One thing is clear from the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show: millions of people are eagerly seeking to find and ride one of the next big waves. The competitors include the Giant Global Corporations as well as Startup Founders. Mobs are forming, milling about, seeking the fresh waves to surf.
My bet is the Startup Founders will spot the next set of waves before the Giants Corporations do.
Somewhere in the confusion and scrambling about smart televisions, content management, pads and phones is the seminal energy that will start the fresh waves lifting. From hundreds of miles away you can feel the CES energy radiating, pulsing around the globe.
BE PREPARED
So what should the wanna-be startup founder do right now?
Simple: as the Boy Scouts motto says "Be prepared".
Here is what serial entrepreneurs do at this early stage in the phase we are in:
- Start with a bold idea. The key word is "bold". Your initial idea is going to change rapidly. But it always has to be bold so it has enough power, reach and attraction to stand out from the intensity of what everyone else is talking about.
- Secure your Buddy. You have to have at least one more close friend to help work through all the changes your initial idea is going to go through. In the biography of Steve Jobs, that person was Steve Wozniak. Google was two friends. Solo is for pilots, not entrepreneurs.
- Pick a wave to ride. Look, think, decide. Go for it. The early waves will change as they form shape. Your job is to continue to change your initial idea so it begins to ride the forming wave. Be careful to not get ahead of the wave (it will overtake and crush the too-early surfers). Be careful to not be too hesitant (you'll be behind the half dozen front runners and find it hard to overtake them).
- Change, changed, change. You are working with head knowledge at this point in the process. It's quick to alter, even abandon the inital idea. I've watched entrepreneurs abandon one, two, three ideas on their way to the one that launched the startup. That takes guts. And smarts.
- Build your resources network. You are going to need workers and money and lawyers and related services. Contact them, even if you do not yet have a company started. You will learn a ton of great things from short meetings with them, phone/Skype chats. Talk, don't email. Get personal. Get smarter from those smart people. Every question asked of you demands an answer. Soon you will find yourself working on solutions for issues about your fast changing idea. And it cost you nothing but a bit of time.
- Start documenting your Executive Summary. One page. Everything about your idea that you know up to this point. This document is living, it will morph week after week as you make change after change. Writing forces you to make decisions, guess at unknown numbers, be confronted with problems that must be resolved. This is a discipline (based on an old Greek word that means "dis-is-no-fun").
- Plan the construction of your first product/service. On paper. With numbers. And dates. And resources required. Sketch it. Use the resulting costs to start your first cash flow requirements. Add that to your Executive Summary. Keep it simple. The engineers can later dive into the details of how to do their magic.
- Look for the "WOW!" in your idea. You have to have WOW! to stand out from the crowd. It has to be hyper-compelling to end users. This is central to your success. Without it, step aside and just watch.
That will keep you very active, focus your thinking, force you into making important decisions.
BOTTOM LINE: The next waves are forming as you read this. Your job is to prepare to ride one to the beach and win big. Serial entrepreneurs use the above process of continuous change to get their minds ready for creation of the company. This is a matter of months, not days, but time will fly and so should you. Your objective is to get ready with an idea that will attract the resources required to form the company and build an unfair competitive advantage as you ride a fresh wave that lifts you higher and higher as it grows global momentum. That's how serial entrepreneurs do it. You can do the same.
I wish you The Best on your Adventure!
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