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Hire the expert... now!

how to become an entrepreneur Posted by brubin - Posted March 9, 2006 - 9:44am

Seek true experts in areas that you feel are challenging to the company. Bring these experts to the table early... before problems arise. In the long run, this will save you time and money.

Learn about the law

how to become an entrepreneur Posted by brubin - Posted September 2, 2005 - 5:50pm

I have recently been reading a book on business law, and a few points made me realize how important it is for the entrepreneur to understand the nature of the contracts and agreements that bind together a business.  In an ideal situation, a good lawyer can to some extent isolate an entrepreneur from the technicalities of the law and allow him to focus on the business.  Unfortunately, only the entrepreneur himself has the full picture of what happens in the business and therefore must provide a check to the legal paperwork but together by the lawyer.  A few instances where I was shocked after reading this book (I am over-simplifying, and I am NOT legal expert, but an entrepreneur):

Reading Business Books

how to become an entrepreneur Posted by brubin - Posted July 27, 2005 - 10:27am
In an earlier blog, I suggested that entrepreneurs, especially inexperienced entrepreneurs, ask advice of business and technology experts.  Another form of advice is reading the books that these experts have written.  I must admit that I hold mixed feelings with regards to business books.  I prefer to take away pure information and frameworks, rather than the opinion of the author.  These tools allow me to evaluate decisions with more power on my side.

Since starting the Axon venture, I have explored a number of business books.  These include books on financial start-up’s, patent protection, globalization, business strategy, and marketing.  I have broadly grouped the purpose of some of these books, and I evaluate each below.  Of course some are a mix between categories.

Document everything!

how to become an entrepreneur Posted by brubin - Posted July 12, 2005 - 5:44pm
I have spent the last week+ documenting a number of elements of SleepSmart, our under-development sleep product.  The fact that I have often found myself REPEATING work I did months ago has urged me to share a major change in my attitude toward documentation since joining a startup team.  As an engineer in college (I just graduated last month), most project could be described as seat-of-the-pants.  No documentation, no reproducibility, no reliability.  I distinctly remember a circuit design class where I built a circuit and after debugging for hours fruitlessly, the circuit suddenly started to work.  I froze, quickly grabbed a professor, and checked off the lab before it broke again.  Needless to say, this strategy does NOT work in the real world, and especially in a startup.

Ask for advice

how to become an entrepreneur Posted by brubin - Posted June 27, 2005 - 9:44pm

As a young entrepreneur: ask and you shall receive... advice that is. A mentor of mine told me once that practically anyone in the business world would sit down with me have a meeting... for no other reason than to be helpful, if only I asked them.  This has proved amazingly true.  I have practiced the art of cold calling successful entrepreneurs.
 
No references:
 
Call company (very successful consumer products company), can I speak with so and so (President/CEO).
He is not in... Leave a message
 
Call again, work my way to his secretary... he is not in, when would be a better time to call

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