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Eye-Fly

eyefly

American Equity, by Sam Altman (with comments & highlights)

American Equity, por Sam Altman (con comentarios y destacados)

Actions américaines, par Sam Altman (avec commentaires et faits saillants)

अमेरिकन इक्विटी, सैम ऑल्टमैन द्वारा (टिप्पणियों और हाइलाइट्स के साथ)

アメリカン・エクイティ、サム・アルトマン著 (コメントとハイライト付き)

American Equity, por Sam Altman (com comentários e destaques)

American Equity, bởi Sam Altman (có bình luận và điểm nổi bật)

美国股票，作者：Sam Altman（附评论和亮点）

I want to start this guide with two important points. First, Incubators are for startups. Not ideas. Second, incubators are organisations that bet on you by investing in you in exchange for equity. If they don’t, they’re just a real estate business. I learnt these two points the hard way. Let me explain the critical mistakes I made to give you more context and ensure you avoid making them too. When I was younger, just starting my entrepreneurial journey, I took part in an incubator. But I went with an idea on a napkin. I didn’t have a fully formed vision for my product, I simply wasn’t ready. It was one of the reasons I failed. Incubators are for startups that already have a formed idea, have some market validation behind them and are ready to take it to the next step. My second mistake was going to an incubator that didn’t invest in the startups they worked with. I went somewhere that took my money in exchange for office space and free beers in the afternoon. I wasn’t working with an incubator. I was joining a co-working space. There is little value in that when you’re first building your startup. In my opinion, businesses like that shouldn’t even be called incubators. It’s vastly different from going to an actual incubator that will invest in your startup for two reasons: You’re going to learn from industry leaders who have a wealth of experience in what they’re doing and a vested interest in your success; You’re going to learn from other founders in your cohort because if the incubator thinks they’re also worth investing in they must also be doing something great. Yes, at an “incubator” where you pay for the privilege of office space you’ll also meet other founders. However, there’s no guarantee that those founders know what they’re doing because the “incubator’s” main focus is filling empty desks. Whereas an incubator's focus should be on guiding and investing in young startups that have potential. With that in mind, here’s some more information on what an incubator is, how it can help you in your entrepreneurial journey, and the list of the best ones from around the world. What is a Startup Incubator? A startup incubator is a collaborative organisation designed to support new startups that are looking to validate their formed product vision (hence the name incubator). Incubators provide a number of services designed to help you at the MVP stage – like access to startup capital. That being said, incubators aren’t for everyone. If you have access to capital and other vital resources to help you get your MVP off the ground, you may not need one – and save some equity. But we’ll delve into that later in the article. Before we get to the list of the best incubators, let’s dig a little deeper into how an incubator can help you. How a Startup Incubator Can Help You Here’s a rundown of the top three ways startup incubators help entrepreneurs succeed: 1. Mentorship There are a plethora of hurdles on the road to startup success. While some of them will be unique to your specific business, there are many that are common among all startups. If you choose to work with a startup incubator, you’ll have access to successful entrepreneurs who’ve faced many of those hurdles already. As Warren Buffet once said: It’s good to learn from your mistakes. It’s better to learn from other people’s mistakes. Connecting with these entrepreneurs will help you avoid common mistakes altogether – which will save you a lot of time as you build your MVP. They can help you with everything from business basics and presentation skills to marketing advice, product expertise and connections to strategic partners. This leads me to the second benefit, opportunities for funding. 2. Opportunities for Funding Getting your startup off the ground is an expensive endeavor. Most startup incubators will provide you with funding opportunities at key points in your collaboration with them. For example, Y Combinator offers a of $500k to every startup they work with. This investment is made on two separate safes in return for a percentage of the company. standard deal But, as I’ve already mentioned, startup incubators provide connections to strategic partners. This includes investors. Most incubators have a network of both angel investors and venture capitalists who can assist with further fundraising opportunities. 3. An Entrepreneurial Environment The final benefit of working with a startup incubator is the opportunity to work in an entrepreneurial environment. This starts with a workspace. Most incubators will offer you space in a shared co-working or even a dedicated office for you and your founding team. That being said, some of the biggest incubators don’t offer a physical space – Y Combinator is a prime example here. This agreement lasts for the duration of your collaboration with them. That being said, some incubators let you stay in the space for months or even years after the collaboration ends. Aside from the financial benefits, having a workspace surrounded by other startup founders is a great way to immerse yourself in the entrepreneurial environment. However, incubators don’t only offer this resource as part of the package. Many will also offer cloud computing credits, discounted SaaS subscriptions and other products and services to make life easier. Finally, it’s