Startup Advices Gathered

1.     Make something people want.

2.     A great team and a great market are both critically important—you have to have both.  The debate about which is more important is silly.

3.     Write code, talk to users, and build the company (hire the best people you can find, get the culture right, fundraise, close sales, etc.)  Most other things that founders do are a waste of time.

4.     Set a clear, easy-to-understand vision for your company, and make it be a mission people believe in.

5.     Stay focused and don’t try to do too many things at once.  Care about execution quality.

6.     You have to have an almost crazy level of dedication to your company to succeed.

7.     In general, don’t start a startup you’re not willing to work on for ten years.

8.     Be relentlessly resourceful.

9.     In the current pivot-happy world, good ideas are underweight.  It’s worth the time to think through a good one.

10.  Growth solves (nearly) all problems.

11.  While growth is critical and you should focus on it, occasionally consider where you’re going—you need both growth and to be growing towards something valuable.

12.  Obsess about the quality of the product.

13.  Overcommunicate with your team.  For some reason most founders are really bad at this one.  Transparency is your friend.

14.  Move fast.  Speed is one of your main advantages over large companies.

15.  Hire slow; fire fast.  Hiring is the most important thing you do; spend at least a third of your time on it.

16.  Occasionally think about why the 20th person will join your company.

17.  Hire smart and effective people that are committed to what you’re doing.  The last five words there are important.

18.  Hire friends and friends of friends.  Go after these people like crazy to get them to join.  Some other candidate sources are ok, but I always got bad results from technical recruiters.

19.  Generally, value aptitude over experience.

20.  Hire people that you could describe as animals.

21.  Eliminate distractions.

22.  Don’t die.

23.  Be frugal.

24.  You’ll often hear conflicting advice about everything but “build a great product”.  This means you can go either way on much of the rest of it and it doesn’t really matter.  Just make a decision and get back to work.  Product/market fit is what matters.  You can—and will—make a lot of mistakes.

25.  You make what you measure.

26.  Startups are very hard no matter what you do; you may as well go after a big opportunity.

27.  Momentum is critical.  Don’t lose it.

28.  Keep salaries low and equity high.

29.  Keep the organization as flat as you can.

30.  When working on a deal—raising money, trying to get a partnership, etc.—it’s important to create a competitive situation.

31.  Schleps are good.

32.  Don’t forget to make money.

33.  Journalists like hearing directly from founders.  If you hire PR people, resist their desire to control all the contact.

34.  It’s standard for founders to keep board control in the first round.

35.  Listen to everyone.  Then make your own decision.

36.  Remember that you are more likely to die because you execute badly than get crushed by a competitor.

37.  Get lucky.

38.  Have a direct relationship with your customers.

39.  Be formidable—do not be easy to push around.

40.  Don’t let your company be run by a sales guy.  But do learn how to sell your product.

41.  Have a culture that rewards output.

42.  Don’t hire professional managers too early.

43.  Simple is good.  Be suspicious of complexity.

44.  Get on planes in marginal situations.  In-person is still better than tele-anything.

45.  Most things are not as risky as they seem.

46.  Be suspect of anyone who says the word process too often.

47.  Raise a bit more money than you think you need.

48.  Ignore the fact that “the press loves [you]”.

49.  Have great customer service.

50.  You can create value with breakthrough innovation, incremental refinement, or complex coordination.  Great companies often do two of these.  The very best companies do all three.

51.  The role of the board is advice and consent.  If the CEO does not lay out a clear strategy and tries to get the board to set one, it will usually end in disaster.

52.  Board observers are usually a headache.

53.  If you pivot, do it fully and with conviction.  The worst thing is to try to do a bit of the old and the new—it’s hard to kill your babies.

54.  It’s better to make a decision and be wrong than to equivocate.

55.  Set goals for the company and motivate people to get there.

56.  Always praise good work.

57.  Celebrate your wins as a company.  Get t-shirts for big milestones.

58.  Have a good operational cadence where projects are short and you’re releasing something new on a regular basis.

59.  You can win with the best product, the best price, or the best experience.

60.  Meetups and conferences are generally a waste of time.

61.  If the founders of your company seem to care more about being founders than they care about your specific company, go join another company.

