Jeff Richards’ 8 tips for entrepreneurs: Keep your funding options open. Hire the best talent you can find. Take advantage of the moment, and run like hell. Work with great investors. Play bigger than you are. Find and leverage mentors. Be honest and transparent. Enjoy the ride. Straight forward, but take notice of are few of them:
Keep your funding options open. The smartest second- and third-time entrepreneurs I see raise capital in a very focused and efficient manner. They preserve option value at each stage of the company’s growth and make conscious decisions about how to proceed in each funding round. I learned this the hard way in my first company, where we raised capital at a $250M valuation and essentially priced ourselves out of an attractive M&A opportunity. I can’t tell you how many companies I see that would be terrific $50M-100M acquisition targets, but lose that option because they’ve raised too much capital.
Play bigger than you are. Create a market impression that is greater than reality. This has to be done carefully – history is littered with companies that failed to live up to the hype – but done well it can really boost your company’s prospects. Artfully tooting your own horn is part marketing, part PR, and part an aggressive approach to today’s social platforms. Done right, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook can serve as powerful platforms to amplify you company’s position. The key is to not just talk about how amazing your company is, but to show how you’re succeeding with key customers, business milestones, analyst and media coverage, and key new hires. Examples of companies that have done a great job building this kind of buzz include Buddy Media, Yammer, Zuora, Betterworks, Square, and Appirio.
Thank you, Jeff Richards. http://goo.gl/nC5AN