Seeking Stellar Software Entrepreneurs
Seeking Stellar Software Entrepreneurs
Source:
http://onstartups.com/Home/tabid/3339/ctl/ArticleView/mid/4112/articleId/487/Seeking-Stellar-Software-Entrepreneurs.aspx
I’ve met my fair share (and then some) of software entrepreneurs – and
would-be entrepreneurs. In thinking back on those I’ve met that I would
consider “successful” (i.e. have built successful companies), I’ve found
there’s a pretty recurring set of “patterns” amongst the successful and not
so successful.
The items below are more about correlation than causality (i.e. manifesting
one or more attributes doesn’t necessarily cause you to become a great
software entrepreneur, but in my experience, those that manifest these
attributes, in my experience, have a strong correlation to long-term
success). Inversely (and very coincidentally), I’ve found that many people
that you would have thought would make great software entrepreneurs ended
up not doing so. In each of these cases, I’ve found that they were missing
over half of the attributes below in some significant way. One of the big
impacts of the dot-com bust was that it gave many mediocre entrepreneurs an
excuse for not having succeeded. This is the classic “I’m great, my
company was great and my idea was great – if only the market hadn’t
collapsed”. And yes, I’ll concede that many great entrepreneurs also got
taken down with the market, but I’m going to argue that many of the
software entrepreneurs that failed in the wake of the bust would likely
have failed anyways (in a “normal” market).
In any case, here are my signals of software entrepreneurs with a high
probability of success. Note: I have a bias towards “technical
founders” (i.e. software company founders with a technical
background). However, I’ve met some great entrepreneurs that weren’t
technical – but were able to join up with someone who was – and who would
have also met most of the criteria below.
Top Signals of Success for Software Entrepreneurs:
1. You like to experiment: You like to play with new software. You’re
one of the first people to try new software (like Google Desktop Search,
Yahoo! 360 and Microsoft Live)) within a week of its introduction. You end
up using < 1% of these applications over the long-term, but still love to
“play with new stuff”.
2. You like to read and learn: You tend to read a lot. A combination
of blogs, books, magazines, etc. You like to read on a variety of topics
(marketing, technology, sales, strategy, etc.).
3. You like to tinker and build: You tend to want to solve problems in
a better way than is out there. You customize, you build extensions, you
write scripts, you improve. You like to build things. You can start with
nothing more than a computer and a compiler and create something that
generally works.
4. You are opportunistic: You’re always looking for leverage and an
opportunity to create (and capture) value. You measure ideas by their
ability to create something meaningful. Though you may not be obsessed
with money, you’ve got a healthy recognition of the fact that money makes
the world go round (and helps you have the resources to do what you love).
5. You are an artist: You love having an audience (users). You’re
fanatically obsessed with delighting your audience (users) with software
that surprises them in positive ways. You like to continually improve.
You take pride in your work by investing in great design that will
withstand the test of time.
6. You Live On Email: You tend to prefer email as your preferred
communication vehicle. Though you see the merit and value of in-person
meetings (and in some cases phone calls), you would much rather have 90% of
your communications over email as you believe it makes you more
productive. Your average response time on “emails that matter” is measured
in hours, not days.
7. You are considerate, respectful and nice: You tend to respect other
people’s time, and show up on time for meetings. When you meet with
someone, you pay attention. You don’t abuse the fact that you may have the
upper hand in a given situation. You are considerate and empathetic and
generally have a high emotional quotient. You tend to genuinely want to
help people (even those from whom you are unlikely to receive anything in
return). You are kind to animals and children.
8. You have a proclivity for action: You are more likely to act than
analyze, plan and obsess. You tend to “jump in” and do it and deal with
consequences after the fact instead of figuring out precisely the right
path, right product, right market, etc. You’d much rather ship a product
that’s not perfect than try and spend another two weeks perfecting.
9. You attract others like yourself: You tend to have a great nose for
talent and your passion is infectious enough to attract them to your
cause. You like to hang around other people that are as smart (or smarter)
than you are. The thought of feeling threatened never even crosses your
mind.
10. You are a realist: You tend to look at most things objectively. You
see them for what they are. You have ambitions, but not unrealistic ones.
When in contentious situations, you’re usually the voice of reason. You
keep things in context and tend not to over-react.
11. You are exceptionally intelligent: Lets face it, software is a mind
sport. Software as a business even more so. I’ve never met a successful
software entrepreneur that I wouldn’t classify as being “well above
average” in terms of intelligence. I’m talking about raw intellectual
capability here (which may or may not have translated into great grades,
exemplary test scores, or other “standard” measures – those these certainly
don’t hurt).
12. You are fundamentally likable.: People want to help you. Customers
want to buy from you. Employees want to join you. Generally, people tend
to return your phone calls and emails and they tend not to avoid you at
parties.
13. You exhibit “balanced frugality”: You tend to have a reasonable and
rational approach to expenses in your business. But, its not frugality
applied evenly across everything. You’re not always looking for the lowest
price or best deal in all cases. In areas that matter (like the product!),
you tend to spend what is necessary (and what you can). You also tend to
let other people make money too (something about the karmic startup
cycle). You avoid the temptation to “do everything yourself” using
cost-savings as an excuse. You place value on your own time (even though
you may not be paying yourself out of the company yet).
14. You work hard: You’re an over-achiever. You’ve never been
satisfied delivering the “minimum”. Though you understand the importance
of work-life balance (you read about it in a book somewhere), you’re not
frequently able to pull it off. When in a group setting where work is
divided you somehow always do a disproportional amount of the work.
15. You just love the game: You’re grateful to have the opportunity to
do your own thing, create neat software products and serve customers. You
love the adventure and the thrill and are not hung-up on the rewards
(though some of those would be nice too).
That’s it. Once again, remember, these are just “patterns” I’ve observed
in many of the really successful software entrepreneurs I’ve
met. Obviously, simply responding to email within minutes or reading the
top 10 business bestsellers each year will not cause you to be a successful
software entrepreneur. But, if you manifest most of the above attributes,
you are generally more likely to succeed than not. You’re the kind of
person I like to invest in (and I’m sure other investors feel similarly).
Notice the stark absence of the idea, or the hockey-stick financial
plan. In my experience, simply having a great idea is not correlated with
success. That is, I’ve met many people with great ideas that haven’t built
great businesses and many people with not-so-great ideas that have done
really well.
So, I think the software industry is desperately seeking great
entrepreneurs. Are you one of these people?
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posted by Silent Saint @ 1:09 AM
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