62.  It’s easier to sell painkillers than vitamins.

63.  Be suspicious of any work that is not building product or getting customers.  It’s easy to get sucked into an infrastructure rewrite death spiral.

64.  It’s better to have a few users love your product than for a lot of users to sort of like it.

65.  Learn how to stay extermally optimistic when your world is melting down.

66.  Startups should require as few miracles as possible, but at least one.

67.  You have to have great execution—far more people have good ideas than are willing to roll up their sleeves and get shit done.

68.  Don’t have a diverse culture in the early days.

69.  Keep a to-do list every day.  At the top of it, put the one or two big things you want to work on.

70.  Being the CEO is miserable more often than it’s good.  But when it’s good, it’s really good.

71.  On the really bad days, remember that tomorrow will be better—it’s hard to see it being much worse!

72.  Sleep and exercise.

73.  Success in a startup is usually pass/fail.  Worry more about making sure you pass than an extra point of dilution.

74.  Good investors are worth a reasonable premium.

75.  Give your investors something to do.

76.  Go for a few highly involved investors over a lot of lightly engaged ones.

77.  Raise money on promise.  Raise money on clean terms.

78.  Do reference checks on your potential investors.  Ask other founders how they are when everything goes wrong.

79.  Investors love companies other investors love.

80.  A lot of the best ideas seem silly or bad initially—you want an idea at the intersection of “seems like bad idea” and “is good idea”. (It’s important to note you need to be contrarian and right, not simply contrarian.)

81.  Surf someone else’s wave.

82.  Sometimes you can succeed through sheer force of will.

83.  All startups are fucked in at least one major way.  Keep going.

84.  Keep an eye on cash in the bank and don’t run out of it.

85.  Pay a lot of attention to the relationship between cofounders, especially if both/all of you want to be CEO.

86.  Stay small and nimble.

87.  Have a staff meeting at least once a week.

88.  Find a mentor that will teach you how to manage.

89.  Keep burn low until you’re sure everything is working.

90.  Be suspect about buying users.

91.  Lead by example.

92.  Have the right kind of office.  The proper office for a very small company is an apartment or house.

93.  Share results (financial and key metrics) with the company every month.

94.  Have a table in your offer letters that shows how much the stock you’re granting a new hire could be worth in various scenarios.

95.  The best startups are defined by exceptions; all of these rules are probably breakable, but probably not all at the same time.

 

courtesy : http://blog.samaltman.com/startup-advice

An Arranged “Happily Ever After”…

THE INQUISITIVE ELDERS: We are the very worried and responsible ones. All that we care about is getting our kids married. Mind you, as quickly as possible. We believe there are certain rules to follow in the entire “marrying away our daughters” process and those rules are meant to be never-broken. We trust our friends too much (although we find it annoying that our daughters trust and spend extra time with their friends). So if a friend informs us of a potential groom, we are all for it. Trust us, we are totally okay with the fact that we know only the guy’s parents well. If the guy’s  parents are “good” and we haven’t met the guy even once, we take it for granted that their son doesn’t know the spelling of p-o-r-n. We also ask our daughters to put on a saree and decent make-up and drive her to a photo studio. We stand by and watch as the photographer asks her to stand or sit with a fake smile on her face. Our daughter now looks uncomfortably at the photographer and angrily at us. We wonder, “What is the fuss all about? It’s just a photo. Why can’t she pose and be done with it.” If she doesn’t agree to co-operate with us for this, we don’t talk to her for weeks. The pressure we put on her goes to a peak when we find out that our friend’s or relative’s kid who is as old as our daughter is also getting married. We nudge our daughters harder on such days. We say, “You remember Murthy Uncle’s daughter, 2 years younger than you. She is ALSO getting married this weekend and we have been invited. What are we going to say when they ask about you?” So finally she gives in. This photo now goes with a “biodata” right into a marriage bureau. We desperately pray that some handsome guy with a white collar job picks our daughter. Now, if our daughter has a darker complexion, is fat, or is generally short, it is as good as her being handicapped for the system of marriage. So we pray harder. We are often confused. Sometimes we pray for a son-in-law who is working in the US or UK and is earning in Dollars or Pounds. It gives us joy to brag to our friends that our daughter is in the foreign land. But sometimes we just want a guy working in Bangalore, Chennai, or Hyderabad. This gives her a chance to visit us often.

