Jason’s inspiration for this 6 ½ minute talk was a blog entry he wrote in 2008, which went viral within the startup community. You can check out Jason’s original entry HERE.

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You can watch Jason’s presentation below or on YouTube here:  http://youtu.be/fBGT8TVjZXQ

Jason has always been fascinated with superheroes. When he Co-Founded Docstoc, he decided to incorporate superheroes into his company’s Core Values. Each new employee is asked to publicly declare their favorite superhero, which is then added to a large mural on display in the company’s lobby.  

Always the serial entrepreneur, Jason is expanding Docstoc’s mission to include not just documents, but a variety of tools that help entrepreneurs run their businesses, such as ebooks and videos. To this end, Jason and his DocStoc team have created a compelling online course entitled, 21 Critical Lessons for Entrepreneurs. In fact, lesson 19 is the video shown below. If you enjoy Jason’s content and style, you might want to check out his online course.

The ten superhero lessons are listed below. Although each of these images is impactful in their own right, I strongly encourage you to check out Jason’s clever elaboration of each of these superhero lessons.

Superheroes Never Give Up

Superheroes Always Get The Job Done

Superheroes Are The Best At What They Do

Superheroes Are Crystal Clear Of Their Purpose

Superheroes Are Not Flawless

Superheroes Don’t Seek Glory… But They Get It Anyway

Superheroes Help Others

Superheroes Can Do It By Themselves But Are More Powerful In Teams

Superheroes’ True Strength Comes From Their Character

Superheroes Accomplish Huge Feats

Jason makes it clear at the outset of his talk that, although superheroes are a lighthearted and fun expression of his company’s core values, he is extremely serious about incorporating them into his “superhero culture.” He tells his employees, “When you come into the company every day, I want you thinking you are that superhero.” Fortunately, Jason does not require his employees to wear capes, masks or tights.

Just like a superhero’s mission, startups are exhausting and demanding. However, by emulating superheroes, startup employees can be inspired to achieve outsized results while remaining helpful and humble. Time to get your superhero on…

Note: This is an installment in the Iconic Advice series. Other installments include: Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson,Walt Disney and Mark Zuckerberg.

1. Degree? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Degrees

"As important as school was, I found that it could be very disruptive to a steady income." [Tweet this quote]

According to a January 2012 article in Forbes Magazine, nearly 16% of the 400 most affluent Americans do not have a college degree. When the world's 400 richest people are considered, the percentage who did not earn a college degree doubles.

For many entrepreneurs, college has little appeal. Academia's arbitrary, bureaucratic structure, combined with its predominant focus on theoretical issues, causes many entrepreneurs to depart college early.

I generally encourage my UC Santa Barbara students to complete their formal education before joining or creating a startup. However, I occasionally encounter a student who I believe is better suited to learn "on the job," than in the classroom. In case you are wondering, I do not weigh in on such monumental choices, as I do not believe a Professor's opinion is relevant.

In Michael's case, he promised his parents that he would return to school if the sales at his startup did not meet his expectations.

"I had to give it a full go and see what happened. I couldn't resist the opportunity. The deal was, I would start into business full time in May, and at the end of August we would take a look and decide if it was doing well." [Tweet this quote]

Although he has spoken at numerous graduation ceremonies since he left college, Michael never returned to school as a student. "I was, you know, rebellious, an 18, 19-year old and just did what I wanted to do and all worked out OK." [Tweet this quote]

2. Innovations Are More Than Technological Features

"Our business is about technology, yes. But it's also about operations and customer relationships." [Tweet this quote]

Innovation is commonly associated with either the introduction of new products or new features added to existing products. Such innovations are often focused on making products stronger, faster, smaller, lighter and cheaper. Despite the relative dominance of product-oriented innovations, they seldom create sustainable competitive advantages. You can read about the variable impact of the various forms of innovation in Fast Followers.

Dell's primary innovations were operational. It devised made-to-order factories that allowed customers, for the first time on a large scale, to individually configure a personal computer. Along with Amazon, Dell was also an early pioneer of web-based customer service. These two areas of operational innovation allowed Dell to defeat a number of tech-centric competitors which spent significant money researching and developing technological features, ever briefer product lifecycles.

3. Defining The Questions

"It's through curiosity and looking at opportunities in new ways that we've always mapped our path at Dell. There's always an opportunity to make a difference." [Tweet this quote]

Curiosity is a common trait among serial entrepreneurs. The freedom to pursue the answers to the questions that most intrigue us is one of the primary benefits of charting your own course and not working for a Big Dumb Company. As Walt Disney once said, "We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. When you're curious, you find lots of interesting things to do."

4. Small Businesses Face Common Challenges

"The best part was the wisdom of the restaurant owner, which I could capture if I came to work a little early. He took great pride in his work and cared about every customer who came through his door." [Tweet this quote]

Effective startup mentorship can come from unlikely sources. The basic tenets which make a small, lifestyle business successful are surprisingly similar to a high-tech startup: establishing a productive corporate culture, hiring great people, sourcing reasonably priced capital and identifying and satisfying one or more market segments. Look around. You may have overlooked an otherwise highly qualified Advisor, who can help you avoid rookie startup mistakes.

5. Naive Instinct

"One of the things I benefited from when I started this business was that I didn't know anything. I was just instinct with no preconceived notions. This enabled me to learn and change quickly without having to worry about maintaining any kind of status quo, like some of my bigger competitors." [Tweet this quote]

Mark Zuckerberg shared a similar sentiment, which he augments by stating that Facebook has striven to maintain a beginner's perspective. In Mark's words, "…we viewed that as a really important thing, to always keep a beginner's mind and what would we do if we were starting the company now…" Maintaining the status quo is for Big Dumb Companies. Startups win by changing the rules.

6. Bottle Washing

"There are a lot of things that go into creating success. I don't like to do just the things I like to do. I like to do things that cause the company to succeed. I don't spend a lot of time doing my favorite activities." [Tweet this quote]

During the early days of your venture, you will be forced to perform a number of duties you find displeasing. As you achieve success and have the financial wherewithal to delegate tasks to new members of your team, you can eventually gravitate toward those tasks which you enjoy. However, no matter how large or successful your organization, there will always be responsibilities which you perform for the good of your company, not for your personal entertainment.

7. Winning Per Michael Dell, Not Charlie Sheen

"The key is to listen to your heart and let it carry you in the direction of your dreams. I've learned that it's possible to set your sights high and achieve your dreams and do it with integrity, character, and love. And each day that you're moving toward your dreams without compromising who you are you're winning." [Tweet this quote]

As I note in Nice Guys Finish First, success includes maintaining your integrity. Honesty is a core competency of most successful entrepreneurs. Despite the Hollywood myth, it is easier to succeed in business when you are honest, rather than trying to screw everyone you encounter.

