Bootstrapper.com - Confessions of Serial Entrepreneurs

1. Relax
2. Ask advice.
3. Learn to listen
4. Repeat

For us Serialists Entrepreneurs, the hardest problem is not coming up with great ideas, it’s not even in the execution, it’s in the maintenance of a nearly successful product. Success is not your sales, it’s not your revenues, it’s not your profits, it’s your sustainability. Anyone can create a one hit wonder and get lucky but can you leverage that into sustained success and thus real value. One time success is fleeting, true success is long term viability. Getting lucky and selling a crappy idea to an idiot company is not success - that is luck.

Case in point: MyBlogLog.com, Broadcast.com. Now Mark Cuban is a genius and made a fortune but that wasn’t a successful business. HDNET and 2929 Productions of his I think are more successful. They have a purpose, stick to it and both produce product ahead of the curve consistently. Broadcast.com was a great domain, a great salesforce, most people don’t realize he had something like 40 sales guys before he sold it to Yahoo, which was pretty dam big, especially for back then but a shitty shitty product. Yahoo bought it and basically pissed it away. If you can turn something that shouldn’t be successful into billions- sure you could be brilliant but you are lucky. Quality businesses with sustained naturally almost smooth earnings or at least the ability to have consistent BIG BANGS in earnings (like a movie studio) are successful.

How do you get to that point. Build a quality product and a quality team and there’s a dam good chance you’ll need to replace yourself as CEO the second it starts getting smooth because let’s face it you will get bored. So if you are a Serlialist almost keep in mind that the secret to being successful is being able to build something sustainable which probably means conquering your ADHD for 10 minutes.

The most important thing in business is customer service. I don’t care how good your product is. If you want to last for the long term, provide good customer care. Build a relationship with your customers.

Sending your customers to a call center in india, pakistan or whereverthefuck to read a predefined script is not customer service, it’s customer disservice. This is from someone that used to run a large call center company, which I did.

Care for your customers. LISTEN to what they want and give it to them. Empower your employees to give refunds, discounts or whatever they need to save customer. Don’t just have reps pass the buck. If t hey have to pass the buck then they shoud’nt be your customer service reps. Customer Service defines your business and quality care is the BEST WAY TO GET REFERRALS.

For those of you enamored by viral marketing, a little information, VIRAL MARKETING IS ANOTHER WAY TO SAY REFERRAL MARKETING.

Create positive buzz and your brand will survive even bad calamities. Handle situations by owning up to it, not denying it. The coverup is always worse than the scandal.

Me, I give all of my clients my cell and AIM and they can reach me 24/7. If you need me, call me. I rarely get late calls but when I do i take them. People appreciate it and actually call you less as a result knowing that they can is usually enough.

Think of yourself in your customers shoes. How would you want to be treated?

This message is intended for bankers and other such people that think saving money on cheap call centers is a good thing. IT IS NOT.

Nivi asked me to write on this, hope it helps some people…

One of the biggest challenges facing entrepreneurs is being “fundable” also known as being “in network” or “known” by the venture firm. Unless your product is complete or has an existing following or is profitable, it is very hard to get in cold…

Here is a version of a conversation repeated many times around the world…

BootStrapper: Hi, I’m John Smith with SaveTheCrack.com.

VC: Hi John, pleased to meet you (looks at his watch)

BootStrapper: Well, I noticed you invest in early stage startups in technology.

VC: Uh yea, we are proud to be one of the most savvy venture firms out there and are very in tune with entrepreneurs and current trends. (glances around the room for somoene he knows)

BootStrapper: Well perfect, then i’m sure you’ve heard of social crack. It’s the latest trend and we are set to take advantage of it.

VC: Yes, we invested in a social crack company last week, we see a lot of good things happening in that space.

BootStrapper: Perfect, well my company kicks the space for yadayada reason. This is my third start-up unfortunately the last one failed and I’m broke but I have these great sketches and almost an alpha.

VC: Great, that sounds exciting (thinks “When is lunch?”)

BootStrapper: Look here on my treo (demo’s product). What do you think?

VC: Very cool, it has some potential but I’m sorry I have to go, I have a meeting in the conference room down the hall (free buffet)

BootStrapper: (following on heels of the VC) So do you think maybe, uh, well, you may want to, ehh invest?

VC: If you want you can send me a business plan (hands card) but I don’t think this is really for us. (only 3 feet from the door to the buffet now)

BootStrapper: But why?

VC: You have no track record of a real exit and we don’t know you so why would we give you money. (as he walks into the buffet and away from groveling entrepreneur)

BootStrapper: But I thought you take unsolicited business plans and I paid $400 for this conference….(no one hears this as he sulks off to the next VC)

Now, I’m sure this has happened to many of you out there if you are reading this site. A version of this even happened to me and I’ve founded two successful companies. Never fear though….there is always a hack!

So without further ado…how to hack your way in the door…

There are 2 ways to do this. The first is the easy one, pester that VC (after all he did readily give you his card) until he responds and gives you a references to someone else. Keep following the chain of referrals, eventually someone who likes your idea will think the person who referred you actually likes your plan and will take you seriously and wala! you have an investor really looking at your business and possibly investing.

Now, that is not always going to work and takes the right type of pestering networker to do it right. The other way to do this is tough but easier then raising capital.

REMOVE YOURSELF AS CEO. Go out and find a CEO (or at least a Chairman or President) to come on board as an equity level founder who has been there and done that. Someone who has taken a company public before.

Now, you say, why would someone of that calibur want to work with me? Well, if you are saying that, forget about investors, your company will fail, try again next year. If you don’t have the confidence and guile to make someone on that level believe in you, go back to the drawing board and try again.

There are hundreds of executives out there frustrated with their $250,000/year corporate jobs. There are also many hundreds of executives that sold a company and are now bored. For an entrepreneurially minded person boredom is worse than bankruptcy. If your pitch is right and you write the proper job postings and put them in the right places (like executive job boards, linkedin, soflow, offline networking group boards etc…) you will be able to find a bored exec looking to take another company to the promised land and interested in coming on board as a founder. Sure, it’ll cost you equity but wouldn’t it better to have an experienced CEO that knows the investors on a first name basis or at least has a track record to get in door than be left broke with your pants down?

Hope this helps.

Richie “The BootStrapper” Hecker
www.BootStrapper.com
www.RichHecker.com