The final caveat is that the Ten Commandments, even followed to the letter, will not automatically make you rich, beautiful, handsome, fulfilled, or whatever. I wish it could be otherwise, but the record indicates that the primary requirements for success are an identifiable and receptive market, a better product or service, sufficient capital, a balanced team to lead the way, tenacity, and thoughtful timing, which some people call luck. The Ten Commandments do aim to help you weave the ingredients you need together in a pragmatic way and to avoid some of the more common operating mistakes entrepreneurs tend to make during the early years. This is when young companies lack momentum and are still vulnerable to sudden failure from stockholder squabbles, unclear objectives, a short-term negative cash flow, or a shortage of functional talent.
Commandments One, Two, and Three cover start-up issues: Who should be involved? What do you hope to accomplish? Who is going to buy what you are selling? Answers to these questions can save many a false start and point the way to creating a rock-like foundation for your new enterprise . . . if it's justified.
Commandment Four includes a Guide to Preparing a Business Plan. If you wish to build a business of any complexity at all, you should have a written plan. If you wish to attract outside money from people other than your friends and relatives, you must have a written plan. If you want to maximize your chances for building a viable, money-making enterprise without ruining your health and reputation in the process, you will have a written plan that has been critiqued by competent individuals whose opinions you respect.
Commandments Five through Eight deal with day-to-day operating matters required to implement a written plan. Staffing, rewarding people, extending the company, and paying the bills as you go are like blocking, passing, running, and tackling in football. The team that executes well will tend to win its share of games.
Finally, Commandments Nine and Ten are aimed at extending the lifetime of the enterprise, its longevity. Professionalism leads to a reasonable level of detachment in the vocational matters at hand. Entrepreneurship is equated with sweat equity--unyielding dedication that often leads to a merging of the identities of the founder(s) and the enterprise itself. Such a merging sometimes makes for certain efficiencies, but it almost always limits a growth company over the longer run. An entrepreneur faces a choice when her or his enterprise actually grows: she or he either change to meet the new requirements of the enterprise, or she or he can work harder and hope. Knowing when and how to change requires at least a half-an-arm's-length relationship with the budding business entity itself. The company is the company; you are you. They are not the same entity. Working from a proper business plan (Commandment Four) can help maintain this separation.
Just a few last words on philosophy. To some extent, entrepreneuring is a lifestyle choice. Many of the high-rise company founders, officers, and venture capitalists who contributed ideas to this book are people who started companies, built them, sold them, rested a bit, and started over again. But I see more and more cases where founders stay on board, adapt to success, and keep on innovating. The net effect is more entreprenuing in established companies--a good trend. This does not in any way diminish the need and opportunity for the classic soloist; it just enlarges the doorway to the legitimate entrepreneur's club.
It's a fine club. Entrepreneuring is a spirited way of life. These Ten Commandments are aimed at expanding the membership.
No comments:
Post a Comment