When I first started at DC Inno three years ago (back when it was InTheCapital), I made a case for higher education. We didn't have an academic beat in Washington, D.C., and I knew there was a need for one, mainly because I saw firsthand just how much of an impact colleges and universities can have on the lives of students. I knew that it was on campus – in classrooms, dorm rooms, labs and even on the quad with an inconspicuous cup full of beer – where bright ideas were formed and sometimes even manifested into innovative ventures.
But, traditional institutions aren't always forthcoming when it comes to providing support for young entrepreneurs, so I sought out an encouraging, responsive and perceptive network of my own – an accumulation of personable interviews spotlighting creative, forward-thinking students who were either in the midst of or already had made their dreams a reality.
What I realized some 100 articles into the job, is that many of the people I talked to had inspiring words of wisdom to share with others like them – struggling, first-generation student entrepreneurs who were navigating the startup world with little to no guidance – but didn't have an outlet to provide such tremendously insightful suggestions and consultation. That's why I created this compilation of advice for young entrepreneurs. There's no guarantee that any of these tips from local innovators will help you thrive in the business world, but these recommendations, warnings and general opinions may serve as encouragement for you to pursue your castle in the air, pie in the sky, phenomenal, crackerjack idea.
Martin "Marty Madrid" Ringlien, Co-Founder and CEO at nvite
"Don't build great products, build great teams. (1) Find the world class talent (2) Create an environment where world class talent can do world class work (3) World class talent doing world class work will make a world class product ... and, if you do #2 right, #1 becomes irrelevant because they'll find you."
Joe Corbett, Founder and CEO at Random Nerds
"Failure is absolutely an option. In my previous endeavors I often played the role of the cynic and was constantly looking for weaknesses in our business model and flaws that would lead us to failure so I could fix them. I now know that being openly optimistic is equally beneficial. You have to have balance. Be positive, but be sober and remember that even the best ideas can fail for any number of unforeseen reasons, especially if you’re not willing to look for them.
"Stop 'crushing it.' Entrepreneurs know how to hustle, they know how to go the extra mile and then turn around and start the race over without a break. I promise you that an entrepreneur that is well rested and physically healthy will produce better results than the badass 'crushing it' on a daily basis. Pace yourself and save your monumental sprints for only the most critical moments."
Adam Treiser, Founder and CEO at Arjuna Solutions
"Love what you do. Success requires that you know more about your business, more about your product, and more about your customers than anybody else. If you don’t love what you do, you won’t be able to commit yourself.
"Use your product every day. If you don’t want to use it every day, why would anyone else? The best improvements come from actually using what you sell and finding all the ways it could be better.
"Embrace the fear. Nothing gets you through the hard times better than the fear of failure.
"Focus. It’s tempting to think of how 'big' an idea can be. But until you execute on one idea, there will never be a big idea."
Brandon Luong, Independent Management Consultant at Guanxi Innovations
"Don't go doing a startup because it's hot and sexy, and [so] that you can call yourself an entrepreneur/founder. Do it because you love it and know there is a market through data and validation."
Pete Johnson, President and CEO at Apollo Matrix, Inc.
"Try to see your idea evolving as a bootstrapping process. The business you can start is different from the business you can build once you have a user base, a technology, a client base etc. What you can become is a function of what you are now.
"Imagine the business growing in strategic eras that last months to a year each. Give each era a name and some key characteristics like revenue, client base, user base. Then look at each strategic era to understand what decisions must be made to move into that era.
"This exercise is particularly powerful if you can look back at an era or two while looking forward. It is very tough to step outside yourself to do this, but ridiculously reassuring once you've done it."
Justin Lichtenstaedter, Co-Founder and CEO at Yapper
“Do it. Try it out. Figure out now while you're in school if your idea is viable. Once you’re out of school, that's when you have to start paying the bills, that's when you have to start worrying about outside circumstances. Now is the one time you can fail and not worry about money. While you're in school is the best time to figure out if you have a viable business concept.”
James Li, Co-Founder at Encore Alert
- "Get in the habit of doing less talking, and more shipping. Classes are already often so theoretical; you should use your startup as a chance to take risks and practice putting your work out constantly for the world to see.
- "When you want to test a new idea, figure out what the smallest way you can pilot your idea would be in order to validate if there's really a need. It's better to find out whether or not your potential customers would actually buy your solution before wasting hundreds of hours and dollars jumping into something technical.
- "Use being a student to your advantage. When you reach out to potential customers, tell them you're a student 'looking for advice;' people will find you much less salesy and be more willing to give you their time!
- "At the end of every meeting with a new mentor, ask them who else they think you should meet that they can introduce you to. You'll be amazed at how quickly you can gain access to really helpful people!
- "Create 'false' deadlines. Use deadlines like local pitch competitions and meetups to push yourself to complete the next milestone."
Harry Geller, Entrepreneur-in-Residence at University of Maryland's R.H. Smith School of Business
"I think it's important to highlight that aspiring entrepreneurs don’t have to invent the next great thing. Vast majority of startups are not hi-tech.
"I recently started a fast casual pizza shop that competes with Blaze and & Pizza. Our innovative, unique selling prop is a better oven that cooks a real Neapolitan-style pizza, not the chain-driven glorified toaster oven that most competitors use. So point being pizza is not innovative, but how we make it is. This is what I teach the hundreds of students I have each year."
