RL90: Startup Shortcuts - 4 Ideas Worth Their Weight in Gold
I wish I'd known these 4 principles before my first startup
Over the last 3 weeks, we’ve had a few interns join The Military Veteran straight out of the military.
They’re rockstars who have added value immediately - they’re hungry, hardworking, and eager to learn as much as possible about business.
I had an interesting conversation with them the other day about starting a company. I provided them with 4 pieces of advice I wish I’d learned in the early innings of my entrepreneurial journey.
I’ll share those with you below, but first here’s the backstory on how I learned these valuable tidbits.
Background - My Own Startup Journey
At Wharton, I majored in finance and entrepreneurship.
The startup courses frequently used examples from Wharton alumni, most notably Warby Parker, a successful eyeglass company.
As a veteran, I had no experience with business outside of consumer businesses - I’d interacted with businesses as an end user/customer, but I had never worked in business, so I didn’t know anything about the companies that solve problems for other businesses.
At Wharton, all of the businesses we studied in class seemed to be consumer businesses. I’m unsure if that was 100% true or if those are the case studies I gravitated towards because of my limited exposure to B2B.
It makes sense that my first business was a consumer company - it’s what I understood.
Today’s post is my attempt to provide advice I wish I’d heard/understood/listened to in the early innings of my business career.
I hope you enjoy and that you find it useful wherever you are in your career/startup/investing journey.
Here are the 4 topics we’ll cover today -
Sell high margin, high contract value services
B2B > B2C
Founder Market Fit
Make $1 before you make $1,000,000
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Increasing your luck surface area
Making your first sales
Negotiating better compensation
Maintaining a healthy mindset/attitude
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