One fine day we receive a phone call from a friend or the bureau. A guy finally seems interested in our girl and so we ask her to take a day or two off from work to come home (She isn’t the company’s CEO anyways). She needs to wear the saree again and serve the guests with coffee/tea and snacks. Oh! These days some of us let our girls wear a salwar/kammeez for the occasion and have grown to be liberal enough to let the young ones meet alone in a restaurant, say for dinner. So you should give us some credit for “developing”.

Well, if its rather difficult to find an ideal boy through common friends, we are being more open nowadays to looking on the matrimony websites. No, it is not embarrassing. It means we are educated enough to learn how to use the computer, internet, e-mail etc. Besides we have to find a guy from our community, right? We do not have the question of an outside community guy. That would be totally Apacharam! Anyways, this is how the whole matrimony site thing works. We create a profile for our daughter. A profile that includes mundane stuff like photo, profession, hobbies and most importantly religion and caste. We manage the account ourselves. Yes! We do. We have given our daughter the freedom to manage her Gmail and Facebook account on her own (without our intervention) and so it’s okay that we manage her Bharath Matrimony (or equivalent) account. If you ask us, “How different is this online match making different from random online dating?”, we are going to be super pissed and think you are so immature that you still talk no logic. We will wonder how you are ever going to survive in your in-laws house with this kind of attitude. We will browse through random profiles of “prospective grooms” and send them to our daughters every week. If  it finally sinks into our daughter’s head that we are not going to let her escape from this entire marriage thing, she may reluctantly log into her account (Alright, we will give her the username and password). Now she can and should only look at the profiles of guys we send. If she is casually browsing and thinks that she might actually like another guy, we will object. It obviously hurts our ego. We agree that he belongs to the same community but we did not choose him.

We want things to go fine. We want our daughter to be happy at any cost. We have worked our entire life to keep her happy, and will continue to do so. We know what we are doing. We just don’t get it when she keeps asking for more time. For heavens sake you are over 25 years now. This is the right time. Once we decide one particular guy is the best for her, and would keep her totally happy, WE say YES. We are always ready to give dowry. We have been saving up all life for this moment. If the guy is decent enough to not accept it from us, we thank god for giving us such a good son-in-law. Once the YES is said there can be NO stopping. The dates are fixed, the shopping is done, the invitations are sent out, the venues are booked. And on the wedding day, just the very minute we are giving her away to the groom, we WONDER. We wonder if we did the right thing for her. We never intended to screw up for her. We wanted to give her the very best in life. We convince ourselves that the guy she had once been in love with was the most-imperfect guy for her. He couldn’t keep her happy. We hope she will understand that the guy she chose was not from our community and that there is the society and there are relatives we are answerable to. We hope she understands that being elders is complicated. After a few years, when we visit her home and walk into her kitchen to chat with her while she is cooking, the feeling we had on the day of her wedding comes right back to us. We ask her, “Are you happy?”. She looks deeply into our eyes, smiles, and says YES.

THE MACHO MAN: We are caught up in the rat race for most of our lives. We have many ambitions or targets, rather. Marriage?? Are you kidding me? We are never ready. We do it more or less as following a timetable. Go to school, graduate, get a job, get a house and a car, get a wife, get babies, get green card, get a pension, and get a grave. We are great! Some of us might actually look like monkeys but our mirror keeps reminding us, time and again, that we are no less than Hrithik Roshan. That makes us obviously deserve nothing less than Suzanne Roshan. We are not ashamed to create matrimony profiles. And since we are guys, we handle our own accounts. While creating an account we are busy wondering why the website is so slow and cursing it all the way. We try to think of new programs and bug fixes that could actually make the website efficient. We browse matrimony profiles when we are really really bored (Or say we do it on Facebook all the time). Sometimes we also sit in a group and judge profiles. Yeah! We are such dorks. We think we are clever but we actually are not. We say “no drinking, no smoking” while filling out the profile, and we put up pictures of us at a party holding a glass of scotch. We also do not have the brains to lock our pictures on Facebook. What the hell!!! We are boys. We do not hide pictures from people who are not our friends. We do not tell our parents that we do smoke, drink alcohol, eat non-veg, and go to strip-clubs. We’ll let our wives find that out on their own. They will be thrilled indeed.