common to take part in a Demo Day as part of working with an incubator. This gives you the opportunity to showcase your product, pitch your idea and network with investors, advisors and other key stakeholders. What to Assess Before Joining an Incubator If the Model Fits Your Needs Not every startup fulfils the growth targets often demanded by startup incubators. And that’s ok, there are out there that are still very successful without seeing rapid growth. plenty of startups Instead, they focused on steady growth. Take as an example. The now giant communications company and still achieved a successful IPO. Bandwidth bootstrapped for 15 years The Amount of Equity You’re Selling Most startup incubators work off fixed equity percentages. By nature, that means they’re overpaying some companies and discounting others. Before joining an incubator, you have to see if the capital they invest is worth the percentage you’re giving up for your specific scenario. Profiles of the Mentors A large part of the benefit of joining a startup incubator is the mentors you’ll meet during the experience. If those mentors aren’t entrepreneurs themselves, with a fantastic track record avoid that incubator. In my experience, many incubators are full of wannabe angel investors who are posing as startup mentors. I can’t overstate how important it is that you don’t get trapped in such a programme. How Easy it is to Get In A quick Google will tell you how competitive the startup incubator ecosystem is. You’ll read that places are limited and there are thousands of other founders just like you fighting for a coveted spot. With that in mind, if a startup incubator is easy to get into it probably isn’t a great programme to join. Put simply, places like Y Combinator didn’t get their reputation from an easy application process. Is there “Industrial Value” in the Programme You have to evaluate how valuable the programme is to your specific industry. While seed capital is important, it might be worth going with an incubator that offers less than the average if they can introduce you to the right contacts in your industry. Let’s say you’re an aerospace startup for example. On one hand, you have an incubator that can offer a warm introduction to Nasa, Boeing, SpaceX (or SurfAir’s founder and friend of Altar, ), but only invests $40k of seed capital. Wade Eyerly On the other, you have an incubator offering $150k of seed capital, but they can’t offer you a warm introduction. The former may be more advantageous in your situation. Should You Work With a Startup Incubator? To answer this question, I recommend first looking at what you need from a startup incubator. If you think it will enhance your startup journey and the knowledge, capital, network and resources are worth giving up the equity, go for it. Just make sure you choose the right incubator for you. On the other side of the coin, if you can bootstrap your startup and already have a wealth of industry and product knowledge, good connections within your market and can find all the resources you need yourself, maybe an incubator isn’t for you. If you do go down the route of working with an incubator, make sure you get the most out of the experience possible. Take this example from a successful entrepreneur, Giacomo De Lorenzo. I sat down with him recently as part of our content series The Startup Journey: “Our incubator was extremely helpful, but not all of the startups that were part of the programme made the right use of them. They weren’t calling them twice a day. Whereas I knew I had that opportunity so I took it, and it was very valuable for us. So embrace that ability to ask for help, it’s one of the most valuable resources you have. You’ll be surprised how many people will be happy to help.” Last but not least, here’s the list of the 7 best startup incubators from across the globe. The 7 Best Startup Incubators Worldwide 1. Y Combinator Founding Date: 2005 Location: Silicon Valley, California USA Application Info: Online Application Form Funding amount: $500,000 for 7% equity Startups Funded: Over 3,000 Portfolio Companies: , , Twitch Reddit Product Hunt 2. Seedcamp Founding Date: 2007 Location: London, UK Application Info: Online Application Form Funding amount: Around £200,000 ($271,000) for 6% – 7% equity Startups Funded: 430 Portfolio Companies: , (formerly Transferwise), Revolut Wise Hopin 3. Amplify LA Founding Date: 2011 Location: Los Angeles, California, USA Application Info: Online Contact Form Funding amount: $100k for 10% equity Startups Funded: 70+ Portfolio Companies: , , (acquired by Google) FloQast Clutter Bitium 4. 500 Startups Founding Date: 2010 Location: San Francisco, California, US with locations across the globe Application Info: about locations and applications Learn more here Funding amount: $150,000 for a 6% stake Startups Funded: Over 2,500 worldwide Portfolio Companies: , , Udemy Talkdesk Canva 5. AngelPad Founding Date: 2010 Location: The US in San Francisco and New York Application Info: Apply online via landing page Funding amount: $120,000 for 7% equity Startups Funded: 150Portfolio Companies: , , Postmates Buffer AllTrails 6. Bethnal Green Ventures Founding Date: 2012 Location: London, UK Application Info: Contact the team Funding amount: £30,000 for 7% equity Startups Funded: 167 Portfolio Companies: , , Fairphone Commonplace DrDoctor 7. Techstars Founding Date: 2006 Location: Techstars is situated across 12 countries in 33 cities including London, Paris, Stockholm, Berlin, New York, LA and Toronto Application Info: You can find and apply to your location of choice . here Funding amount: $120,000 convertible note, $20,000 of which is contributed by TechStars for 6% equity Startups Funded: 2,500+ Portfolio Companies: , , Digital Ocean Chainalysis DataRobot Thanks for reading. Also Published here

