Now is the time to invest
With all the recent sentiments of economic doom and gloom, many have begun questioning whether or not they should be investing, let alone begin a startup. To that I say “Nuts.”
I feel, now is the time to invest and generally speaking, it is always the right time for startups.
Founders who startup today will be forced through the gauntlet of major economic, social, and technological challenges before them, emerging tempered in their faith to change the world. That, or they wash out, and the survivors grow tougher for it. The surviving hardball Founders will be forced to run economically lean and capitally efficient just to stay competitive or alive. Granted, it is harder to start a company today and succeed, good companies will always be funded and great companies will always be built. A testament to this is Paypal, which grew and prospered during the last major recession.
The fact is technical constraints breed technological innovation while economic constraints breed organizational innovation. The companies that overcome both these constraints will be the titans of tomorrow.
Now is the time to invest in these Founders and their companies. Our titans of tomorrow.
Do you agree or disagree? We’d like to hear your thoughts.
Six things successful startups do.
We believe a successful startup must excel in these six points and more:
- Surrounds itself with the best and the brightest of ambitious, dedicated and passionate people; the best give the expertise and experience needed, the brightest will always find innovative solutions and the ambition & passion will give the courage required to pick yourself up when you fail.
- Understands that it will, baring incredible luck, likely fail catastrophically at some point and is always planning for this.
- Has the patience, courage, conviction, and irrational faith to persevere even when there are better alternatives in the market and when the going gets tough.
- Recognize a significant and genuine market pain. Provides a cost effective and adoptable solution to an undiscovered need or problem that exists and is better than any present, emerging or conceivable alternatives.
- Knows how to successfully market and monetize their solution. Validates their market pain and monetization plan by lining up potential customers for their solution early on.
- Executes, executes, and executes. Makes sure to do the right things and to do things right. Thomas Edison is known to have said “Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration” he is also known to have said “There is no substitute for hard work.”
Do you agree or disagree? Please feel free to comment and suggest what you feel makes successful startups!