The opportunities for growth as an entrepreneur are always endless. The burning desire to build a great company is an invaluable quality of great entrepreneurs. These are 77 ways to be a better entrepreneur at what you do.
1. Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good. ~ Malcolm Gladwell
2. In your heads is the future of innovation. – Ron Conway
3. Surround yourself with success.
4. Be obsessed about your product.
5. Get it out, evolve, iterate quickly and make it great.
6. Be a team player and great at expanding your network.
7. It’s better to do something hard if you’re capable of solving hard problems.–Paul Graham
8. See the whole picture and go beyond it.
9. Create a plan but be prepared to adapt and adjust.
10. Persistence is without a doubt the most essential quality of a great entrepreneur.
11. You want the quality of Apple, the trustworthiness of Zappos, and the likeability of Richard Branson, enchant your customers.–GuyKawasaki
12. Be realistic with your expectations, goals, and current situation.
13. Focus is another trait that is essential for success.
14. Learn to trust others – delegate where necessary.
15. Identify your strengths and weaknesses, and work on those that need improvement.
16. If you have an idea put it up there online, no matter what it looks like. You need the feedback early on.–Brian Chesky
17. Take on more than you’re ready to, and get used to that feeling- Drew Houston
18. Great entrepreneurs are great at executing and following through.
19. Hire Talent and train skill.
20. Know when to introduce a new product or service or when to outwit the competition.
21. A great entrepreneur knows when opportunities knock and takes advantage of it.
22. Keeps real good relationships with his employees, co-owners, investors, creditors, debtors and customers.
23. Risk more than others think safe. Dream more than others think practical. Expect more than others think possible. Care more than others think wise.” – Howard Schultz
24. The quality of your VC isn’t more important than the quality of your product or your team.
25. Be prepared to outsource where necessary.
26. Establish a business agreement (contract) at the very beginning of your venture. This should outline who does what and equity split. This eliminates nasty legal issues once the business becomes successful. – Tom Preston-Werner
27. Customers will always tell you how to improve but not how to be different.
28. Be consistent in your management practices until you realize what’s wrong with them.
29. Building a company is like baking a cake… sometimes the eggs get on the roof. –- Marc Andreessen
30. Entrepreneurs must test early, pivot when necessary.
31. Join a startup for the learning experience, then start your own company.
32. It’s ok if something doesn’t scale as long as it strengthens your position.– Adam D’Angelo
33. Believe in yourself, but always be ready to learn and adapt.
34. Know how to predict the future and create a plan to take advantage of it.
35. You don’t need a business plan. You don’t need to have an MBA. All you need is a great idea. Anything is possible and you can accomplish it. – Ron Conway
36. Ambition is a quality that all great entrepreneurs have.
37. Be open to planning, motivating, coaching, and evaluating your employees.
38. The “magic formula” is an engineer who can become an entrepreneur and CEO.-Marc Andreessen
39. Manage Cash – make it your top priority.
40. Create a plan and frequently review it with your team.
41. Ignore your mistakes. The number one thing to worry about is “Am I doing what I’m good at?–Max Levchin
42. Be passionate and disciplined with a sense of urgency, leading others by example.
43. Hire smart people who can actually get things done
44. Encourage diverse thinking.
45. Bring people on that get it, that contribute more than they take away.
46. Work with the right people who know how to adjust the plan
47. Release now and pay close attention to the feedback.
48. Don’t hesitate to outsource stuff that isn’t core: Analytics, metrics, hosting, monitoring, feedback systems etc.
49. Keep it simple. Simple revenue models, simple products, simple infrastructure. Simple is more and effective.
50. You don’t learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing and falling over.- Richard Branson
51. Organize your objectives and set procedures to achieve them.
52. Start marketing early, communicate with potential users, start a conversation around your product.
53. Keep your UI and design simple.
54. Get your product to market as quickly and as cheaply as you can.
55. Under promise. Over deliver. Focus and execute.
56. If you have an idea put it up there online, no matter what it looks like. You need the feedback early on.- Brian Chesky
57. Listen closely to your customers.
58. Know where you’ll be in 3 days, 3 months, and 3 years but be agile.
59. Start early, build relationships, make them a part of your business.
60. Spectacular companies start with ambitious but unknown founders, no pedigree required.–Jim Goetz
61. The only way to build a sustainable customer is to listen to customers, partners, suppliers and employees.
62. Don’t do anything that you don’t need immediately.
63. See things in the present, even if they are in the future. — Larry Ellison
64. Plans change, so be ready to adapt as and when needed.
65. Cancel unnecessary meetings.
66. Real startups are dirty, so jump in the mud right away.
67. It’s okay to make mistakes. Move on when it happens and don’t repeat.
68. Spend as little as possible to prove your concept.
69. The longer you can go before asking for money, the better terms you will get.
70. You don’t need to build an entire product to go to market just a functional prototype can get you started.
71. It is important for young entrepreneurs to be adequately self-aware to know what they do not know.– Mark Zuckerberg
72. It’s okay to doubt yourself, it’s okay to feel down; just never give up. – Aaron Patzer
73. Be weary of distractions, they often appear to be shiny opportunities.
74. Being an entrepreneur is a constant balancing act.
75. Long-term business success relies on continuous personal growth.
76. Focus on making connections with people.
77. Never stop learning.
What separates the exceptional entrepreneurs from the rest?
If you know other ways to become a better entrepreneur, you are welcome to share them with us in the comment box below.
2 comments
These are very inspirational ideas Thomas! If every aspiring entrepreneur should adopt at least half of them, they can be very successful! #1 & #77 sums it all. Practice & learning are the core to success for every entrepreneur. They should continue learning new ideas to help them widen every aspect of business. One of the ways that can help them is when they can picture an idea of how their business may be affected by several factors. Through visualization, they can learn a lot of things that can help them practice analyzing until they reach the best business decision.
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