How Early Stage Startups Can Leverage Startup Incubators

As entrepreneurs, there are a few things we really like. One of those things is independence. Another is creative control. We're working to see our ideas come to fruition, and so to be in charge of our creative vision is a big draw. But as anyone who's gone through the entrepreneurial ringer will tell you, the idea of 'doing it all on your own' quickly dissolves when sh*t gets real. You lose money, your marketing strategy falls through, and the customers you thought would love your product just don't seem to care. In moments like these, you might receive this advice: "Get yourself a business coach." The fighter within you – the one that screams 'but I can do it on my own!' – immediately rebels at the suggestion. But should it? Why is it that we repel this idea of outside assistance? Why are we so reluctant to share our goals with the people who can help us reach them? I've got a few theories to share, followed up by some stellar advice from today's inspiration, Randy Haykin. Let's dig in. The Gratitude Network: Investing in a Better Future Randy Haykin was a super cool guest to have . He's a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, venture capitalist, and philanthropist. Most notably, he founded and runs , a 501c3 not-for-profit that provides coaching services to social entrepreneurs around the world. on my show The Gratitude Network Haykin has been an angel investor for more than 20 years, investing in more than 30 early-stage companies, including early stakes in AOL, Yahoo, Voquette, eTeamz/Active, Sharie's Berries, Napo Pharmaceuticals, Solazyme, EyeFluence, Table.co, FastPencil, LesConcierges, EnerAllies, CrowdOptic, Apploi, QASymphony, ePharmix, and Sculptology. (So, yes. He's been around the block a few times.) After all of that experience as an investor, though, Randy did something incredible. He started a non-for-profit that invests in world-bettering ideas; businesses that have the potential to change lives and flip social issues on their head. If that doesn't speak to the quality of this man's character, I don't know what does. Something the Gratitude Network really focuses in on is this idea of business coaching, which is what gave me the idea for today's newsletter. The Network provides subject matter experts to any of the people they invest in – completely free of charge. The results are nothing short of amazing. Here's an excerpt : from their website "To date, Gratitude Network has worked with over 140 Gratitude Leaders impacting children and youth in more than 60 countries. While focused on the broad categories of Education, Health & Well-being, and Children’s Rights, our Fellows are impacting children in Education Access, Teacher Support, Online Education, Poverty Alleviation, Girls’ Empowerment, Child Safety, and so many more critical areas." Where Coaching Comes Into Play I've got to admit, I had no idea that an organization like this existed. The entrepreneurial space can feel so surface-level at times; it was refreshing to speak to someone who is looking to effect real change in the world. And if you're an entrepreneur, that's probably what you're after too. You want to make a difference. You want your business to have an impact. But here's the thing: Impact doesn't happen overnight, and it definitely doesn't happen in a vacuum. It takes a lot of hard work, dedication, and – yes – coaching. There's no way around it; if you want to be the best of the best, and if you want to see all your hard work come to fruition, you need to learn from the people who've done it before you. Then there’s the factor of expertise. Entrepreneurs will always reach a point where their own expertise simply isn’t enough to support the growth they want to see. You might have the grit and determination and winning mindset, but sometimes, you really need guidance on specifics. Think marketing, HR issues, budgets, long-term plans, etcetera. But Does It Really Work? This is a fair enough question to ask. While I was researching, I found a fair few articles claiming that business coaches were a massive waste of time and money. The pattern I saw in these articles, though, was that the trouble started when people looked in the wrong places for coaches. They'd go for the cheapest or most popular coach, without taking into account things like personality fit and shared values. So, assuming you find a good match, what do you stand to gain from a coach? In of 87 companies, it was found that 99 percent of the people surveyed experienced a return on their investment in coaching. a 2020 study Another study found that with coaches last 5 years longer in business than those without coaches. 