Startup Myths Zach Shulman Managing Partner, Cayuga Venture Fund Associate Director, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Institute at Johnson
Myth: Being your own bos s means flexibility Truth: Being your own bos s means you have no free time 2
Myth: Being your own bos s means I can s et my own s alary Truth: Being your own bos s means you might have no regular s alary 3
Myth: A s tartup is a cons tant uphill battle Truth: It is an endles s roller coas ter 4
Myth: You need an exit s trategy Truth: You need a bus ines s that will s cale 5
Myth: Starting a company = building a product Truth: A product is not a company b/c of the other 50% to deal with (recruiting, s pace, team management, fund rais ing, taxes , ins urance, bank accounts ……) 6
Myth: You need $$ to s tart a bus ines s Truth: You need an opportunity, creativity, res ourcefulnes s and tons of willpower 7
Myth: You need a written bus ines s plan to rais e $$ Truth: You need a bus ines s model to rais e $$ 8
So, you need a product/s ervice that you can provide at a price that gives you a profit 9
Myth: Growth rules Truth: Profit rules 10
Myth: Stealth = awes omely cool Truth: Public wins the race b/c of cus tomer driven iteration 11
Myth: Finding the s olution to the problem is the hard part Truth: Finding a problem that the cus tomer cares about is the hardes t part by far 12
Myth: I need a product before I can s tart talking to cus tomers Truth: Always be s elling to and informing your cus tomers ; s ome cus tomers like to be a part of the building proces s 13
Myth: You know your product bes t and know what is bes t for your product Truth: Only the cus tomer knows 14
Said another way: It is not about your great idea, it is all about your cus tomer 15
Myth: I don’t need a marketing plan b/c the product will s ell its elf Truth: Marketing rules ; know the cus tomer 16
Myth: I can rely on government grant programs Truth: Bull@#$% 17
Myth: Hiring s mart people is enough Truth: Hire Rocks tars 18
Myth: Conflict is bad Truth: Conflict moves the ball when handled properly 19
Myth: You can learn “s tartup” in a book or blog Truth: You learn “s tartup” by doing 20
Myth: Great s tartups happen overnight Truth: “Twitter was an overnight s ucces s that took 5 years ” Biz Stone 21
Myth: Verbal is OK! Truth: Verbal is Worthles s 22
Myth: I need to enter a market with no competitors Truth: If no one is making money doing it, you probably won't either 23
Myth: I have firs t mover advantage becaus e I thought of it firs t! Truth: Mos t mis applied bus ines s advantage ever 24
Myth: I'll quit my job and s tart the bus ines s as s oon as I get the funding Truth: If you're not willing to commit, why would inves tors ? 25
Myth: You need a NDA for advis ors and inves tors Truth: As k for it and you los e credibility 26
Myth: VC's give you money Truth: VC's inves t money 27
Myth: Taking outs ide capital is the holy grail Truth: Only take outs ide capital if you really need it 28
Myth: I've got a great idea for a bus ines s , I'll jus t hire s ome cheap engineers in India to code it Truth: You need key technical talent in hous e 29
Myth: We don't need a bus ines s pers on on the team yet Truth: You won't be a bus ines s until you do 30
Myth: As a bus ines s guy/girl, you dont need to know the technical s ide Truth: you need to unders tand, not neces s arily build, the ins /outs of your product s o you can s peak intelligently about your bus ines s 31
Myth: Contacts are everything Truth: Execution is everything 32
Thanks ! zjs 2@cornell.edu 33
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