Since I blog a good deal about entrepreneurship, I receive emails from would-be business people who want to take the plunge, live the dream, making the leap – become a startup entrepreneur. Some of them, have decent credentials from a big company standpoint. And often, they lead in with how wonderful their idea is and how it will change the world – and how they can’t tell me what it is (but it’s big!).
OK, first off, regardless of my good-hearted jabs – I think this is incredibly wonderful and reminds me of a decade ago when I used to receive all the incoming ideas at eHatchery – a local incubator where I was CTO. I often get incredibly detailed emails that give me almost no idea of even how to respond. I often respond something like this: “there’s little to no value in your idea, execution is all that matters. if you don’t feel comfortable sharing your idea with me, that’s OK. i have about a million ideas of my own I don’t have time to execute on, i really don’t care to try and add yours to the list.”
I’m not sure what else to say…
there’s little to no value in your idea, execution is all that matters.
The idea of sharing your golden egg with the rest of the world, I realize, is scary. I think it’s especially scary when you have little ability to execute: no capital, a full-time job and you need programmers. Yeah, that’s pretty scary. But, remember: there’s like 6 billion people in the world. You’re probably not the only one that’s thought about what you’re thinking about. And, maybe even some have gotten further than you – I know, hard to believe. That’s not to say that your idea isn’t good and you should keep your day job. It does mean that ideas in your head most likely will just stay there – and turn into a lot of frustration.
The only way to take a good idea to reality is execution. And, if you’re stuck in your day job with a great idea and no ability to execute – well, maybe you need to either find out a way to make it happen, or get back to work. No offense intended, really.
Entrepreneurs find a way. They make it happen. They don’t always know either – and most of the times enter into things with no freaking clue how they’ll make it happen. They show up like they’ve figured it out and make the corrections as they need to. If you can’t get going, maybe you should stay home – you might not be an entrepreneur. And, that doesn’t mean your idea sucks – it just might not mean you’re the guy to make it happen by yourself.
To me, at the end of the day, all that matters is execution and results. Figure out how to try and make it happen – even if you can’t quit your day job initially. If you can’t figure out how to get your first $50K, you’re probably going to panic when you have to raise the next $1M and quit anyway. If you don’t know any “programmer’s to do the work at equity” as I often am told, well, you’re probably not ready to take the plunge. In a big company, others are responsible for everything else except what you’re responsible for. In a startup, everyone is responsible for everybody else’s stuff – we all do it and we all have to make it happen – or it fails and we have to do something else that sucks. I’ve started 8 companies and I can tell you – my biggest fear is not if I’ll fail and I won’t take home a paycheck. My fear: I’ll have to go work for IBM. I swear to you, I worry more that I’ll have to one day go work at some deadend job, sitting in a cube, a cog in the wheel – a big blob of nothing. I always joke with my wife: “don’t worry, worse case I’ll have to work 30 hours a week a draw a nice salary with benefits”. Of course, I realize, not everyone has that fall-back (or at least, they don’t perceive to).
all that matters is execution and results
Can’t you just make it happen – at least get it going – before you look around to others to take some risk on your behalf? This isn’t saying reach out for help, just don’t reach out with your hand looking for a paycheck before you quit your job. I understand, we all have a lifestyle to maintain – we all don’t want to worry about how to pay our mortgages. But, c’mon. If you can’t make it on your own, you’re not going to be able to build a company and support others. And, just because you got that big $1M investment, doesn’t mean it’s an easy road from there. Most people assume when you raise capital, you’re done. Back to work. Focus on the product. Just make the business work – easy street now. Are you kidding? You don’t realize how much time you’ll spend focused on what happens when the $1M runs out – because now you realize, that $1M isn’t too much and that as you add people (and the resulting burn), you’ll quickly need more. You’ll now also realize that it took so long to get the first money that if you don’t start in 3 months again, you might not have enough time for to get the next round closed. Yea, the cycle begins. Been there, done that.
You gotta figure out how to get your product going and get some revenue – any amount of revenue – to validate what you’re trying to do. Yeah, I know – it’s going to take time and money – and people besides yourself. Get it going, please, and I promise it’ll be a much easier rider. Get it going and it’ll be easier to hire others, raise money and acquire help. Keep it in your head, and you’ll only be frustrated. And lose the idea that investors and other entrepreneurs are just looking for other people’s good ideas to steal. Crap, we’ve got enough of our own ideas and issues to worry about your next Google. 
Are you an existing business that needs an eMarketing jolt? Entreprenuer magazine and Caffeine Marketing Jolt are having a content for $20K. You can get more details from Brent Leary’s Technology for Business Sake’s podcast show. Brent’s a partner at Atlanta-based CRM Essentials and a judge for the content. If you haven’t checked out Brent’s weekly show – you should – he’s got top notch and high profile guests with a wealth of good information.
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