Some of us, clearly, very few of us are sensitive and think its a big deal to welcome a woman into our lives. Most of us just want to meet the girl our parents think is ideal, talk to her on the phone and exchange texts till the day of the wedding, go shopping with her, change our relationship status on Facebook, collect lump sum dowry, take a few pictures, accept the wedding gifts, and bring home a wife. These days most of us have either had or still have girlfriends. We often know that it’s not going to work out with them in the end. But we wont say a word until she starts pushing us to talk to our parents about her. “Dude! We are just in our  late twenties. We haven’t settled down yet. We are in no place to take you home.” We then advice you to go ahead and marry the guy your parents choose. “Your parents know what’s best for you”, we try to convince and console them.

Then the so called settling doesn’t seem to come to an end. Once we clear the education loan, we have a car loan. Once we clear the car loan, we have the housing loan. Once we clear the housing loan, we realize there remains X, Y, and Z to do. So we decide, “Okay, lets get married now”. Its a part of the timetable, remember? So we are now 30 years or older. Some of us have a pot belly, some of us have a receding hairline, some of us are still handsome. We have also matured from wanting a Malaika Arora type model to just any girl who is patient and doesn’t make our life irritable. Even though we are educated and preach about wanting a “Developed India” and speak at length about the current issues curbing the development of India, some of us still want dowry. We believe it’s our birth right.

When called home by our parents to see a potential bride, we throw airs. We pretend to be busy with office work even though we actually aren’t. We believe we are the company’s Superman or Batman. Anyways we give an appointment and finally we get married. Sometimes we do not understand that the girls are always girls, at any given age. And that she needs to be treated differently. We expect her to treat our family like her own. We do not understand why she would have a problem with our mothers or our sisters. We are irritated if she demands all our attention. However, as time goes on, we learn to adjust. Quite quickly. We are the adaptive breed. If something about her is very frustrating, all that we need to do is go to a bar with a friend and have a beer. We are back to normal. After a few years, we are seated on the couch in the living room as we watch our kids play scrabble while our wives are making dinner. We stare at the T.V and wonder, “Are we happy?”. At that very moment, she smiles lovingly and calls out to us to have dinner. YES, we are happy, or at least we could say so.

THE DESI GIRL: We are dreamy people. The wedding – we would have had a million day-dreams and night-dreams about it. We are the most confused species on this entire planet. You see, we like the wedding (we have dreams about it), but do we like the marriage? I wonder! We grow up reading and believing  in the magic of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty. We hope to meet our knight in shining armor one day. We exist with the faith that our knight will come one day, riding a white horse and that he will sweep us off our feet, and take us to the “happy-land”.

Time flies, reality hits. One, sometimes two, bad relationships. Wrong guys. Right guys but no future with them. Parents disapprove. Okay, we have finally come to terms with reality and will marry the guy whom our parents think is ideal. But posing in a studio with a saree? Ridiculous! Serving coffee and snacks to strangers? Embarrassing. Being rejected by a moron because he thinks you are either too short or too dark or too thin or too fat or too arrogant or cant afford the dowry? Angering and absurdly insulting. It doesn’t really matter to us if the guy drinks alcohol or smokes, just let us know. We are not fans of such thrilling surprises. And for the record, we are human too and we enjoy an occasional drink (puff) or two these days. We are as educated and intelligent and smart and independent as any of you these days. Pray, why should we give dowry?

