Key Startup Tips:

  • What is your team/Company’s distinct competitive advantage in providing this product/service to the customer?
  • What is the specific product or service you plan to provide?
  • Who, specifically, is your customer? Do they have money? How do they pay you?
  • What is the quantifiable economic benefit of solving that problem?
  • What is the problem solved by the product or service you plan to provide?
  • People invest in people, not ideas
  • Entreprenerus don’t take risk, they mitigate them
  • A purchase order is key to a good valuation
  • There are 5 other companies with your same idea, what makes you different
  • Keep team small and don’t outsource
  • Only build what customers want
  • Don’t save money on a lawyer, $600/hr gets more done at less cost than $200
  • Don’t hire sales team early – Founder is top sales person
  • Tip Determine pattern to sales before staffing big sales team
  • Sell what helps your customer make money, not to customer’s technology guys
  • All good markets have competitors, you do too – don’t claim no competition
  • There are 100’s of ideas, but few good implementations
  • Cash flow is more important than your mother