mentor, or going on an extended vacation, figure out what's holding you back, and do something about it. Life's too short and there are too many resources at your fingertips to let anything stand in your way.

How to Know if a Start-Up is Right for You

Leaving your large company to join a start-up is never an easy decision to make. You have to take many factors into consideration, including your tolerance for risk, how much cash you have in the bank, your family situation, student loans, and lots of other things.

When I left IBM to form a 3-person start-up, I had already thought this stuff through and I knew it was the right time in my life. But everything I've learned about start-up life since then is unbelievable, so here are just four of those things to consider before you ditch your large company for life in a start-up.

1. Do you really like the people?

When you interview, you must make sure you like the people in the company. And I don't mean just sort of like the people, you have to really really like your co-workers if you're joining a small team. So the interview process should be much more of a two-way interview than if you were interviewing with a large company. You need to interview them as much, if not more, than they are interviewing you.

As an entry level recruit at a large company, there's a good chance you will interview with a random HR person, only to never even see them again after you start work, so the personal connection is not that important. But when you interview for a start-up, you WILL work with your interviewer on a regular basis, and you will spend an insane amount of time with everyone you meet so you better like them, and they better like you.

2 . Do they want you to negotiate?

I believe everyone should try to negotiate salary, no matter what size company and no matter where you fall on the totem pole. It can't hurt to try and get a little more cash, options or benefits. But when you interview for a start-up, you can't just try–you must negotiate for every penny you can, and it's important because the company should expect you to negotiate.

At a start-up, everyone needs to be a self-starter, and everyone needs to be somewhat business savvy. Taking the initiative to negotiate and not back down easily is important, and the good start-ups will recognize your negotiations as a good sign for the future, even if they think you're a pain in the ass. So try to get those stock options, and remember, DON'T GIVE THE FIRST NUMBER.

3. Do you live to work or do you work to live?

If you want to make a good paycheck, you've got to work a lot of hours, no matter what size company you're at. But in a large company, anyone with some street smarts can figure out how to "work the system" and get by with a typical 8 hour day.

In a start-up, there is no working the system, there's just a lot of work. So if you love the thrill of working around the clock, you're competitive and you're achievement oriented, 12 hours a day at a start-up could be the place for you.

4. Can you handle uncertainty?

In a start-up, there is always uncertainty. There's uncertainty about next month, next week and even tomorrow. There's no telling if your company will even make payroll every other week. And there is always that slight chance that the CEO will walk in the room and say, "Guys, the game is over."

But with uncertainty comes excitement. Sure it may make you a little anxious or nervous, but it's a thrill. If you're reading this and thinking, "How is uncertainty about a paycheck a thrill?"– it's probably time for you to stop dreaming about a start-up. But if it's making just a little sense, then it may just be time for you to get out there and start networking with some entrepreneurs.

Good Luck.