3 things to watch for when you are working with early stage founders, and you are not sure if this product or service will stick
If you are someone who craves stability and can’t find it in a start-up, I am not going to give you the answer. If you are like me, and you know in your gut that you need adventure, momentum, and a we-will-figure-it-out-as we go environment, keep reading.
The product that ends up being the multi-million dollar business is almost never the product a company starts with in the first place.
Samsung exported noodles and dryfish
Twitter originated from a podcasting platform
Instagram began as Burbn, a check-in app
In my experience, focus less on the product. Focus on the people, in this case the founders and usually a handful of core employees.
Look for 3 things.
#1 Drive
Building a business is going to be hard. If there is one thing you want to see, it is a relentless drive. Do you see a growth mindset or complaints from a victim mentality when challenges arise? I have learned that there is always a solution, but you need to have the drive to keep searching for it.
This often goes hand-in-hand with resourcefulness. With anything, knowledge, people, capital, if they do not have it, do they know how to get it.
#2 Execution
How fast are they able to execute and do they take action on the goals that are set. Pretty much the same as what we are doing with Ship30. Ship the work and see what sticks.
#3 Curiosity
Is learning more important than not trying? Typically, in the form of appropriate risk-taking, knowing that some risks won’t work out. You want to see some humility paired with this as well. It is okay to be challenged on topics, and there is an openness to gaining new knowledge and fresh perspectives. They should be comfortable surrounding themselves with people more experienced and potentially smarter.
This is what I learned to look for in six years of watching and learning closely. And now the eight wonder of the world starts to work. Drive, execution, and curiosity is starting to payoff as we are preparing to build the next Dutch unicorn.
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