8. The "Right" Opportunity May Be Right Now

"Don't spend so much time trying to choose the perfect opportunity, that you miss the right opportunity." [Tweet this quote]

Great entrepreneurs are action oriented. They cannot always turn a bad situation into perfection, but they are confident in their ability to morph a mediocre opportunity into a positive outcome through thoughtful execution, not thoughtful . In the words of US Army General George Patton, "A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week."

9. Sometimes You Just Have To Say…

"Sometimes you just have to belly up to the bar and take a chance. We made some mistakes, but we also had the strength to work our way out." [Tweet this quote]

Internalize Michael's advice while channeling George Patton. Belly up and execute violently.  

Note: This is an installment in the Iconic Advice series. Other installments include: Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Walt Disney and Mark Zuckerberg.

Note: This is an installment in the Iconic Advice series. Other installments include: Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Walt Disney and Michael Dell.

   1) Get A Mentor

"I started the site when I was 19. I didn't know much about business back then." [Tweet this quote]

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Ignorance is not bliss in business, but it does allow entrepreneurs to face the unknown with a measure of confidence. No 19-year old understands business at the level of a seasoned, serial entrepreneur. However, it is important for young entrepreneurs to be adequately self-aware to know what they do not know.

Given Facebook's numerous corporate governance mistakes during its early days, Mark would have been well served to have cultivated a mentorship with one or more savvy Advisors. These individuals would have undoubtedly helped the company avoid some of its intellectual property and employee compensation lawsuits.

   2) Modern Day Water Cooler, Neighborhood Pub And Hair Salon

"When you give everyone a voice and give people power, the system usually ends up in a really good place. So, what we view our role as, is giving people that power." [Tweet this quote]

   3) Beginner's Luck

"A lot of companies would be trapped by the conventions and their legacies of what they've built, … we viewed that as a really important thing, to always keep a beginner's mind and what would we do if we were starting the company now…" [Tweet this quote]

By always thinking like a newcomer, you can avoid the Innovator's Dilemma, in which the market leader eventually loses a new, disruptive solution. When enhancing your value proposition, ask the same question a newcomer would ask, "What is the best way for users to interact with the new features, irrespective of the existing customer experience?"  When asked about the competition he feared most, Bill Gates is alleged to have said, "the two guys inventing away in a garage somewhere." Even if this quote is apocryphal, it remains instructive. You can beat the guys in the garage, as long as you continue to see your evolving value proposition through their eyes.

   4) Rational Exuberance

"The demands and the amount of work that it takes to put something like [Facebook] into place, it's just so much that if you weren't completely into what you were doing and you didn't think it was an important thing, then it would be irrational to spend that much time on it."

Creating and sustaining a successful startups is beyond difficult. Be smart. Develop a solution for a problem, market and/or user group about which you are passionate. If you are indifferent about your solution and its impact on your users, it will be difficult to maintain the stamina necessary to guide your startup to a well-orchestrated exit. According to Michael Dell, "Whether you've found your calling, or if you're still searching, passion should be the fire that drives your life's work."

   5) Progress Matters

"I think a simple rule of business is, if you do the things that are easier first, then you can actually make a lot of progress."

I recently performed a 360-Review on two Co-Founders who were the company's CEO and CTO. We discovered that they were routinely performing a number of urgent tasks that had a relatively small impact on the overall organization. We delegated these tasks to subordinates, which allowed the Co-Founders to remove roadblocks that were otherwise hampering the company's progress.

Startup leaders should identify tasks that are impactful and can be performed relatively easily (and thus quickly). For instance, adding Facebook's status feature was not particularly urgent, nor was it relatively difficult. However, it proved to be very impactful.   

   6) Frat Brother CFOs

"The dynamic of managing people and being CEO in a company is a lot different than being college roommates with someone." [Tweet this quote]

After screwing over a co-worker in the 1996 movie Jerry Maguire, the over-the-top Entertainment Agent Bob Sugar rationalized his unethical behavior by saying, "It's not ‘show friends.' It's show business.'" An ethically-centered version of this sentiment is applicable to startups.

Although it may be comfortable to start a company with your friends, it is a mistake, unless your friend(s) happens to be ideally suited to their role in the venture. Hang out with your friends when you are relaxing and work with the most talented people you can recruit.

   7) Keep It Stupidly Simple, Smarty

"The trick isn't adding stuff, it's taking away." [Tweet this quote]

The typical startup cannot afford a massive ad campaign to educate users as to its value proposition. The value of a startup's products must be obvious and easily accessed. If a young company does not balance ease-of-use and utility, it risks being usurped by a more elegant, but similarly compelling solution. In MVP², I note that when we initially released GoToMyPC, we struggled to balance the product's convenience with its overall effectiveness. We debated the merits of releasing two products, one at a lower price with fewer features, but we ultimately decided to release a single version of GoToMyPC, with a highly limited feature set.   

By opening its platform to third-party development, Facebook allowed the market to determine the winning applications, rather than trying to define them internally. Understand what you do well and focus on doing it best.

   8 ) Mark's Do Over

"If I were starting now, I would do it very differently. But I knew nothing back then… But honestly, if I were starting now, I would have stayed in Boston, I think." [Tweet this quote]

Mark's move to Silicon Valley was no doubt predicated on his belief that Facebook would obtain capital and recruit top-talent more efficiently. However, he eventually realized that along with the many positive elements associated with a highly-concentrated entrepreneurial ecosystem, there are a number of less advantageous factors, some of which I describe in Three Factors Which Intoxicate Venture Capitalists.

Young entrepreneurs worldwide are realizing they can launch and scale companies in their local communities. These geographically dispersed startup ecosystems, full of "two guys inventing stuff in a garage" (or in their dorm rooms), will eventually create the next wave of high tech successful startups, just like young Mr. Zuckerberg.

Note: This is an installment in the Iconic Advice series. Other installments include: Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Walt Disney and Michael Dell.

Mark framed his comments around the major mistakes he made during his early ventures. By focusing on what he would do differently now, he was able to humbly convey a number of impactful lessons to a captivated audience of budding entrepreneurs.

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You can watch a nine-minute excerpt from Mark’s talk below or view it directly on YouTube here: http://youtu.be/hyb8lUqCjc4 Note that many of the quotes below are from the full version of Mark’s talk and not necessarily from the highlights included in the video below.

