Entrepreneurship, Not for Everyone, Salesmanship Is for Everyone

It may be because of where and with whom I hang out, but these days Entrepreneurship seems to be the magic word of the day. Policy makers and economists tell us that with more of it the country will be more competitive, jobs will be created, we will stand up to China, we'll fix the national debt, we'll have a credible national medical insurance, etc. If only we had a Steve Jobs at every corner, the American Dream will be assured. It is all true, but it does not follow that it is true for all.

The message to high school and college grads these days seems to be: it's easy, be an entrepreneur, be a Jobs, or a Zuckerberg, or a Gates,  have an idea and make it a Google. All true and as possible like winning Olympic medals, entering the NBA, winning the lottery, but let's be honest with the youngsters who struggle with figuring out how make a living for their future.  The odds of all of that are pretty low and it takes much more than an idea.

To keep the discussion short, I developed the roadmap below as a way to look at the principles and the details of what I think is in play. As in some of my other posts, I try to synthesize the issues and the logical relationships to be considered to reach a clearer understanding.  The objective is to not waste energy in impossible quests (see "Working Backwards" and "Angelcalc" for when not to bother seeking funding from angel investors, or "Should I Get a Patent?", etc.)

This roadmap, as in other cases has no absolute answers or recommended solutions, only considerations to be explored and used in seeking a best answer for oneself (notice ONEself not ALLself). 

One, and only one of many conclusions, is that a temperament for risk-taking is mandatory for entrepreneurship. Salesmanship on the other hand is a skill fundamental to entrepreneurship, BUT also applicable to all other activities in human activity and commerce.

So, the question for which unfortunately I have no answer is: Why salesmanship is not a primary skill taught at all high schools, colleges and graduate schools?  Why as a society we leave it to Xerox, IBM, Proctor & Gamble and similar companies or to multi-level marketing companies to impart that training with a planned and focused process?  The Introduction to Dale Carnegie 's How to Make Friends and Influence People pointed out that tragic circumstance decades ago.  Why are we still at the same point?
Why is it so hard to find a high school or college grad with even only a cursory idea of how to sell an honest product to a respected customer that has a need?
Perhaps it is time for some bright entrepreneur to design and roll out an effective online sales training program for all those recent grads that are not finding the job they trained for or the countless unemployed displaced by technological change.


Marco Messina

A Pirate's mind

Supreme Court Justice Potter famously said of pornography "I know it when when I see it".  After 35 years of serial entrepreneurship I felt "I feel it when I read it" reading Michael Harrigton" Are You A Pirate? -

"... That thrill of your first hire, when you’ve convinced some other crazy soul to join you in your almost certainly doomed project. The high from raising venture capital and starting to see your name mentioned in the press. The excitement of launch and…gulp…customers! and the feeling of truly learning something useful, you’re just not sure what it is, when the company almost inevitably crashes and burns.Now that person is interesting. That person has stories to tell. That person is a man who has been in the arena. There are lots of things that I will probably never experience in this life. Military combat. Being dictator of a small central American country. Dunking a basketball. Being a famous rock star. Or walking on Mars. But one thing I have been, and will always be, is an entrepreneur. And damn it that feels pretty good. Because if I was a lawyer right now, even a rich lawyer, I’d always have wondered if I had what it takes to do something a little more adventurous with my life than work for someone else."

I do not know about the pirate analogy but the profile of the entrepreneur is laid bare in that final description. My first experience in the arena at 27 instantly created an addiction that determined my future. I do think that entrepreneurs at least try to reduce risk any way they can. That may explain why we keep looking fro insights from Steve Blank, Nathan Furr and other brilliant analysts of "pirates and pirate ventures". But I also know that they offer only warning flags along the trail - Watch out for this - Consider that - Do A before B - Avoid C - helpful warnings derived from careful study. 

The risk remains high and either you like it or you don't. For most, the Wagnerian golden ring at the end of the quest, in most cases, will prove to be illusory, what drives is the temperament, foolish most would say, to confront the dragons along the way, often alone or in a small band of fools for the quest as much as for the gold. On that path, the point of no return is the first step. . If Michael's closing summary speeds up your heart, you owe it to yourself to try, at least once, stepping, alone, into the arena. You may never get out and if you do you won't be the same.

Marco Messina

How to P... off an angel

I considered holding this post off.  Then I realized that my raw response to the circumstance that originated it may be a useful component of the lesson.

Background
Last week I met a college student intent in starting a new business and looking for help financing and marketing his venture. Admittedly I am a deal junky and cannot resist helping a startup along; here is the result.

Anatomy of a (lost?) deal
The young man I first met (P1) seemed quick thinking (+), amiable (+), articulate (+) and entrepreneurially flexible and opportunistic (+)
At our first meeting he gave me no means to contact him (-) but he followed up and contacted me (+) [if you want to appear like you can play, at least get some $5-precut-forms-inkjet-home-printed business card]
The business idea may have legs (+)
I have a lead into a potential customer and stated so (+)
The prospect, on my recommendation, may be willing to pay for a pilot test (+)
I asked for a follow up meeting specifying what  I needed for my due diligence before pitching their deal to my prospect.  To T-up the meeting I emailed that: i) I'd be willing to sign an NDA, ii) I need to know material costs to figure the financial commitment required to do a pilot (particularly if I and friends are to be angels), iii) I need to satisfy myself that there is a really working system capable of doing what is proposed, before I go put my good name on the line.
The meeting was scheduled but no information requested was sent ahead of time (-)
At the meeting I met Partner #2 (P2)
P2 from the outset displayed a surly and arrogant attitude apparently intent to require my demonstration of why I should be granted an audience (-)
P2 barely introduced himself [another one with no business cards] and gave no additional details about himself or his experience (-)
P2 pointedly asked whether I had a resume to demonstrate I deserved any attention (-)
P2 shoved in front of me an NDA of 4 pages (filled by hand with the company name), folded open to the signature page requesting I sign (apparently without reading it) before we continued (-)
After a few years experience with hyper-self-important student entrepreneurs, this was not a total surprise. Rewind to 1973 and probably there go I. I declined signing an NDA I could not review for lack of time. I proposed to limit the conversation to information not requiring NDA.
As expected, I got none of the information I sought (-)
P1 tried to mend fences offering whatever information he could without agitating P2 (+)
P2 spoke in roundabout ways of their IP, yet unfiled, unsearched, unsubstantiated (-)
At first sight P2 has little sense that his "idea" is unlikely to be defensible from competition (-), particularly because all components of hardware and software are readily commercially available (-) and the idea was already published by many including Steve Wosniak five or six years ago (-)
Speed to market is their ace, P1 gets it (+) P2 doesn't (-)

Conclusion
The odds that I will find the time and motivation to try again have dropped by 90% (-)

Lesson to be  learned
Angels invest in people first.
Beware the partners you have and display in public.  In a single session they can trash whatever you had carefully T'd-up.  For student entrepreneurs there will be many more chances. Later in the career path you may be betting the house on a losing hand.

Marco Messina