Ended soon By Lew Brown, Founding Partner You’ve already been told by colleagues, friends, and family: starting a company is beyond difficult. Nine companies out of ten fail in their early stages. You already know this, but you still have that fire in your belly, and nothing will stop you. Right? You may have already […]
Ended soon
By Lew Brown, Founding Partner
You’ve already been told by colleagues, friends, and family: starting a company is beyond difficult. Nine companies out of ten fail in their early stages. You already know this, but you still have that fire in your belly, and nothing will stop you. Right?
I am fond of saying it’s better to execute on a mediocre idea with excellence than it is to execute a brilliant idea with mediocrity. Great ideas fail due to poor execution, and “just okay” ideas sometimes do very well, if a stellar team remains focused on it, and executes on the fundamentals in an exceptional way. Successful start-ups often hire experienced mentors to guide them through areas that are not necessarily core competencies but are critical to solid execution.
Raising money is time-consuming and difficult. You may be wondering how long fundraising will take. It may take twice as long as you think. Meanwhile, your team needs you to help them focus on the business at hand. You won’t be able to afford to spend all your time raising money; running your business must remain your top priority. Here is where outside expertise can save you trial and error and legwork, which take time away from building your business.
You may wonder how much money you should raise. You could need twice as much as you’re estimating. Consider that securing initial funding could take six-to-nine months — or longer. You’ll want to avoid the need to raise a second round when you’ve only just finished raising your first.
Often, new business leaders worry about dilution, and wind up raising insufficient capital. If you view your venture as a pie however, the narrowness of your slice matters less than the pie’s overall size. One hundred percent of nothing is still only nothing, whereas a small fraction from a several hundred-million-dollar exit would be a stunning success for any startup.
If you have it all: a large market opportunity, a brilliant, defensible, unique idea, a great team, solid projections, a strong go-to-market plan, a concise teaser and pitch deck – you’re all set and ready to go after some well-qualified investors. So, ready – set – go!