1. Start – It’s The Only Way You Will Know

In Youthful Discretion, I list a number of entrepreneurial advantages young people have over their more aged brethren. Mark reinforced this message by telling the students, “I didn’t start young enough. I started at 31. The first thing you do is not likely to succeed. But the second thing…is also not likely to succeed. The reality is, most startups do not work. The younger you are in learning the (startup) skills, the better.”

Despite the fact that the UC Santa Barbara audience was primarily comprised of undergraduate students between 20 and 22 years old, Mark told them, “To some extent, you guys are already too old. In the last six weeks, I have been pitched by five entrepreneurs under 20. The youngest was 15. He’s pretty talented. He has four Co-founders… two of his Co-founders are MIT dropouts, both of them are under 15.”

Mark notes that most people are Wantrepreneurs, stating that, “98 percent of people who tell me they want to do startups are not entrepreneurs, they are wantrepreneurs. Because they want to do it, but they don’t. The difference between a wantrepreneur and an entrepreneur is that an entrepreneur starts.”

Mark’s comments make it clear that if you are an entrepreneur, Now Is Never Too Early.

2. Find A Concept You Are Passionate About

Mark admitted that one of the mistakes he made early in his career was pursuing a business concept about which he was not passionate. “I got talked into working on something because it was a big opportunity. I chose to work in the construction industry because every venture capitalist told me, ‘Look, that’s 13% of GDP. It’s a very big industry and its behind on IT.’ It’s pretty terrible to have to go to conferences… with people who are talking about… stuff that not only do I know nothing about, but I could give two $hits about.”

3. Start Lean

The next mistake Mark articulated from his past was raising too much money. “If you raise too much money, you tend to spend a lot of money. There is a weird Apollo 13… thing about not having enough resources and everybody having to sit around… and figure out how we’re gonna make this thing work that produces great innovation.”

Mark went on to say that he also had too many Co-founders in his first venture. “I like to call it the ‘Co-Founder mythology,’ that having Co-founders is a must. I started with three. Make sure it is somebody you know really well. If you found something together, you are sort of stuck with that team. There is nothing wrong with researching an idea yourself, getting it started yourself, validating the idea yourself and then asking people to join you.”

4. Take Risks, Be Bold, Make A Difference Or Go Home

Mark encourages emerging entrepreneurs to be bold, yet he admits that with his first startup, he boldly pushed PR before the product was ready. “I ended up on the front page of the Business Section of the Financial Times. But our product wasn’t ready for primetime. We didn’t even think about how we were going to answer calls… or how we were going to respond to everybody. We just knew that we were onto an idea that no one had thought of and we had better be in the press first because, of course, there is a first-mover advantage. Literally, (we received) hundreds and hundreds of in-bound inquiries, with no idea how we were going to talk to these people.”

Clearly, the right time to trumpet your product is when it can live up to the media hype. “Build something, test something, (you) don’t have to tell lots of people about it. Put it out on the Net, see what the reactions are…If you build something that starts to resonate, then you can start to… get into tech blogs and talk to the press and tell everybody what you are doing.”

5. Flip Burgers

Mark implores the students to seek startup opportunities which allow them to develop what he believes to be the two most important startup skills, programming and selling. “Working in a startup… you will be paid less than market rate, but… I would advise you to take the two skills that nobody wants, which happen to be the two most valuable skills you can develop in your youth.

Number one is sales. Life is sales. Raising money. Sales. Hiring employees. Sales. Business development is sales. Winning customers is sales. Getting press is sales. (Selling is) literally the most valuable skill you can have.”

In addition to sales, Mark advocates that emerging entrepreneurs gain some experience coding. According to Mark, “Everyone says to me, ‘Yeah, but I’m not a developer… I find it a little bit boring.’ Just know the basics. Learn HTML. Learn JavaScript. Learn a little bit of Ruby On Rails. It doesn’t have to be your day job. You don’t have to love it. Having the feeling for how the process works… will give you skills in whatever job you do.”

At his first venture, Mark hired too many people, many of whom were too senior. According to Mark, “I wasn’t effectively leading my sales organization. I wasn’t attending enough sales meetings, I wasn’t looking customers in the eye and seeing their reaction. I lost a degree of feeling for what really was happening in the company.”

The company’s overwrought organizational structure resulted in Mark being too far removed from the core aspects of his business, making it difficult to appropriately lead his team. Mark encourages young entrepreneurs to avoid making a similar mistake, saying, “Whatever you do, whether you are four people or forty people, answer customer support calls yourself, even if you’re the Founding CEO. Do product meetings yourself. Go see customers yourself. Talk to journalists yourself. I am not saying do every job and don’t delegate. But you need a piece and a feeling of every single part of your business, so that later, when you grow, you can hire and lead people with competence.”

6. Don’t Be A Ho

Mark’s initial venture had a large marketing budget, which allowed him to attend conferences all over the world. In retrospect, he now realizes that such time spent away from his company’s headquarters was not time well spent. “Conference Ho’s are people who spend all their time going to conferences. You go to a conference and there are important people at conferences. Often they will hang out and have drinks…and you get to meet lots of cool people. I am not saying ‘zero conferences’… but at some point, attending conferences, as the founding team, ends up being self-serving and narcissistic. There is somebody back at your office having to make the trains run on time. In your absence, people aren’t making decisions.”You can check out Mark’s blog entry on the dangers of becoming a Conference Ho HERE.

In addition to becoming a Conference Ho, Mark and his first startup team also became Revenue Hos. “I became a prostitute for money. We had a strategy when we started. We were idealistic, (but our ideals) met (the) reality of investors saying, ‘I want to see you, every quarter, put the right numbers on the board.’ As a result…I landed clients who would pay me tons of money, but I had to develop my software to do what they wanted to do, rather than my idealistic vision. I believe I would have been better off… (if I had) stuck more to my core vision.”

7. Focus On Customers – Nothing Else Matters

One result of raising too much money was that Mark’s first venture launched too many products, all of which were over-spec’d by the time they were launched. “In the old days, when we designed products, we would lock ourselves in an Ivory Tower, we’d pay someone to do some market research, we’d would decide what… customer requirements were. We’d build this product and nine months later we would ship it. It was kind of like producing a film in Hollywood. You had no idea if you had Waterworld or Titanic.”

Excess money also drove Mark’s first venture to internationalize their distribution too early. “The scarcest resource at any startup…(is) management bandwidth. You are not going to join a startup and do strategy. You spend all your time doing one thing, which is making decisions.” By prematurely expanding distribution globally, you risk defocusing your team and potentially losing your domestic market to a more disciplined competitor.  

