Want to Start a Company? 5 Things to Consider First
by: Peter
Cohan
from:
Inc.
1. Know how good you really are.
Palmer
pointed out that potential entrepreneurs must know where they are on the “bell
curve.” As he said, “Some people like Steve Jobs or Bill Gates are destined to
be entrepreneurs and nothing will stop them. Others are one standard deviation
out of the bell curve. They could be entrepreneurs under the right
circumstances. But most people are just average when it comes to their
entrepreneurial potential.”
This
self-assessment has important implications. If you are destined to be an
entrepreneur, there is no need to ask anyone else’s opinion. You will start
companies. If you are one standard deviation out, then you need to find the
right circumstances--meaning you must pick the right opportunity to target and
figure out which key entrepreneurial talent you bring to the party and partner
to find your missing piece.
2. Be willing to team up.
This
brings us to Palmer’s idea that the idea of the hero entrepreneur--Larry
Ellison against the world--is outmoded. He looks at Google as a model which is
run by a troika of Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt. Each of them have
different strengths and they are willing to work together to apply those
strengths to helping the company grow and adapt to change.
For
most technology start-ups, there are two skills needed at the beginning,
business (which includes sales, marketing, and handling capital raising and
accounting) and technology development. If you are excellent at one or
the other of these skills, you should find a partner who excels at the other
skill.
For
example, when Palmer started Vertica, he was in charge of the business side and
he partnered with a database expert, Michael Stonebraker.
3. Share the right values.
How
the business person know which technology person to partner with and vice
versa? Palmer believes that values make all the difference. He argued, “It is a
big responsibility to be developing a new product for a customer. As a business
person, I want to make sure that potential customers do not get an overly
optimistic view of where we are in our development process.”
Palmer
wants a partner who shares his belief in the importance of setting realistic
expectations. “Simply put, I want to partner with a technologist who shares the
value I place on giving potential customers an intellectually honest set of
expectations. It is too easy in high tech to exaggerate your accomplishments.”
4. Have unquenchable passion.
Palmer
argues that an entrepreneur must know why he is starting a venture. “When it
comes to figuring out where you are on the bell curve, it is essential that you
ask yourself honestly why you want to start a company. If you are doing it to
get rich, you should not proceed. The best reason to start a company is
because you are passionate about it,” said Palmer.
This
passion was something that drove him to join the start-up team at Infinity. As
Palmer explained, “By the time I joined Infinity, I was feeling that the
software companies I had started were not going to make the world a better
place. But when I went to work for Infinity, I believed that I was helping to
solve a big societal problem-curing cancer.”
5. Fit your operating
style to the opportunity.
Palmer
has seen two kinds of start-ups: blessed and bootstrapped. And they demand
different operating styles.
A
blessed start-up has access to the most capital, the best investors, the best
executives, and top talent at all levels. “Before I started Vertica, I was an
executive-in-residence at Kleiner Perkins. Ray Lane told me that he was expecting me
to build it into a billion dollar company. If you’re in a blessed start-up like
that, you have to get used to the enormous pressure to achieve excellence and
react accordingly,” said Palmer.
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