70 percent of entrepreneurs Google and Apple both employed the in order to reach the trillion-dollar valuation they enjoy today. help of a business coach The International Society for Performance Improvement found that business coaching has a . That's insane! 221 percent ROI It was so interesting to come away from the critical articles and read these statistics. Clearly, there's a way to do coaching well – and those are the Googles and Apples of the world, the ones that see great returns on their coaching experience. So, what was going wrong for the others? Why are there so many articles about the devastating waste of money that is business coaching? It could be because, as with anything, there are bad coaches out there. And when someone hires a coach without doing their research, it's likely that they'll end up with someone who isn't a good fit for them. Personality mismatch is one of the key reasons why coaching fails. I also realized, though – and this is where my chat with Randy Haykin came into play – there are actually a few more factors to think about when you're considering getting a coach. There Are Different Ways to Receive Coaching In speaking to Randy, I was interested to find out that coaching isn't so cut-and-dry. There are different ways to receive it, and the one you choose will depend on where your company's at. Taking Classes At times, all we really need is a bit of a kick in the backside. Maybe we need a lesson in productivity or a refresher on how to stay on top of our finances. At this point, you don't necessarily need a coach – you need a course. “One option if you're looking for learning is to take a class. Do an online class or an in-person class. In that case, it's the group soaking in the lecture, soaking in the reading, maybe discussing amongst the group," Randy explained. I can imagine taking this approach for personal and leadership development. I'm sure plenty of entrepreneurs would love to build their confidence and public speaking ability or gain a better understanding of how to manage employees. Randy made a great point about the group setting, too – it's super valuable to be able to bounce off ideas with other business owners. Consultants vs. Coaches In the discussion of business coaching, it's easy to get confused between coaches and consultants. What's the difference? “A consultant is someone you hire to solve an issue that you're not able to solve yourself," Randy clarified. This made sense to me; it's almost like a mini version of BPO. You recognize a gap in your skillset, and you hire someone to fill that gap until the issue dissolves. "The difference with coaching is that you're doing the work as the individual leader; the coach is asking all the right questions, assuming that you have the knowledge about your own space, and about the work you're doing, that they're trying to get you to realize what's the next step in what you need.” Here it is. The perfect explanation of what a coach actually does! So often, we assume that coaches instruct us on exactly what to do and how to do it. Coaches aren't an instruction manual, people. They're there to help us figure out what our next step should be. This is so valuable because it allows us to retain our independence and ownership of our business. We're not blindly following someone else's advice – we're taking their guidance and working it into our own plan. “If the coach is asking the right questions, you decide on your own what is the right outcome.” Are Coaches the Same as Mentors? Great question. Randy explained that, because the two are interchangeable at times, he's had to make a clear distinction. “At Gratitude, we call mentors Expert Advisors, because we found that the mentor word was confusing for folks. Some people view a mentor as a coach, some people view them as an expert – it’s sort of all over the place. But by calling people Expert Advisors, it's clearly about the subject matter expertise that they have.” I interpret this to mean that mentors are simply one type of business coach; the type you consult