Mark’s Do Over

Mark closes his talk by reinforcing the importance of entrepreneurs beginning their startup career early. “You only have your youth once. It’s an order of magnitude harder to do a business when you have kids and a mortgage, and a wife or husband… and college savings to think about and all that other baggage. The one thing I would do differently, if I had a do-over… I would have started much younger.”

“Starting” does mean you must risk it all. In many cases, you can gain meaningful insights and validate your potential opportunity while working on it part-time. The key takeaway from Mark’s talk for emerging entrepreneurs is clear – “start now.”

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You can watch my interview with Steve below or on YouTube here: http://youtu.be/VV84vFfN85U

During the fall of 2011, Steve wrote a controversial post entitled, Why VCs Should Be Startup CEOs. If you have not yet read it, take a moment to do so now. It is a brief and worthy read.  

Steve identifies the following skills as necessary for success as a venture capitalist:

• People skills (ability to recognize patterns of success in individuals and teams)
• People skills <again>
• People skills <and again>
• Market/technology acuity (patterns of success, domain expertise)
• Rolodex/deal flow (deal sourcing/ability to make connections for the portfolio)
• Board skills (Startup coaching, mentoring, strategy, operational/growth)
• Fundraising skills

Steve annotates his list by stating that:

Some of these skills are learned in school (finance), some are innate aptitudes (people skills), some are learned pattern recognition skills (shadowing experienced partners, hard won success and failures of their own), and some are learned by having operating experience. But none of them are substitutes for having started and run a company.

Interestingly, even the non-people skills on Steve’s list are highly dependent on a person’s interpersonal capabilities. Raising money, managing a Board and establishing a strong Rolodex are all facilitated by an ability to effectively empathize and communicate.

CEO Or Nothing?

Steve’s article struck a particular chord with me. Although my career includes over 15-years of startup operational experience and I was responsible for nearly every role at my various startups, I never held the CEO title. As such, I was curious if Steve felt that a venture capitalist had to be a former CEO in order to be optimally effective or if he gave equal consideration to the merit of other senior executive roles. His response was interesting.  “The post wasn’t meant to be dogmatic. It was just an observation of what I’ve seen, about young VCs in particular and the length of time it takes them to actually understand what it is they are doing. Most of them pick it up fairly quickly… but some of them spend their whole careers never understanding what business they are in and think of it as a financial asset class.”

Steve goes on to note that Chuck Eesley, one of his Stanford compatriots, has performed quantitative studies of the VC industry, finding that firms which have operationally experienced partners tend to generate superior financial results.

Yet, even though Steve acknowledges that all senior operating roles at a startup facilitate a venture capitalist’s ability to succeed, he concludes his remarks by underscoring the significant distinction between his first-hand experiences as a VP and as a CEO.  

“…in my eight startups, I was CEO and Founder once, meaning the buck stopped with me unequivocally…the role of the CEO is so different than the role of an operating exec, they’re not even on the same planet. I had been a VP of Marketing a couple of times in a startup…but until you are the CEO having the Board yelling at you in one ear and running out of money… and the Engineering VP just quit, you don’t have a clue about what it is like running a company until the buck all stops with you. So I wanted to distinguish running the company from the other jobs at a startup.”

Relevancy Is Relevant

Few people will argue that operational experience is an unimportant component to becoming an effective venture capitalist. However, the relative value of such experience diminishes considerably as the investment domain diverges from the investor’s area of operational expertise.

For instance, while discussing this topic, a venture capitalist (who asked to remain anonymous) recently shared the following: “I once had a life sciences guy, a brainy medical academic, on the board of a tech company. He was worse than useless as his frame of reference seldom synced up with my portfolio company. He kept trying to use a screwdriver as a hammer.” Similarly, a former CEO of a Big Dumb Company might be ill suited to invest in lean startups. Operational experience is additive, but its relative impact is predicated on how germane it is to the investor’s area(s) of focus.

The Alchemy Of A Great Venture Capitalist

Steve notes that venture capital is still a “craft industry” and thus there are a variety of career paths which lead to Venture Partner. According to Steve, “If I had to come up with an academic-specific view of how to build great venture capitalists, it was hire people… to be an Analyst out of engineering or MBA school. Let them…understand how to analyze deals. Throw them out and make them be product managers or something in a startup to get a feel of a company.
If they are still interested in venture, have them come back as an associate and have them shadow deals, shadow board meetings…and then my radical suggestion was to throw them out again. Let them Found a company or at least be a Co-Founder of a company. None of that guarantees a successful VC with great pattern recognition skills…but it certainly would give them a career path that understands both the venture side and the startup side.”

1 Dose Of Depth + 1 Dose Of Breadth > 2.5

I shared with Steve that Rincon Venture Partners has benefitted from a blend of operational and traditional investment banking and venture capital experience. As an operating executive, I developed deep understanding of the strategic and tactical drivers of success in the worlds of robotics, medical devices, SaaS and Ad-tech.

Before I began my VC career, I was convinced my practical experiences were an adequate primer to success as an institutional investor. In reality, I did not know what I did not know. After partnering with Jim Andelman, Rincon’s Co-Founder, I realized that operational startup experience is only one piece of the VC puzzle. Consulting, banking and venture capital experiences result in exposure to numerous, disparate situations and therefore familiarity with more permutations than are seen by the typical operating executive.

Our portfolio companies benefit from the fact that Jim has participated in well over a hundred financing transactions and dozens of exits. This breadth of experience facilitates deal benchmarking. Knowing what is feasible and typical in a variety of situations, enables our founders to efficiently seek resolutions in the midst of competing and seemingly conflicting requirements. The ability to craft a complementary syndicate, utilizing terms which protect everyone’s interests, is not typically part of a startup operator’s skill set.

The ideal venture capitalist does not exist. As such, entrepreneurs are well served to partner with a venture firm that has a complementary Core Team comprised of operational and finance oriented Partners. Assuming the Partners are not strictly relegated to only working with particular portfolio companies, such entrepreneurs can benefit from deep operational expertise while also leveraging a broad library of transactional experiences.

1. Pressure Helps You Break Through Your Breakdowns

"Mickey Mouse popped out of my mind onto a drawing pad 20 years ago on a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood at a time when business fortunes of my brother Roy and myself were at lowest ebb and disaster seemed right around the corner."

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In Pressure, I note how singer/songwriter Jim Croce wrote several top ten songs immediately after learning that his wife was pregnant. A struggling musician and itinerate truck driver, he was concerned he would be unable to adequately provide for his wife and unborn child.

