What are some the characteristics and qualities that you have seen that they may have in common.
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I think that a single founder is going to be in trouble. Successful startups almost always require a team, even at the very beginning. I gave a brief talk about this recently; you can see the slides about half-way down http://www.caycon.com/downloads.php under "Presentation: Building a High-Performance Startup Team." In the presentation, I distilled the essential characteristics down to six C-letter words:
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There are many different types of web startups, so this is difficult to answer reasonably. But, for example, a visionary will be very passionate about how they see changing the world, but then reality will eventually settle in and they will either adjust to reality or continue to fight in what they believe. For example, Second Life had a vision, but the reality of the types of enterprises were not what they expected, but they have adapted, and it seems modified their vision. Then there are those that just want to monetize an idea that someone else envisioned, as they expand the idea, for example, what it seems happened with Facebook. So, which type of business describes yours? Perhaps you are somewhere in between these three. :) |
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Standard qualities would be things like persistence, focus and passion. However there are more subtle things that come as a founder matures and gains experience. These are thing like knowing when to stop running around like a headless chicken and take a break. Hard work is obviously important but so is relaxation, that is when the best solutions to problems and great ideas come to you. I believe it is important to get that balance right early to avoid unnecessary mistakes and burnout. |
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There should be 2 to 3 founders, each with unique skills, typically a business/connector, a deeply technical engineer and a user-centered design product manager. Two or more should also be driven and very resourceful at marketing and promotion. These founders should share equal equity to avoid any entitlement disputes. In the early days, lo-fi bootstrapping is the only way either to create a new market or pierce holes in the existing market and your competitors. Since your business will need to steal users and money to gain market share, by definition you are thieves. Legal or otherwise, you have to think like criminals. That being said, you need to smile a lot and be non-threatening in demeanor. Look like a butterfly so your competitors are fooled by your beauty as you delicately fly into their space... |
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Tenacity. You've just got to put your head down, buckle down for the ride, and do it. Tasks can be detailed, but this quality must come from within you. It's very hard to learn it from outside sources. JFDI - Mark Suster |
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Coming from my own experience, along with studying about founders from startups big and small, I see the most successful founders having these 2 qualities:
If you have 1, then the dedication and passion will fall into place, even on the days you want to give up. This doesn't not mean the idea isn't tweakable as you progress. Sometimes the idea is a means to an end (ie Flickr). But overall, look at Google. They believed in their idea in spite of the 100's of me too search engines already available. Quality #2 is obvious. You need to be the best at what you do to add the most value to your startup. This can be in sales, technology, or domain knowledge of a particular niche. Also, if you have this then you have the confidence of your team, employees, and investors. |
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I definitely agree with Daniel. It is important also to have balance and know when to stp and see if it is time for a different approach. |
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