Did you ever wonder why some entrepreneurs always seem to have all the luck and success, while others never seem to catch a break? As an angel investor, I quickly learned that luck has very little to do with it, and I now look for some personal characteristics and leadership styles that separate the potential winners from the losers.
These differences are the reason that investors say that they invest in people, rather than ideas. As I was reminded again by the classic book from Dennis Perkins, “Leading at the Edge,” this isn’t a new concept. He illustrates this by comparing the acts of numerous teams which faced the edge of life and death as early Antarctic explorers in the 1800s.
He was able to identify ten lessons from the common threads to survival in the winning explorer teams, which I believe apply equally well to the survival and success of business startup teams today:
- Never lose sight of long-term goals, but focus real energy on short-term objectives. Don’t be afraid to pivot, and commit to new objectives with as much passion and energy as the original. Andy Grove of Intel fame started making memory chips, but switched to microprocessors with a vengeance when Japan totally undercut his pricing.
- Set a personal example with visible, memorable symbols and behavior. Under the stresses of a startup, visible leadership cues can make the difference between success and failure. When McDonald’s was still a small company, Ray Kroc, the CEO, had a penchant for asking a store manager to help him clean up trash in their parking lot.
- Instill optimism and self-confidence, but stay grounded in reality. That means you must first find optimism in yourself. Then it extends to the hiring process. Herb Kelleher, while CEO of fledgling Southwest Airlines, said he only wanted people with positive attitudes. He also famously said,” We don’t do strategic planning. It’s a waste of time.”
- Take care of yourself: Maintain your stamina and let go of guilt. Evidence shows that effective entrepreneurs have high levels of energy, and handle stress well. But no one is superhuman. I once worked for a CEO of a startup company who insisted on working 20 hours a day, until a health crisis almost killed her, and did kill her company.
- Reinforce the team message constantly: “We are one – we live or die together.” Teamwork is the hallmark of high-performing startups. Establishing a shared identity is the first step to creating unity. The Google team stayed tight as they developed the technology, first working out of Larry Page’s dorm room at Stanford, then a garage.
- Minimize status differences and insist on courtesy and mutual respect. CEOs who talk, and really listen, to everyone in the organization gain the highest reputation. Not surprisingly, based on the success of their companies, both Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk scored in the top ten most respected CEOs per the most recent Glassdoor Survey.
- Master conflict – engage dissidents, and avoid needless power struggles. Some entrepreneurs go to great lengths to avoid interpersonal friction, or engage the wrong way. Those of you who viewed the movie The Social Network, saw an example of new entrepreneurs dealing with conflict poorly, almost leading to the demise of Facebook.
- Find something to celebrate and something to laugh about. Especially under the constant pressures of a startup, the ability to lighten up, celebrate, and laugh can make all the difference. Herb Kelleher, mentioned earlier, is one leader who also understood the power of humor in business, with his own antics, and focus on “fun ware.”
- Be willing to take the Big Risk. Risk aversion does not always result in disaster, but neither does it create change. Risk takers make things happen. Think of the risk taken by CEO Todd Davis of LifeLock when he posted his Social Security number online, to assure customers the he could protect them from identity theft. It worked.
- Never give up – there’s always another move. Rather than expecting things to go right, entrepreneurs have to assume things will go wrong, and solutions are elusive. Colonel Sanders started at a late age to build his chicken recipe into KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken). It took two years of persistence to get the money. The rest is history.
Investors (and team members and partners) find that it’s more effective to assess an entrepreneur’s fit to these personal characteristics than it is to assess the real potential of an idea, or the probability of good luck. We listen to you and judge how many of these are practiced by you. When it’s time for due diligence, we will talk to your team. Their perception is the only reality. What do you think they will say?