for very specific guidance on, say, marketing or finances. Some entrepreneurs might prefer more of a holistic, all-encompassing coaching relationship. When to Take the Plunge It's a good idea to be coached at some point in your journey as an entrepreneur – but when should that point be? Should there be multiple points, also? Randy explained it in an incredibly simple way: when you see a gap, it's time to fill it. “With a general coach, you'd be you'd be realizing, ‘we got a gap here. We are lacking knowledge on foundations’, for example. So, at that point, you're going to need to bring in some expertise.” By taking this approach, you won't be bogged down by unnecessary overhead. You'll also have a clear goal and timeline in mind. “It's at the point where you realize that you just don't know what you don't know, or that you're going to need some short-term expertise to bridge the gap and get you to the next step.” Where Should You Look? Ah – the next challenge. Where should you look for a business coach? For the people within Randy's organization, he provides coaches free of charge. But in the real world, you may find a fair price tag attached to quality coaching. That's why it's super important to do your research. "You could use LinkedIn or you could use friends and connections. You’d reach out and say, ‘Hey, we are doing great work with kids and education. We don't have a lot of money. But we love your background. Could you give us a couple of hours of your time to help us with this issue?’” I'm often amazed at people's generosity when you ask for help in the right way. The best people want to see you succeed, and they're willing to offer their time and expertise to help you get there. But How Do You Avoid the Bad Eggs? You'll inevitably come across a coach or two that just isn't the right fit. Once you've gone headfirst into a coach-mentee relationship, though, it's gonna be hard to back out. Prevent this by doing your due diligence upfront. Look for the red flags! The Overly Prescriptive Coach This is a coach you want to steer clear of at all costs. They're stubborn and narrow in their solutions, and they'll likely rob you of your own creativity and intuition. “Overly prescriptive folks who immediately jump to a prescription when you're trying to explain the problem is usually a red flag, because they're not empathically listening to what your challenges are before making a suggestion. It's like they have an idea already before they even get going.” The Self-Absorbed Coach Then there's the issue of people who think they hold all the answers. These coaches are so convinced that their way is the right way, and won't change directions for anyone. “Another red flag would be someone who seems to be leading you toward their service. To the hammer, everything looks like a nail. And so you're trying to tell them about your issue, and they keep moving you toward the thing that they do. And it doesn't feel like the right fit.” The Salesman Finally, you've got the coach that only thinks of what they can gain from you. This is the person who appears to offer their services for free (since you're doing such amazing work) but will inevitably push you toward buying into their product or service. “If they move you towards trying to sell you on their services as opposed to just helping you solve an issue out of the goodness of their heart...” Uh-oh. Get out of there quick. It might seem too simple, but the best way around these red flags is to ask around. Do more research than you need to. Reach out to people you know and trust, and see if they have any recommendations. Then, take the time to interview a few coaches before making your decision. This is an important investment in your business, after all – so you want to make sure you find the right one for you. Wrap-Up So here's the bottom line: if you see a gap that needs filling, now's your chance to find a coach. You don't have to wait until the need arises, though. You can also proactively seek out a business coach to help you get where you want to be. If you're at all interested in the area of socially responsible businesses, investing, accelerators, and entrepreneurship, make sure you head over and watch Randy Haykin's . He's had many years of experience in the space, and it was a pleasure to hear his insights. full podcast episode Thanks for being here! Also published here