Frederick Cook, Co-Founder and CEO at Moveline
"One, read a lot. Read startups, read blogs about startups, books about startups and all about businesses and industries and disruption. I learned so much from just reading online before I met anybody.
"Two, build your network. Find smart people, like-minded people, ambitious people and build relationships with them. Don't do it selfishly. Help people out where you can and they will eventually come back to help you out.
"Three, if you have an idea, then build it. An idea isn't worth anything, it's the execution that counts. It's the late nights of thinking and building something where value is created."
Nick Pinero, Founding Partner and CEO at YouFolio
"Hard work pays off. If you're a hard worker and have your goals and vision in mind, just make sure you stick with it and don't give up and it will eventually play out. I’ve always had that mindset of working hard. My mom had three jobs growing up, after all.”
Maxime Paul, Co-Founder and CEO at pitchLove
- Work with people that have complementary skills to your own.
- Always make sure everybody is on board with the same mission.
- Always be ready to learn something new and solve new problems.
- Have T-shaped skills: deep in 1 area, but still very well rounded.
- Keep customers involved in the process as much as possible.
- Release soon, release often.
- Always be helpful to others, but still remember you need to live.
- Always be humble.
Jake Bender, Founder and CEO at Eyefull
"Just start a company. A lot of students are waiting for that million dollar idea to start a company. The first company I started was a laundry pickup and delivery service – that was not a million dollar idea. My advice is to just start the company, even if it's not the idea you really want to pursue after college. It will teach you the lessons you need to learn for your next venture.”
Adam Genest, Founder at ValueCrates
- "Businesses exist to solve problems. Think about the things that you, your friends, your parents etc. purchase – what problem is that purchase solving? How could that product or service be improved to provide more value?
- "A lot of attention is given to tech companies that attract a lot of users, but make very little money. You'll have a much easier time as a first-time entrepreneur if you focus on providing something of value that people are willing to pay real money for, and that may or may not be in tech.
- "The ultimate test of whether your idea is good or not is putting together a minimum viable product and seeing if people will pay you money for what you're offering.
- "There is nothing wrong with having a full-time job while trying to build your business.
- "You have to practice business in order to get good at it, just like anything else in life. Through the process of continuous action taking, you'll eventually get good at business.
- "People are the fastest way to accelerate your growth and get you closer to success. Surround yourself with people who are where you want to be."
Ashtan Moore, Digital Media Director at McBee Strategic
"The secret sauce today is not in the idea but rather the crossroads of where concept (idea) meets execution (product). Investors, stakeholders and business partners are tired of discussions, they want to see your concepts in a form that they can be used.
"Even if your next billion dollar idea is just an upgrade to a Google or Facebook product, go build the product as a standalone. Build your audience and customer base, then sell it.
"If you were in the shoes of someone willing to sign a billion dollar check, would you want to give it to someone who can build a Powerpoint presentation with 15 slides about all of their ideas, or would you want to give it someone who has built something with an existing brand, staff, customer base and long-term growth model?"
Caroline Pugh, Co-Founder and COO at VirtualU
"In the beginning, don't get bogged down with the worry over whether or not your idea is 'good' or not. Just start building and talk to as many people as you can about your idea. Only through this process, will you learn how to best build your product for your market."
Jeff Reid, Founding Director at Georgetown Entrepreneurship Initiative
- "You probably have a lot of self-confidence, but that doesn't mean you really know what you're doing. Seek out competent advisors – and then listen to them.
- "Take advantage of resources your school offers. Enter the pitch competitions. Seek out feedback. Get to know the key faculty and alumni who can be mentors and advisors to you.
- "Be clear and honest with yourself about your core assumptions. Make decisions based on data, not opinions. When the data – or your customers – tell you that you're wrong, listen to them and find a way to pivot.
- "If you focus too much simply on making money, you will never feel satisfied. Be proud of creating something out of nothing, of solving real problems, of leading a team of people to a common goal, of growing as an individual, of making the world better. These are experiences that entrepreneurs have a unique opportunity to do, and they are amazing.
- "Your identity and ego will largely be tied to this startup for a while, but life is long and this startup will not always be who you are.
- "Be careful about your reputation. If you treat people poorly or behave dishonestly, that reputation will follow you around and you will have a very hard time getting people to help you in the future.
- "Starting a company is one of the most exciting things you can do. Enjoy it, learn from it, treat people right, and even if the company fails you will be better for having tried it."
Eleanor Hall, Executive Director at Connected Potential
"Invest time in creating value for others, even if that value is the opportunity to contribute to a shared vision. Finding the right people to help will make all the difference in your endeavor's growth and direction."
Shaun Masavage, CEO and Founder at Edge Tech Labs
"Anything hardware-related has a lead time (either to manufacture or ship). If it's being custom-made, this time usually quadruples at a bare minimum. Adopt the policy of under-promising and over-delivering.
"When you attempt to create a new digital product like a website or app, the final product is exactly the same every time. With hardware, quality control becomes a much more complicated issue. If just one of these 'cogs in the machine' fails, the entire product will be a hunk of useless junk, which is often more costly to repair than to replace.
"Tip: Samples, samples, samples! PCB samples from manufacturers are easy, but don't get overconfident! Make sure to get enclosure samples as well. It is much easier to fix problems prior to a product launch than try to recover and repair post-launch. If there is a particularly weak design characteristic, talk to your manufacturer. Many times the manufacturer will offer to make the design change or potentially have ideas for how to fix the problem."