Walt felt similar pressure when he was fired by Universal Studios and barred from creating additional content using his first hit character, Oswald The Lucky Rabbit. However, Walt did not fold. Instead, he created Mickey Mouse, who went on to kick some serious rabbit a$$.

As Seth Epstein makes clear in this talk, entrepreneurs constantly experience breakdowns, followed by breakthroughs. Properly channeled, stress can help generate the energy and creativity required to move you from one breakthrough to another.

2. The Four C's You Need To Follow Your Dreams

"I could never convince the financiers that Disneyland was feasible, because dreams offer too little collateral." [Tweet this quote]

In a prior entry, I identify the Three C's of Entrepreneurship as: Confidence, Courage and Conviction. I think Walt's Four C's of Dreaming are more apt, "Somehow I can't believe there are any heights that can't be scaled by a man who knows the secret of making dreams come true. This special secret, it seems to me, can be summarized in four C's. They are Curiosity, Confidence, Courage, and Constancy and the greatest of these is Confidence. When you believe a thing, believe it all the way, implicitly and unquestionably." [Tweet this quote]

3. Money Does Not Lead To Happiness, But Happiness Can Lead To Money

"Disneyland is a work of love. We didn't go into Disneyland just with the idea of making money." [Tweet this quote]

A common theme among successful entrepreneurs is that making money is not a primary motivator. Money allowed Walt to do more of what he loved to do, which was create entertaining content. As he once said,"I don't make pictures just to make money. I make money to make more pictures." [Tweet this quote]

Discover what you love to do, do it really well and you will have a high likelihood of making plenty of money. The downside of this approach is minimal. Even if you fail to achieve your financial goals, at least you will have the satisfaction of doing something you enjoy and you will never have to ask yourself, "What If?"

In Walt's words, "Do a good job. You don't have to worry about the money; it will take care of itself. Just do your best work — then try to trump it." [Tweet this quote]

4. Wear A Mouth Guard

"You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you." [Tweet this quote]

When you launch your adVenture, other than your friends and family, no one will care. Although it may seem harsh, no one should care until you give them a reason.

Friendly constituents will not sustain your startup. You must convince dispassionate, objective customers that your value proposition is worthy of their cash. Along the way, you will receive a number of elbows to the face, jabs to the jaw and kicks in the teeth.

Such rejection and setbacks should motivate, not demoralize, you. Every time someone told me, "Microsoft is going to put GoToMyPC out of business," I would smile and silently strengthen my resolve to prove the naysayers wrong. A kick in the teeth only hurts if you let it.

5. Color Me Curious

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. When you're curious, you find lots of interesting things to do." [Tweet this quote]

Great entrepreneurs (as well as successful venture capitalists) are intellectually curious. To such enterprising souls, the inherent ambiguity of a startup is thrilling, rather than daunting. Accomplished entrepreneurs are curious about their customers' desires, competitors' future strategic directions and their industry's technological trends. They relish learning.

My students often ask me, "What did you know about robotics and cardiac surgery before you joined Computer Motion?" I usually reply, "I knew nothing about robotics and even less about cardiac surgery." Entrepreneurs are life-long students. We are always learning, because we are curious.

6. Entertain Yourself

"We are not trying to entertain the critics. I'll take my chances with the public." [Tweet this quote]

Industry pundits generally spend their time writing about what they see in the rear view mirror. Big Dumb Companies consume such analyst reports, as they are unable to parse the past from the future. Startups cannot afford to mistake what has gone before for what lies ahead.

If you have an adequate understanding of your customers' needs and the direction and pace of technological change, you will (in the words of Mark Suster), "skate where the puck is going." If you have not yet read this entry, I highly recommend it.

7. Promise Brands

"When guests come here they're coming because of an integrity we've established over the years. They drive hundreds of miles. I feel a responsibility to the public." [Tweet this quote]

To paraphrase marketing guru and author of the Little Red Book Series, Guy Gabriele, "Your brand resides in each consumer's head. It is your promise to the consumer." Understand your brand's promise and work diligently to deliver on it with every new sale.

One of the reasons the Disney brand remains so powerful is that it fulfills a big promise. You may not provide your customers with the, "Happiest Place On Earth," but your brand's promise should still be bold and compelling.

Walt considered every facet of his operation as an opportunity to reinforce his brand, rather than dilute it. According to Walt, "Anything that has a Disney name to it is something we feel responsible for." [Tweet this quote]

8. Conventional Wisdom Is A False Constraint

"When I started on Disneyland, my wife used to say, ‘But why do you want to build an amusement park? They're so dirty.' I told her that was just the point — mine wouldn't be."

Entrepreneurs are not constrained by today's world. Rather, they envision a world the way it should be. Like many successful entrepreneurs, Walt destroyed his competition by changing the rules of the game rather than abiding by the industry incumbents' conventional rules.

9. Just Start

"The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing." [Tweet this quote]

The best advice in Guy Kawasaki's The Art of the Start is on page 9, "Get Going." Start. There is little likelihood that the value proposition you initially explore is what your adVenture will ultimately pursue, but you will never find the intersection of your core competencies and the market's desires if you do not get started.

What are you waiting for?

Note: This is an installment in the Iconic Advice series. Other installments include: Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs and Richard Branson.

Article first published as A Serial Entrepreneur’s Guide to Uncovering Awesome Startup Ideas on Technorati.

Seth Epstein, Founder and CEO SocialStay, former Founder and CEO of FUEL (acquired by Razorfish) and Emmy Award winner for his work on the X-Games, recently spoke at UC Santa Barbara as part of the Technology Management Program’s Distinguished Lecture Series. His talk was especially intriguing, as he attended UCSB, but dropped out to start a clothing design company.

In this 8-minute video excerpt from his recent talk, Seth describes the practical, hands-on methodology that he uses on a day-to-day basis to identify and vet his entrepreneurial ideas.

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You can watch Seth describe how he discovers great startup ideas below or on YouTube here: http://youtu.be/Da9vj6nAgsI

Chaos By Design

Seth is a design-oriented entrepreneur, with little desire to document details. In his entrepreneurial Tribe, he is the Shaman. Even though he is not process oriented, he has developed a simple, yet methodical approach to identifying, cataloging and vetting his entrepreneurial ideas.

In my UC Santa Barbara Entrepreneurial course, I require the students to submit a venture idea every week. My goal is to encourage them to open their eyes to the myriad of startup opportunities that surround them. To help guide the students’ evaluation of the feasibility and merit of each idea, I require them to complete a one-page form, as specified in Entrepreneurship Is A Compulsion. I was intrigued to learn from Seth’s talk that he utilizes a similar approach to capture and evaluate his ideas.

