More than idea, startups need work, luck, and money
May 14, 2008 by Tris Hussey
Filed under Business
Cambrian House of Calgary closed its doors recently leading many to suggest that is was crowdsourcing that was to blame, but I think Mathew Ingram hit the nail on the head:
Does this mean that crowdsourcing startup ideas doesn’t work? I don’t think so — but it shows that simply coming up with good ideas isn’t always enough. Someone has to execute them.–Cambrian House: Failure or evolution? » mathewingram.com/work |
I’ve worked at a bunch of startups over the past 4 years and work, there is always work to be had a plenty. The ideas are almost always good, but without that bit of hard work and luck, things can go off the rails.
At yesterday’s Victoria Entrepreneurs Lunch, I was sitting across from Joshua McKenty and we chatted about the Buried Life project (I wrote about this a while ago).
Folks at the table asked about it and Joshua filled them in and said that what they really needed was someone to work on it full-time.
And with that he followed up with a statement that I think we have to remember (I’m paraphrasing):
To be successful, you have to work in your startup full time
I can already hear you saying that you don’t have to work at it full time to be successful. Okay, but from all the startups I’ve worked for and seen, the ones that floundered were the ones where key people couldn’t or wouldn’t work at it full time.
The things that needed to get done, didn’t or not quickly. A delay here and there just ripples. When you “get serious” about your startup, the VCs often say, call us. Serious meaning, when you’re ready to pour everything into it and work at it full time.
See also: Cambrian House gets the axe | Techvibes Blog
Related to this is a great map of startups in Canada on StartupIndex. Ali announced it recently on his blog, and what struck me is how there are, essentially three centres of activity, Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.
Yes, I know there are great startups in Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, and even Victoria, but look at the map.
The bubbles don’t lie.
Ali, great example of taking Google Maps data and giving us a new perspective on the business climate in Canada.
Photos by Tris Hussey, Screenshot from StartupIndex.
Tris,
Awesome photo, man. And the paraphrase was very close – what I *think* I said, was that every startup needs at least *one* full time person. Often with a small team, it’s easy to think that three half-time people are just as good as one full-time person – in my experience, that never works.
It’s more than that, too – when you ARE going for broke, you’re more willing to take the kind of risks that you HAVE to take to win.