What I learned in the first year of Entrepreneurship

07 Feb What I learned in the first year of Entrepreneurship

I recently came across a presentation I made for a conference, about my first year of entrepreneurship. There were a lot of ups and downs, it was pre-incubator, pre-accelerator, pre-monthly recurring revenue.

It was when I first discovered that entrepreneurship is not always (and I was thinking at the moment maybe not at all) what I read in all those magazine articles and biographies in college.

The following years brought a lot of other lessons as well, but these initial ones I think stuck with me the most, and still do.

Learn from your mentors how to ask yourself the right questions

I will not restate the importance of having mentors, of searching for them and of nurturing strong relationships with them. But what I took the most from those meetings and what helped me the most was to develop the habit of asking myself the same type of questions they would ask in our meetings.

Explaining how you provide value in maximum 35 words

Being able to coherently state the value your business provides, clearly differentiated and explained for everybody to be able to understand regardless of their background is golden.

You need to learn public speaking and sales

Be authentic but exercise and master the stage or those business meetings. Knowing how to present your ideas and your business is just as important as the value you are capable of delivering.

Fire quickly

Especially in the beginning you have the tendency to stay too long in a partnership with a suppliers, a co-founder, an employee or a client that simply should be “fired”. Do it rather sooner than later – it will make space for the right people.

Every single day

I am a big believer in the importance of execution, but I also learned how crucial it is to use every day to the maximum. Make steps every single day, do not let days pass by.

Manage your focus

Managing your emotions, your objectives and your time is important, but what you need the most is to learn how to manage your focus!