Seth notes that, "Ideas are a lot like exercising. The more you play around with ideas and you write them down, the better. The quality of your ideas is actually going to improve."

Seth’s approach to identifying great ideas is similar to the startup equation I describe in How To Identify A Great adVenture Opportunity:  (Passion + Solvable Problem) * Sufficient Reward = Great adVenture. Per Seth, emerging entrepreneurs should, "Find problems that need solving… that resonate (with you). Find problems in the area you are passionate about. Just do stuff that you love to do because the problems will come find you… if you are entrepreneurial."

This process also helps Seth avoid distracting himself from the core idea he is currently executing (currently SocialStay) while still capturing the idea. According to Seth, "This is how I evaluate an idea. This is a lead up into an executive summary. When I get an idea, because I get so many ideas and I don’t want to act on them or distract myself, I have this form that I fill out. I sit down and I answer these questions. I literally just do it on my computer, really quick."

Ten Step Idea Evaluation Worksheet

Seth reduces the overhead associated with his idea creation process by quickly completing the following worksheet.

1. The Idea – brief description
2. Problem Solved – what is broken that the idea fixes?
3. Who Has This Problem? – market size, characteristics, just me?
4. How Resolved? – is the resolution economical, practical, technologically feasible?
5. Business Model – how can I make money solving this problem for the identified audience? How much money can I make?
6. Competition – which competitors will prove to be the most formidable? What potential competitors might arise – can they be converted to partners? NOTE: competitors validate your idea, if you lose heart after one Google search, you are not sufficiently passionate about the idea.
7. Differentiation – what color are my elephant’s sunglasses, how I will beat the competition? To what extent are the points of differentiation sustainable?
8. Challenges – what potential pitfalls that could cause the idea to fail?
9. Resources – what contacts, capital, facilities and other assets will be required to execute the idea?
10. Fit – do I have the appropriate skills and passion to successfully execute this idea?

Modify this checklist to suit your personal style and the specific nature of your ideas. The key is to document and challenge the veracity of your ideas at the time they occur to you. The format you settle upon is of little consequence, as long as it allows you to quickly and contemporaneously capture the essence of your epiphanies.

Documenting ideas in real time is an effective, disciplined approach to sorting great ideas from lame ones. The worksheets also serve as library which you can build upon and interchange ideas. In many cases, an aspect of a particular opportunity will have unforeseen applicability to a subsequent venture. You eliminate the risk of "misplacing" such insights when you take the time to document them at the time of their birth.

Seth’s process allows him to capture ideas, and only spend more time refining those that become an earbug, as described in Your Startup Idea Must Be All Consuming. As he notes in his talk, when an idea continues to recur to him over a period of time, then he knows it has validity and is something about which he is passionate. “The reason I do it, is because, if a few months later, the idea comes back to itch me, I’m like, ‘Maybe I should pay attention to that.’ It is a good way to storehouse ideas and also it is a good way to exercise your brain."

Filling out an idea worksheet is like hitting the gym. Each workout may seem inconsequential and you may be tempted to skip it, "just this once." However, the cumulative effect of formally identifying and vetting entrepreneurial ideas is akin to a consistent workout regime. The results will take longer than you would like, but eventually you will be packing on entrepreneurial muscle that will help you uncover and validate great ideas, one of which might prove to be the basis of your next adVenture.

Last January, I decided to increase the quality and frequency of my blog entries, with the hope that I would generate a corresponding increase in readership. I was not disappointed.

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With the exception of the week of Thanksgiving, I published two entries every week during 2011. Correspondingly, my traffic increased nearly 3 times over the prior year, page views increased approximately 2.5 times and my email newsletter subscribers more than doubled.

Multimedia And Syndication

Another way I attempted to increase the value readers can derive from my blog was to incorporate video interviews. I published 21-Skype interviews during 2011. Of these discussions, my conversations with Guy Kawasaki and Naval Ravikant entered the top ten list shown below.

In addition, I was honored to speak with such notable entrepreneurs as: Kevin O’Connor (Founder DoubleClick and FindTheBest), Brad Feld (Founder TechStars, Partner The Foundry Group), Marten Mickos (Former CEO of MySQL and CEO of Eucalyptus Systems) and Len Short (CMO, (Product) RED, AOL and Charles Schwab). You can subscribe to my YouTube channel HERE by clicking the subscribe button above the video.

After a very kind introduction from Mark Suster, both Technorati and BusinessInsider agreed to syndicate my content. Although it is difficult to directly track the impact of these sites, the expanded exposure from these sites has certainly augmented my overall traffic.

Top Ten infoChachkie Entries Of 2011

The following entries generated the most page views during 2011. Of these entries, four of them are also in my “all time” Top Ten. Surprisingly, not all of these entries were published in 2011. For instance, What Are My Options Worth? was published in 2009 and Time Wounds All Heels was written in 2008. Google likes these entries, as evidenced by the significant organic traffic it consistently drives to them. The traffic generated by the remaining entries was sparked by a particular exogenous factor, as described below.

2012 And Beyond

I have lots of fun plans for my blog in the coming year. For instance, I was recently asked by Inc.com to write a weekly column. I will also increase the amount of video content, including snippets from talks given by my UC Santa Barbara classroom guest speakers.

I am very thankful for your readership and support. The kind words I receive in comments, Tweets and emails are highly motivational and most appreciated.

If you have not already signed up to receive my email newsletter, you can do so HERE. If you feel my content is worthwhile, a great free holiday gift is a recommendation of my site to a friend or colleague. If you think my content sucks, recommend it to an enemy or competitor.

I will begin publishing new entries the first week in January. Until then, have a safe and fun holiday with those you love the most.

All the best in 2012 and beyond…

John

Article first published as Unlike You, Mark Zuckerberg And Bill Gates Can Go Both Ways on Technorati.

Karch Kiraly (pronounced “cartch kur-ai”) is an anomaly. He is the only person to win Olympic gold medals in both indoor and beach volleyball. 

Just as Karch is a rarity, so are entrepreneurs who are equally facile at startups and Big Dumb Companies (BDCs). Many of these gifted few are household names, partly because they represent such a rare breed: Bill Gates, Michael Dell, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg. All of these Founders managed their startups from launch to BDC success.

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Given the relatively small number of people who are proficient contributors at both startups and BDCs, it is worthwhile to explore the different skills required to succeed in each venue.

