The Leap

7 Keys for Your Start-Up

This article comes from FastCompany and was posted Tuesday January 25, 2011 by FC Blogger Drew Neisser. You can access the entire article at here FastCompany. Drew reports what Robert Herzog, founder of ZogSports, considers keys for the entrepreneur "who actually wants to enjoy the journey." Here they are.

1) Pursue your passion

2) Make sure it is meaningful

3) Hire the happy

4) Prepare yourself properly

5) Forget the funding

6) Emphasize the experience

7) Live your life

8) Grow your goals

I would add to make sure you enjoy working with anyone your bring along with you.  Partnerships can be powerful for your company but can also be tricky so make sure you trust and get along very well with anyone you partner with.  Finally, as you read Robert's analysis of each of these points with the link I provided you will see he is very happy he never accepted VC money because he was able to keep total control of his company.  You can't always avoid this so if you are looking at starting a business an important question to ask is, "How much control do I want to have over this?"  Knowing that answer will help you make the right decisions from there.

How to create your executive summary

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I have recently been asked by a couple of people how to write an executive summary and why it is so important for their start-up.  I have worked with multiple start-up companies and am currently working with an angel investment group and know how important the executive summary is.  If it is done right, you'll get the opportunity to explore further options with investors.  This will also help you understand if there are issues within your game plan that need to be addressed.  If the executive summary is done wrong, you won't get your phone calls return.

Author Guy Kawasaki has a list of his key points that an executive summary needs to cover. Follow this list and you will be ready for the next step. You can find this list and further information in Guy's book Reality Check: The Irreveerent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition. For more information you can check out the reviews on Amazon.com.

1) Problem. What pressing and important problem are you solving?

2) Solution. How are you solving this problem?

3) Business Model. Who are your customers and how will you make money?

4) Underlying Magic. What makes your company special?

5) Marketing and Sales Strategy? What is your go to market strategy?

6) Competition. With whom do you compete? What do they do better than you? What do you do better than them?

7) Projections. What are you financial projections for the next three years? What are your key assumptions and metrics to achieve these projections?

8) Team. Who is on your team? Why are they special?

9) Status and time line. Where are you now and where are the next milestones?

Finally, remember once you hone this document this is really just the first step in your journey.  If you have done this in the past for your company or are in the midst of doing this for a start-up share your ideas and experiences.  If you would like anyone to review your document and provide comments and insight let me know and I can put you in touch with people who can help.