So which lessons did Adam Quinton, one of our City Meetup Speakers, learn in 2014 from six of his successful startup investees?
By Adam Quinton (Founder & CEO, Lucas Point Ventures)
I typically post on what makes a great founder/entrepreneur and expand on lists of keywords, which are mostly pretty self-evident and yet also often contradictory when you then compare different versions of similar posts!
Rather than repeat that exercise I’ve tried to identify more concrete and actionable “habits” that successful founders favour. These are nitty gritty execution tactics and strategies that have taught me, as an investor and advisor, a lot of practical startup wisdom.
In no particular, here are the top six lessons I’ve learned from highly successful founders:
1. Be the Wizardess of Oz – Kathryn Minshew of The Muse
Lesson: Smart self promotion is a core skill, use it or lose it.
2. Never, Never, Never Give in – Allison Dorst of Pinks and Greens
Lesson: Be super persistent and always be learning.
3. Pitch, Pitch and Pitch Again – Erika Trautman of Rapt Media
Lesson: Pitching is a core function of the CEO – but only pitch as the real you.
4. Build to Scale, Before you Scale – Lisa Xu of NopSec
Lesson: Don’t just be hands on, be hands ahead.
5. Win the Game of “Whack a Mole” – Kelsey Recht of Venuebook
Lesson: There is always a new mole. Whacking it and moving on is a team sport.
6. JFDI – Julia Shapiro and Jules Miller of Hire an Esquire
Lesson: JFDI – it’s as simple as that!
Attention Women 2.0 readers: Catch Adam speaking at our New York City Meetup on January 8!
Photo credit: Stocksnapper via Shutterstock.