In partnership with Docstoc, I created the following video, in which I discuss the characteristics of beach volleyball entreprenuers and BDC indoor volleyball players.  You can watch the embeded video below or at YouTube: http://youtu.be/R8I86HxUt7Y

Beach Volleyball

Startups are akin to the fast-paced sport of beach volleyball, while Big Dumb Companies (BDCs) are analogous to the less fluid, more structured game of indoor volleyball.

Although similar in many respects, significant differences exist between beach and indoor volleyball

Objective – The primary objective in beach volleyball is to keep the ball from hitting the sand. This translates into players diving, running into each other and essentially doing anything necessary to avoid letting the ball hit the sand.

If you ensure that the ball is kept in play, you have an opportunity to score. The same is true at a startup, where survival is the most elemental objective. You must be willing to do anything to keep the ball in play so you can eventually score.

As noted in Founderitis, Founders and other early members of a startup are ideally suited to reacting instinctually and ensuring that the ball stays in play. Such entrepreneurs are comfortable simultaneously playing a variety of roles, just as beach volleyball players are capable of serving, setting, blocking and spiking.

Strategy – The strategy of beach volleyball is fairly simple. A handful of plays are called by the setter, based on the positioning and skills of the opposing team. However, such plays are not elaborate and often serve as the basis for improvisation, once the ball is served. The same is true at many startups, in which the initial strategy is straightforward and subject to change based on market conditions, as described in Point A To Point Z.

Positions – At both startups and beach volleyball, some degree of role differentiation exists. One player is typically a setter and the other a spiker. However, both players must excel at all aspects of the game in order to consistently win. As such, the positions are relatively fluid, as each player carries out the team’s primary objective, keeping the ball in play.

In gym volleyball, the six players on each team must navigate a slightly larger court (twenty one square feet). This requires a higher degree of coordination and communication. If one player consistently plays out of their position, they will disrupt their team’s ability to succeed, just like a rogue Bank Robber employee at a BDC.

Bench – There are no substitutes in beach volleyball. Both players must play the duration of the match. Thus, they must make mental and physical sacrifices, including playing when they are hurt, tired and sick. This requires the same sort of resolve typically found at successful startups, at which employees work through holidays, weekends, illnesses and various social commitments.

Like the CEO of a BDC, indoor volleyball coaches can rest their players and strategically replace a player during a match. For instance, in a close match, a coach may decide to substitute a weak server for a stronger one. This level of specialization is not a luxury that beach volleyball or startups enjoy.

Visibility – There is nowhere to hide on the sand. If you make a big play, everyone sees it. If you bungle an easy set, it is equally evident. In indoor volleyball, you can rely on your teammates to shore up your efforts if you are having an off day. In addition, if your performance is suffering, you can sit out all or a portion of a match.

Unlike a BDC, every startup employee must consistently contribute. Along with heightened visibility, entrepreneurs have the opportunity to make a huge impact on their organization, no matter their title or seniority.

Results – On the sand, there is no confusion between activity and results. No points are given for trying really hard; no trophies are awarded for simply showing up. Entrepreneurs who mistake activity for results will find it challenging to achieve sustainability. 

It is more difficult to properly gauge each individual’s relative impact in a large organization, which often blurs the distinction between results and activities in both gym volleyball and at a BDC. This is evident in committees within large organizations that hold interminable meetings yet seldom accomplish anything meaningful.

Avoid Founderitis – Go One Way, Then Go Away

Karch was able to seamlessly move between the indoor and beach volleyball worlds because he understood both games intimately and he had the maturity and discipline to adjust his game, without compromising his effectiveness. Most people can modify their behavior for short periods to accommodate external circumstances. However, few people are able to consistently adjust their behavior over an extended timeframe, which is why entrepreneurs are typically not successful at a BDC in the long run. The same attributes that lead to entrepreneurial success, are often counterproductive within a larger organization.

Gates, Jobs, Dell and Zuckerberg all struggled with the challenges associated with leading a BDC. Each of these talented executives met with varying levels of success.

Mark Zuckerberg, like Karch Kiraly, has proven he can modify his game and maximize his ability to contribute to his adVenture, even as his role has evolved from a chaotic beach volleyball player to an indoor volleyball coach.

As you adVenture matures, honestly assess your skills, personality and proclivities, as it is unlikely you will be as gifted as Karch Kiraly or Mark Zuckerberg and excel both in the gym and on the sand.

Founder Zuckerberg photo via Business Week, CEO Zuckerberg photo via Arab News

Article first published as Eleven Startup Tips From Mark Cuban on Technorati.

Note: This is an installment in the Iconic Advice series. Other installments include: Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs and Richard Branson.

Mark Cuban is a lifelong serial entrepreneur, launching his startup career with a variety of teenage schemes, including buying and selling collectable stamps to pay for college.

In 1983 he founded MicroSolutions, a personal computer software reseller and system integrator, headquartered in Dallas, Texas. He steadily grew MicroSolutions over the next seven years and eventually sold it to CompuServe in 1990.

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Five years later he co-founded Audio.net, which was initially focused on creating a portable device for receiving satellite broadcasts of sporting events. As noted in Optimistic Pessimism, most business models are non-linear and Audio.net’s was no exception. Its value proposition and market positioning morphed over several years, eventually coalescing around Internet broadcasting.

In 1998, the newly christened Broadcast.com went public and set the record (since broken) for the largest single-day price appreciation, rising nearly 250%. As is true in comedy, timing is everything in business. Mark and his team sold Broadcast.com, to Yahoo! in 1999 in a $5.7 billion stock transaction. Even after Yahoo’s stock tanked following the dot bomb crash, Mark and his senior team still walked away with a whole lot of Chicklets.

Mark has spent the past decade diversifying his wealth, while having a hell of a lot of fun. In addition to owning the Dallas Mavericks professional basketball team, he has been involved in a variety of television and theatrical projects. He is also a provocative and skilled writer, sharing his thoughts at BlogMaverick.

Mark’s Startup Tips

The most difficult aspect of compiling this article was narrowing down Mark’s comments to ten quotes. I easily could have included 50-comments that provide insight and inspiration to entrepreneurs.

1. Risk? What Risk?

"Because if you're prepared and you know what it takes, it's not a risk. You just have to figure out how to get there. There is always a way to get there." [Tweet this quote]

Mark’s view of risk is common to most successful entrepreneurs. Where the majority of rational people see danger, entrepreneurs see opportunity. Through diligent preparation and dogged perseverance, entrepreneurs avoid foolhardy risks. They know that once they commit to a particular endeavor they will make it succeed.

