10 tips for entrepreneurs, startups

Time and money don’t matter (as much as you think) ... that's what they said.

10 tips for startups.

Saw this great post today about words of wisdom from Andy Sack who taught a 'Lessons Learned' session at an Entrepreneur University in Seattle this week.

Thanks to SerraMedia, here are Sacks' top 10 tips:

10. 5 years to create anything of value: While the overnight success stories get all the headlines and buzz, it generally takes a long time to build a company that has any value.

9. Focus on the first market longer than you think: Sack offered several real-world examples of startups trying to sell his Founder’s Co-op investors on new market opportunities. Every time his response is to continue to focus on the existing market until you truly dominate it.

8. Beware of shiny objects distraction: Most entrepreneurs know all about this. It’s a running joke at Serra Media, in a good way. We have exposed our tendency to get distracted by new opportunities and now openly mock one another to get ourselves back on track.

7. Avoid the rush to nowhere: Markets don’t change as fast as hype suggests they do. Don’t get yourself in a rush to where “everyone” says the market is going because, all too often, it will be a rush to nowhere.

6. Competition doesn’t kill companies: Early stage companies get killed by internal conflict, not external competition.

5. The customer has the answer: Sack suggested Outcome-Driven Innovation as an interesting and potentially important method to do product development.

4. Two numbers to focus on: Customer acquisition cost and Lifetime Value (LTV) of each customer. If you’re not tracking them, start.

3. GFA: Be, or get, aggressive. Amid a stream of (well-placed) F-bombs, Sack delivered some really sage advice. Thinking you’re aggressive and actually being agressive are two very different things. Plow through, be frugal and don’t wait for someone else to make it happen.

2. KISS: Yes, Keep It Simple Stupid. See No. 7, 8, 9 as for reference.


1. Time and money don’t matter (as much as you think): Factors like time and capital really aren’t as constricting as you think. For support, Andy showed a video from Tina Seelig at Stanford that I’ve blogged about before. I’m a big fan of her concept of not framing problems too tightly. It really is the best lesson an entrepreneur can learn.

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Here's a package of information from our recent entrepreneurs workshop about journalists as entrepreneurs ... life after the newsroom.