Here we are back again with our series where we bring to you some of the best questions from Quora, which we think will help you face the entrepreneurial challenges better. We pick out the best answers and present it to you, ofcourse along with our own take!
For those who missed out on the last post, you can view it here
Given the risks associated with entrepreneurship, do highly intelligent and highly rational individuals become entrepreneurs?
Entrepreneurship isn’t about taking risks, it’s about very carefully (intelligently, rationally) weighing risks and opportunities and then finding a new way to balance those so the opportunity outweighs the risk. To do this you have to be able to think ahead and see things for what they are and could be, but not just what you hope they will be. Not being intelligent or rational about this process is a recipe for failure.
Intelligence is necessary for entrepreneurship, but not sufficient. Plenty of people are smart enough to have great ideas, but don’t have the grit to make them a reality. Put another way, the entrepreneurs I’ve met are very intelligent, but the salient thing about them is how driven they are, not how smart they are.
What actually defines an entrepreneur according to me is perseverance and passion for long term goals; working strenuously toward challenges, maintaining effort and interest over years despite failure, adversity, and plateaus in progress. Relative to the general population, entrepreneurs score exceptionally high on “persistence of effort”.
What popular startup advice is plain wrong?
“Never give up” and its variants is often bad advice. It can help to provide some strength during the tough times, but if it’s hard, you may be doing something wrong. Generally, working harder is not the solution. Working harder is usually the solution for when things are going well. Doing something differently is usually the right answer.
Another piece of advice that I know is wrong is, “build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.” You don’t win with product. You win with marketing, and with product secondarily.
Also the myth of being an entrepreneur and freedom, gurus love to frame this as a being free from a job, from bosses, from all these negative things about having a job. Then you become an entrepreneur and realize the long hours, lack of family time, dedication to the goal, leadership you have to show others and direction you have to give, and ultimately that you are responsible for everything. In one sense, sure it’s freedom, but in reality you are not free, you are married to your startup, to its ups and downs, and you don’t get weekends, vacations, etc. like a job to clear your head when it’s starting up. It takes all of you.
Dharmesh Shah, CTO of Hubspot says:
The two worst pieces of startup advice: 1. Ignore all startup advice, it’s all just a bunch of crap.
2. Follow all startup advice, or you’re a complete moron.
Actually, great entrepreneurs seek help and advice from as many sources as they possibly can, figure out how to make use of some and discard the rest. But every successful startup looks different; every one will have pieces of advice they hold to be absolutely true and lots of times other very successful startups will know that same piece of advice to be dumb and useless.
In the end the only thing that stands is:
Ask for advice. Listen. But make your own way.
What makes someone an awesome co-founder CTO?
The founding CTO must be :
A great coder themselves: In case of tech startups, good software developers are picky about whom they report to. They generally won’t work for someone they perceive as worse than them. So the founding CTO will typically set the ceiling on technical talent in your company. You want to set that bar high.
A motivator and a team player: The founding CTO must build the engineering organization. They must be able to recruit, motivate, and retain talent in a very competitive environment. So the founding CTO should be competent at people management.
Deeply strategic: The CTO must be strategic at the highest levels. This means they are able to articulate and debate the company’s strategy with the CEO and board members. The CTO must participate as an equal in board meetings in order to have a healthy dynamic within the company.
Passionate: If the Co-Founder does not have the Passion with a “do what it takes” attitude then they are a waste. Doesn’t matter how great they code, can manage, or build out the team. Too many times a Founder/CTO has a big ego and butts heads with the CEO because he lacks the passion and is not on the same page as the CEO.
Focused:A lot of CTO/Co-Founders are into advising other startups, still part of several other companies, or on the board as well. No way they can put in the 12-18hr days, 7 days a week to get the job done. Unless they are focused there is no way they can focus completely on the task at hand and be successful.
Possess Integrity: Without integrity you have nothing. Sometimes the CTO/Co-Founder will be asked to do things the board or investors want done, only to come to market when the product is not ready. A savvy CTO/Co-Founder must have the integrity to be able to take control and let them know to back off, or that they’re not ready and it’s not going to work. Too many times CTO/Co-Founders are scared and don’t speak up even though they don’t believe in some important decisions like these.
What do you think about these questions? Tell your take on these in the comments below
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