Is a Business Coach Necessary?

7 Entrepreneurial Mindset Lessons from Founders that Raised Millions

They came out of nowhere, now they’re making millions… They’re an overnight success! I’m sure you’ve heard this before or at the very least something like it. Publications love to bombard us with stories of entrepreneurs who find instant success. . The problem is “instant success” simply doesn’t happen Sure the stories get clicks, sell magazines, and excite young entrepreneurs into thinking they can fast track their journey and become the next Jobs or Musk. But if you’re setting out to become an “overnight success” you’re setting yourself up for failure. The hard truth is that: Behind every ‘overnight success’ is years of commitment, hard work sleepless nights and a touch of good luck. As part of my work at Altar, I get to see first-hand the struggle that entrepreneurs face getting a startup off the ground. Success is never guaranteed. Even for entrepreneurs with years of industry experience, a top-notch solution to a very real problem, wrapped in a product with a beautiful UX/UI. In this article, I’ll share three stories from successful entrepreneurs who I sat down with as part of our content series They’re prime examples that startup life isn’t going to bed poor and waking up rich – no matter how good you are. The Startup Journey. The Stories Behind the “Overnight Success” The following businesses, and the entrepreneurs behind them, have all reached incredible success in their chosen industries – whether that takes shape in hundreds of millions in funding, a successful exit or in some cases both. To the outside eye, it’s very easy to mistake them as an “overnight success”. But as I learned when sitting down with these founders, that could not be further from the truth. Let’s get started with Yaron Samid. Yaron Samid – BillGuard Yaron Samid is the founder behind multimillion-dollar fintech startup, BillGuard. His startup seemingly shot to success, with the personal finance app seeing rapid adoption when it launched. The first iteration of BillGuard however, wasn’t a personal finance app, but a “set & forget” security app designed to identify fraudulent credit card transactions. But people weren’t excited about that product, so adoption was low. They had to pivot the business several times to achieve success, as when sharing his story with me. Yaron recalled recently “People had the intent, but when we launched, suddenly nobody stopped what they were doing to sign-up and use it Taking action is not free. People have to make the decision to go get your product. That requires a driving force. Like if you have a headache, you will stop what you’re doing and go and buy some medicine. Unfortunately, we did not have that. Nobody is excited about their security products. So we pivoted to a B2B model. We tried to sell the technology to the banks. However, the sales cycle for banks is very very long. It’s painful. The kind of pain I wouldn’t wish on anybody. Simply, we were not set up to just sit there and wait for the banks to deploy. So, after two years of investing in a B2B marketing and sales team, with pilots in major banks, we made one of the hardest decisions we had to make. To pivot back to a consumer app. This meant letting go of some amazing talent we had brought in to sell to banks.  They just weren’t the right fit for a consumer business model. It was heartbreaking. We completely redesigned the product and built a personal finance app as opposed to a “set & forget” security app. We changed the discussion from security to saving money: ‘Do you want to pay full price for that coffee? Or do you want to get a notification on your phone that gives you a 25% promo code as you walk into the coffee shop?”. Everybody wants that product! If you see someone standing in front of you in line getting 25% off their coffee the first thing you do is say: “Hey, what’s that?” and they say: “It’s my BillGuard savings alert. It shows me that there is a coupon here I can use and automatically downloads it to my phone.” Boom! Everybody standing in line is suddenly downloading the app for the coffee they are about to buy. That drives massive organic adoption and growth. When we did this and made other UX tweaks to the mobile app, it brought down our CPA to less than $2 per newly registered user.” What could easily be seen as an overnight success actually took years of pivoting (and overhauling the majority of the team) to achieve. Ali Halabi – Volt Lines Ali Halabi is the brain behind Volt Lines – a subscription-based transportation service aimed at corporations. Volt Lines has rapidly become the leading corporate transport service in Turkey – and to the outside eye, it’s easy to think that Volt Lines went from $0 to $7.5M in funding in a heartbeat. As you can probably guess, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Volt Lines may have been received by the market with open arms, but Ali’s journey started four years before with his original idea “Volt” – a P2P carpooling service. He told me the full story in a : recent chat “I quit my corporate job in 2013. Quite an irrational decision from someone who had only lived in the city a year – who still didn’t speak the