2. Business Is A Game – Money’s Just The Score

"Being rich is a good thing. Not just in the obvious sense of benefitting you and your family, but in the broader sense. Profits are not a zero sum game. The more you make, the more of a financial impact you can have."
[Tweet this quote]

Although cash is a convenient measure of success, most entrepreneurs do not consider money to be success, unto itself. As Mark notes, "Success is being able to wake up every day with a smile on my face, looking forward to the day. Which is exactly how I described it when I was broke, sleeping on the floor."
[Tweet this quote]

In many ways, true success is a state of mind, as the never-ending litany of affluent, high-profile, unhappy celebrities in rehab can attest. However, as noted in Why You (And Your Employees) Work, an adequate amount of money fosters a positive outlook on life. It is the definition of adequate that is tricky. Entrepreneurs should never forget that wealth is not an end unto itself. Rather, "Money is a scoreboard where you can rank how you're doing against other people." [Tweet this quote]

3. Hard Sell

"I still work hard to know my business. I'm continuously looking for ways to improve all my companies, and I'm always selling. Always." [Tweet this quote]

Entrepreneurs are constantly selling. Such selling goes beyond promoting a company’s products and services. Entrepreneurs must sell in order to raise money, recruit employees and establish partnerships. They must keep on selling in order to maintain high employee morale. Selling at a startup is not an event, it is a process. As such, it must be a core competency.

In addition to selling, hard work is a recurring theme of entrepreneurial success, as underscored in my interview with Guy Kawasaki. "Sweat equity is the most valuable equity there is. Know your business and industry better than anyone else in the world. Love what you do or don't do it."
[Tweet this quote]

Wily entrepreneurs constantly seek ways to improve their value proposition because the more value they can deliver to their end-users, the more their sweat equity will be worth.

4. Speaking Of Luck

"All that matters in business is that you get it right once. Then everyone can tell you how lucky you are." [Tweet this quote]

Mark has his share of detractors, many of whom claim his success involved a healthy dose of luck. To this criticism, Mark would likely reply, "There are no shortcuts. You have to work hard, and try to put yourself in a position where if luck strikes, you can see the opportunity and take advantage of it… but few do the work to get there. Do the work."

The timing of the sale of Broadcast.com was impeccable. However, it is unfair to dismiss timely execution as simply "luck." Yahoo could have purchased a variety of Internet based video companies when they acquired Mark’s venture. According to Mark, "It doesn’t matter how many times you almost get it right. No one is going to know or care about your failures and neither should you. All you have to do is learn from them and those around you."

5. Bro It Up

"It is so much easier to be nice, to be respectful, to put yourself in your customers' shoes… than it is to try to mend a broken customer relationship."

As noted in Time Wounds All Heels, honesty and empathy are common traits among serially successful entrepreneurs. In fact, dishonesty is a handicap. It may result in short-term gains, but it reduces the population of credible people willing to work with you in the long-term. Eventually, disrespectable people are forced to work with other people of ill-repute.

6. Don’t Fail To Fear

"I'm always afraid of failing. It's great motivation to work harder." [Tweet this quote]

Kevin O’Connor, Co-Founder of DoubleClick and current Co-Founder and CEO of FindTheBest recruits employees who have a deep-seated fear of failure. In THIS recent infoChachkie interview, Kevin noted that, "It’s not that people want to win so much, it’s that they don’t want to lose. Winning is very fleeting and winning is an instant. Losing is with you forever. We find people who want to be Navy Seals, that one percent." Mark would no doubt agree, as he once admitted, "I had more than a healthy dose of fear, and an unlimited amount of hope, and more importantly, no limit on time and effort."

7. Game On

"The key is having great players. But there are a lot of teams that have All Stars and haven't been able to put it together."

All Stars have a variety of temperaments. Some are counter-productive douche bags, as made clear in Some People Are Indispensible, But No One Is Irreplaceable. When recruiting your team, star capabilities are not sufficient. Startup employees should be evaluated based on their productivity, coupled with the relative amount of maintenance they will require. Avoid high-maintenance All Stars who do not foster an A+ Game in their teammates.
 

8. Don’t Just Be Better, Be Different

"When you've got 10,000 people trying to do the same thing, why would you want to be number 10,001?" [Tweet this quote]

Harvard Professor Michael Porter encourages startups to attempt to "do different things" rather than "do the same things better" than their competitors. Mark agrees with Mr. Porter, "Wherever I see people doing something the way it's always been done, the way it's 'supposed' to be done, following the same old trends, well, that's just a big red flag to me to go look somewhere else."

9. Avoiding An Ass Kicking Is A Good Thing

"Do your homework and know your business better than anyone. Otherwise, someone who knows more and works harder will kick your ass."

Failure is one thing. Getting your ass kicked is something else altogether. Hire people with Humble Pride who take an ass kicking by a competitor personally. Such employees’ humbleness ensures that they will never put their well-being before that of the company. However, their pride causes them to rebuke failure and consider it to be a personal affront.

"What does it take to be a successful entrepreneur? It takes willingness to learn, to be able to focus, to absorb information, and to always realize that business is a 24/7 job where someone is always out there to kick your ass." In your company’s early days, surround yourself with employees who kick ass rather than people willing to accept an ass kicking.

10. Remix Redux

"I don't really have new ideas, but I manage to combine information in ways most people hadn't considered." [Tweet this quote]

As Kirby Ferguson has pointed out in his brilliant video series, Everything (including startups) Are A Remix. Ideas are worthless, unless they are coupled with effective execution. Mark echoes this sentiment, "Most people think it's all about the idea. It's not. EVERYONE has ideas. The hard part is doing the…preparation… to execute on the idea."

Combining existing ideas in novel ways is the key to successful innovation. Once you achieve a deep understanding of a particular industry’s ecosystem, underlying technologies and competitive landscape, you may be able to leverage Mark’s insight that, "there is usually a place to sneak in and do something a little different."

"Do your homework and know your business better than anyone. Otherwise, someone who knows more and works harder will kick your ass."

11. Reject Rejection

"Every ‘No’ gets me closer to a ‘Yes’" [Tweet this quote]

As an operational entrepreneur, I generally translated the word "No" to "Not Now." I (almost) never took rejection personally, nor did I expend an inordinate amount of my precious time trying to overturn a steadfast objection. I usually opted to circumvent an objection, rather than struggle to convert a naysayer to a believer. In general, an entrepreneur’s time is better spent cultivating like-minded customers, employees, partners and other stakeholders, rather than converting non-believers. Thus, I agree wholeheartedly with Mark’s assertion that, "Rejection has only been a distraction, not a roadblock." [Tweet this quote]

Note: This is an installment in the Iconic Advice series. Other installments include: Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs and Richard Branson.