The Ten Myths Of Entrepreneurs

I recently became a venture capitalist, so I can often encounter some mistakes made by [1] entrepreneurs.

In order to avoid repeating the sermon again and again, I want to make a summary of these mistakes: a good idea can make you earn a lot of money. The fact is that good ideas are neither sufficient nor necessary for business success.

Microsoft should be a typical example of business success, but in its entire history of development, it can not find a completely original "good idea".

In fact, Microsoft has been developing step by step by imitating the idea of its opponent and defeating its opponent in the competition.

Google does have some original features, such as Page Rank, Ad-words, cheap machine cluster, etc.

But none of them came out by Larry and Sergey.

This is not to say that Larry, Sergey and Bill are not smart enough. In fact, the three of them are sharper than anyone else.

But if you think they just have an inspiration and then become rich, you can only say that you are a dreamer.

Myth two: when things are made, some people will use them. Sometimes it is true.

Google is a good example.

But companies like Google are just rare, and more companies produce products that cannot be sold for one reason or another.

I had such a painful experience myself.

This is the first company I founded in 1993, the name is FlowNet.

It is also the name of a new high-speed LAN communication device.

The pmission speed of 10M is the standard at that time, but FlowNet provides up to 500M pmission speed.

In the next five years, FlowNet has always been the best cost-effective network device.

It even provides a built-in video streaming service that can guarantee the quality of the video.

If FlowNet can be popular all over the world, today's video streaming will be much better than it is now.

Although FlowNet can defeat any competitor at the technical level, it has suffered a great commercial failure.

We didn't sell one piece.

The reason is simple: it is not compatible with LAN standards.

If we did our homework and did some market research, we knew that compatibility, even if it wasn't fatal, would be a big problem.

That way, we will not waste tens of thousands of dollars on patent applications and sample production.

Myth three: if you don't apply for a patent, others will steal your thoughts. In fact, no one will be interested in your idea unless your idea is proved to be successful, but it was too late to steal scholars.

That is to say, someone really agrees with your idea, but if he is clever, he will choose to cooperate with you. If not, he will not threaten you by doing anything.

Sometimes patent is still useful: it will make investors feel safe.

But I strongly suggest that you deal with the patent application by yourself. You can do better than the patent application agent through some studies, and you can save a lot of money.

Myth four: your opinion is very important. In fact, you and your partner have no meaning for your products. What matters is what customers will think of your products.

We naturally assume that if you and your friends think your products are good, then thousands of other people will think so. Sometimes things are like this, but most of the time they are not.

The reason is that you are so smart that you can design such a good product, so you are different from the users of those products.

Your customers will be more mediocre than you, and their tastes will be even more mediocre.

If your product is designed to cater for those who care about what you care about, your users will be very small.

Myth five: the profit model is fake. It's like 21 kinds of myth. Sometimes it's also true.

As Carl Sagan often says, "prophecy is the art of failure".

You never know how much money your business will make or how much you will take to occupy the market.

The reason for the profit model is to allow yourself to think comprehensively and convince yourself that investment will be rewarded.

If you calculate, if you want to maintain no loss, your user base must be ten times larger than the current market, so you may need to reconsider.

As Eisenhower said, planning is nothing but planning is indispensable.

Based on this, many entrepreneurs will make a typical mistake.

They often say, "as long as we occupy 1% of the market share, we will make big money".

Such a statement directly reveals that you have not carefully analyzed the needs of users.

You may also say, "at least one customer of 100 customers will buy our things (or frankly, I'm not sure about that)."

Such thinking can not enhance self-confidence at all.

Myth six: knowledge is more important than knowledge. You have always refused to deny this.

From small to large, you believe that wisdom is more important than anything. You will not believe what your mother says, "learning to get along with others is more important than academic achievement".

The fact is that interpersonal relationship is more important than knowledge.

This is not to say that intelligence and learning are useless.

To some extent, your knowledge determines who you will be recommended to.

But in the end, you know and trust, and more importantly, trust you. People will be more decisive than your knowledge in your future.

Business activities are extraordinarily complex.

No one can have all the knowledge and experience needed to complete a business decision, so smart people will delegate their authority to others.

And when they choose to delegate, the first thing they think of is the people they know and trust.

Myth seven: Doctoral title is very useful. Actually, having a doctorate can only prove that you are not a poor person.

From my experience, having a doctorate will only have a negative impact on business success.

Because the way to succeed in school is just the opposite of what is successful in business.

In academically, your colleagues decide your success. In business, your customers determine your success, and your customers are basically not your colleagues.

Myth eight: I need 5 million as a start-up fund. In fact, unless you are hardware, you simply don't need any start-up capital.

Paul Graham has said a lot about this aspect, and I will not launch it. I would like to say a few words: you do not need to start the money, but you must be willing to do it yourself.

You have to realize your own ideas, no one will do it for you, and no one will pay to hire someone to do it for you.

The reason is simple: if you are unwilling to give up your rest time for your business potential, why do people take risks with their hard-earned money?

Nine: a good idea is the most important part of my plan. In fact, a good idea is basically meaningless. What matters is: who is your customer? Why do they want to buy your product? What are the risks of your team? What are the risks? Ten: no competition is better, but if you do not have competitors, the most likely reason is that it can not make money at all.

There are 6 billion people in the world, and it is almost impossible to have a profitable market that no one has noticed.

The best news is that your competitors are very good at cooking.

Most companies do not operate very well.

They make fake products, cheat customers, and their employees are very stupid.

You can always easily find market opportunities, enter, and defeat competitors.

You don't want to have no competitors. What you want is poor competitors.

Eleven: listing will make me happy. If you are tired of starting a business, you probably won't succeed.

It's so difficult that if you can't find pleasure in it, it will make you exhausted.

Even if you get rich through dirty trading, you will regret the passing of youth when you look back.

The joy brought by antiques and sports cars is short-lived.

There is only one kind of happiness that can be bought with money: when you are an investor, a young man is excited to tell you about his fresh business plan.

All these can be summed up in one sentence: what matters is the customer.

Business success is not just a good idea. Good ideas are everywhere.

Business success requires having a good idea, organizing a good team, making ideas into good products, and ultimately selling them to customers.

It's very simple and complicated.

Responsible editor: vivi