language. I set out to build Volt, an on-demand carpooling service. It was my first startup. We were essentially connecting drivers and passengers going in the same direction in inner-city Istanbul. The carpooling model failed due to product-market fit, so I pulled the plug on it in 2017. Which left me trying to figure out what to do next. I ended up jumping from one end of the spectrum to the other. Having focused on C2C with my first startup, my second focused on B2B. I created a completely new company that focused on corporate transportation. That’s how Volt Lines was born. It’s like the Netflix of Transportation, the Spotify of buses. I started selling Volt Lines six months before we actually incorporated the company. Almost a year before we signed our first customer.” Again, it’s clear to see that what may look like an overnight success actually boils down to hard work, trying (and failing), perseverance and listening to your market. Garrett Gafke – IdentityMind Garrett Gafke brought the idea of digital identity to Silicon Valley with his startup IdentityMind. A startup that, before being successfully acquired last year, solidified its place as an industry leader and raised over $21M in funding. But this success certainly didn’t happen overnight for Garrett. He that when he first had the idea, he and his team struggled to portrait its value to the market: told me recently “We would talk about it with people and they would look at us blank-faced. I’ll give you an example of how far this goes back. I was meeting with people like Jeff Bezos, who was getting the bookstore (Amazon) going at the time. I was speaking to Peter Thiel & Elon Musk, who were at PayPal with another friend of ours Bill Harris. They were just getting that going with Max Levchin. Marc Andreessen was over at Netscape. I was over at Verifone. No one had ever discussed what Digital Identity was. We had to take that time to educate the market. We were pioneering the digital identity market. This meant lots of conversations about things that were unknown and confusing to people.” After being told no countless times, Garrett and his team went into stealth mode for four years. What got him through it? His mindset and the people around him: “Of course, my co-founders and I saw the lack of demand. Sure, we were told “no” a million times – like a lot of entrepreneurs. After all, failure is the primary denominator in the entrepreneurial process. What it comes down to is your own drive, values, and commitment. Grit and tuning out the naysayers is critical.  You must be resilient! Moreover, you’ve got to “scrap” as I call it. The best CEOs and entrepreneurs I know are what I call very scrappy people. And what I mean by that is we work hard. We work incredibly hard and give everything, every piece of our being to these journeys – even if they end unsuccessfully. More than that, scrappy people are also very resourceful. You figure out a way to work for very little money. The other major factor is, you and your co-founders make a commitment to each other. Do not underestimate your partners in any journey, business or personal. When times were tough, often what kept us going was our commitment to each other as a founding team.” Garrett’s story is further proof that success comes from years of hard work and the grit to get through the toughest hurdles. Key Takeaways These are just three examples of what it takes to build a successful company. I could show you many more, but instead, I want to leave you with some actionable advice that I’ve picked up along the way. First, foremost and somewhat unsurprisingly, don’t expect to become an overnight success. Instead, commit to the problem you’re trying to solve for your users. Then surround yourself with the right people to build that solution and get it into the hands of your users as quickly as possible. Listen to those users, and iterate that product to make it the best possible solution on the market. Critically, while you’re doing all of these things, know that there will be hurdles and there will be times when it feels like your startup is on death’s door. The best way to make your way back from those moments is, firstly, by not being afraid to ask for help. When I , he summed it up perfectly: sat down with another entrepreneur, Wade Eyerly “We’ve all needed so much help to get to where we are, that we understand and most of us are still calling people looking for help! So when you call an entrepreneur and say: “Hey, can I get 20 minutes? I want to bounce an idea off you.” The answer is: “Yeah. Okay.” Every single time.” Pair that ability to ask for help with an entrepreneurial mindset of never giving up. Think about why you started this journey. Look at the team around you who have all committed to you and your startup. Always remember that . As Garret told me: perseverance is a key trait to successful entrepreneurship Whether or not your startup makes it depends on your ability to go past where most people would throw in the towel. Most entrepreneurs I know never throw in the towel. That’s it. Now it’s time to go out there and create your own story. The original version of this article can be found here

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