Monday, September 28, 2009

Street Smarts


European Entrepreneurs must Startup Global

European startup companies actually have a big advantage over US based startups and many don’t even know it. No, I am not talking about fat government subsidies or protected local markets. I am talking about “street smarts”.

When I was 13 I remember visiting New York City. Not just the Big Apple Manhattan, but I visited a neighborhood in a ghetto of the Bronx where not too many white people visit unless they come in police cars and carry guns. It was severe culture shock for me, a skinny white middle class boy from the suburbs. If you grow up in the Bronx you learn street smarts fast or you don’t survive.

European entrepreneurs and startups grow up in tiny local markets and are surrounded by different languages and cultures. They develop their own type of street smarts. I read an interesting interview on European Entrepreneurship today. Here is an excerpt:

TechCrunch Europe Blog: (http://uk.techcrunch.com)
Seedcamp Founder Saul Klein Talks European Entrepreneurship
by Mark Hendrickson, September 25, 2009

MH: What are some of the more unique traits of European entrepreneurs, especially when compared to entrepreneurs in the US or elsewhere? Do you find they are driven by different motivations or that they have different personality tendencies?

SK: I think that the best entrepreneurs, regardless of geography, have similar traits; they are very determined, single-minded, and not afraid of taking risks. And I think that’s true wherever they are. One of the things that European entrepreneurs might have different than US entrepreneurs is that they are typically more international in outlook, by virtual of the fact that most of their home markets are not big enough to sustain really big businesses. So you actually have to think internationally and globally from the get-go. Whereas in the US, you can build a huge business by just being successful in the US. I think with the web the way it is now, that’s potentially an advantage.

When I worked with USA based tech startups in the late 90’s, I remember how little they understood about internationalization. The rule then was that only after a company has passed 10 Million $ in sales should they consider foreign markets. Consider that less than 30% of the American public even own a passport.

If you are a European entrepreneur, then you have an advantage. Do you know how to capitalize on it?

Rick Salmon is an energetic entrepreneur who believes that this beautiful world that we have created needs our help. Learn more at www.ricksalmon.com

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

By the Bootstraps

My grandfather was an entrepreneur, just like me. Unfortunately he died of a heart attack at an early age. Big doses of stress and cigarettes were standard fare for entrepreneurs and shop owners in those days. Although I never met him I have envisioned that he would look at me with his ancient blue eyes, stare for a long, dramatic moment and then say “You´ll have to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps son”. I expect that this would be his advice for my life. Little did he know that I would also have that entrepreneur gene (or is it an illness?).

Learning how to ´bootstrap´ a startup company is an important lesson. In every startup I have done I have been successful in raising capital, but only after I had proven to the investors that I had the ability to make sales and generate revenues on my own. Pulling myself up by my bootstraps has always been a healthy and necessary process.

But there is another kind of bootstrapping that is even more important to us entrepreneurs. It is the ability to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps when we are discouraged, tired, disappointed or disillusioned with our startup businesses. We all hit that stage. As entrepreneurs we all have those days when it just seems impossible to be able to hold out – to endure tight cash flow, limited resources, the nagging pressure of bills and the fear that we might not be able to keep our fragile little boats afloat in the storm. Those dark days are always a part of an entrepreneurs´life.

One of the key differences between the great entrepreneurs and the merely mediocre ones is the ability to rise to the occasion – to find a way to raise energy levels – to see the opportunity, even in the darkest hours.

Yesterday I had a dark and stormy entrepreneurial day - but I also found the way back to the blue skies and to high energy. How about you?

Rick Salmon is an energetic entrepreneur who believes that this beautiful world that we have created needs our help. Learn more at www.ricksalmon.com

www.xelerator.com