Ich bin in der glücklichen Lage, dass ich als Angestellter relativ viel Freiheit habe. Daraus hat sich entwickelt, dass ich mich eigentlich mehr als Selbstständiger im Auftrag meines Arbeitgebers fühle, statt als Angestellter. Vor ein paar Monaten bin ich über folgende Liste mit lessons learned von Unternehmern gestolpert und ich finde, dass sich vieles davon auch als (selbständiger) Angestellter anwenden lässt:
- If you are not working on your best idea right now, you’re doing it wrong. (David Hansson)
- Startup is 10% idea, 90% execution
- Execution is 85% the people who execute
- Your co-founder should be better than you
- Distinguish between core issues and just noise
- A technological barrier is not enough, create a marketing barrier as well
- Maximize your potential before raising money
- People care about their problems, not your solutions. (Dave McClure)
- Raising money sucks
- Closing an investment round doesn’t
- Don’t do it alone, just don’t
- Consume every piece of relevant data out there
- Hire great people and give them the freedom to assume. (Andrew Mason)
- Know how to prioritize your time
- Pivot, iteration and adapting is part of your startup DNA
- Just be, there are no excuses
- The number one priority is production
- Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning. (Bill Gates)
- An article from a tech site is not a marketing plan
- Distribution is your biggest problem, think of a solution
- Enjoy those small victories, you need it
- Learn from those small failures, you need the lesson
- Get along with your investors, they are part of the family!
- Whatever you think … Think bigger. (Tony Hsieh)
- Blog before you have a product
- Don’t torture yourself on every mistake, even if it’s the same one
- If the founders can’t build and manage the idea, switch the idea
- Meet with customers before you have a product
- Geeks are the new rockstars
- Master your domain
- Be a true member of your customers’ community
- Be confident, don’t let anyone mess with your dream
- Listen to other people -you don’t know everything
- Sell before you have a product
- If you can’t sell the idea, you won’t be able to sell the product
- I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work. (Thomas Edison)
- Words to keep in mind: Customer, Sales, Production, Customer
- Words you can’t ignore: Mobile, Tablet, Social, iPad
- Track your data, learn from it, improve from it
- Most things take 3-5 times the amount of time you planned
- Viral is a tough nut to crack
- Visualize what you want to achieve and go for it
- Always move forward and know how to measure it if you’re not
- Your success = the value you give a segmented sector of people
- Be amazing, Be everywhere, Be Real (Jason Calacanis)