Marriage isn’t a timetable for us, like how it is for the inquisitive elders and for the macho man. We have a lot of thinking to do. We are freaks. We freak out a lot. Marriage scares us. That’s why we are never ready. We are never sure we said yes to the right guy, although we know there is no perfect guy. When we look at the picture of a guy our parents send us via e-mail, we freak out. We have a thousand thoughts running through our tiny brain, all at once. We wonder if he’s nice. Is he caring? Will he listen? Does he have bad breath and will it make it impossible to kiss him? Does he have the pathetic habit of forgetting to put the toilet seat down after he is done? Is he neat? Will he help with the household work? Will his male ego shadow him all the time? Will he understand when you say you are in no mood to have sex that night? Will he learn to respect and believe in your faith? Will he stand up for you? Does he know that you can be a torture at times but that’s the way you are built? Does he know that you enjoy your single life as much as he does his? Will it occur to him that you value your family and friends as much as he does his? WE WONDER.

We don’t generally admit it but we do care about looks too. We think for a second, deep inside, is he good looking. Can I show him off to my friends? Can I proudly put up a picture of us together on Facebook? But once we get to know you, we really don’t care. We are stupid. We run to our best girl-friends all the time. Even if it is about decisions regarding you. We are possessive, over-bearing, full of love. We have expectations, great ones. We get cuddly and cute after watching a romantic film. We take joy in being foolish and believe that guys are as sweet as Siddhu from Bommarillu. Small things hurt us real hard. We have problems and we deal with all of them, both big or small, in the same way. Sometimes having no problems is a big problem for us. So basically we are kinda impossible and we think a lot. To say YES. And once we say yes, we think every single minute, all along the way. Am I going to be happy with him? So after a few years, when we question ourselves for the billionth time, Are we happy? We either smile to ourselves and say, “Yes, I think so” or call up our girlfriends and say, “Yes, at least I pretend to be so”.

But what if we are still left wondering whether there does exist a “HAPPILY EVER AFTER”.  And if it really did, how would it feel after all?

 

 

 

courtesy : http://sahajapatel.wordpress.com/2012/01/14/an-arranged-happily-ever-after/

Robbery – The Lessons

During a robbery in Guangzhou, China, the bank robber shouted to everyone in the bank: “Don’t move. The money belongs to the State. Your life belongs to you.”

Everyone in the bank laid down quietly. This is called “Mind Changing Concept” Changing the conventional way of thinking.

When a lady lay on the table provocatively, the robber shouted at her: “Please be civilized! This is a robbery and not a rape!”

This is called “Being Professional” Focus only on what you are trained to do!

When the bank robbers returned home, the younger robber (MBA-trained) told the older robber (who has only completed Year 6 in primary school): “Big brother, let’s count how much we got.”

The older robber rebutted and said: “You are very stupid. There is so much money it will take us a long time to count. Tonight, the TV news will tell us how much we robbed from the bank!”

This is called “Experience.” Nowadays, experience is more important than paper qualifications!

After the robbers had left, the bank manager told the bank supervisor to call the police quickly. But the supervisor said to him: “Wait! Let us take out $10 million from the bank for ourselves and add it to the $70 million that we have previously embezzled from the bank”.

This is called “Swim with the tide.” Converting an unfavorable situation to your advantage!

The supervisor says: “It will be good if there is a robbery every month.”

This is called “Killing Boredom.” Personal Happiness is more important than your job.

The next day, the TV news reported that $100 million was taken from the bank. The robbers counted and counted and counted, but they could only count $20 million. The robbers were very angry and complained: “We risked our lives and only took $20 million. The bank manager took $80 million with a snap of his fingers. It looks like it is better to be educated than to be a thief!”

This is called “Knowledge is worth as much as gold!”

The bank manager was smiling and happy because his losses in the share market are now covered by this robbery.

This is called “Seizing the opportunity.” Daring to take risks!

So who are the real robbers here?  Do we have to learn something here?

What Will You Create to Make the World Awesome?

When web designer Ben Blumenfeld was working for a major TV network, he was responsible for creating websites for mainstream shows. One day, he made a breakthrough that led to a significant uptake on a show, but the success struck Ben in a way he had not expected. His success meantmore people would spend even more time watching TV, and he ultimately didn’t see that as a goodthing.

The moment proved to be an inflection point for Ben. He decided to stop thinking of his career as something separate from himself, and the values, ideals and principles that were important to him. He believed in making a positive impact in his community, and realized his day-to-day work wasn’t aligned with that. He decided it was time to pursue a path that baked his mission into his career.

While still in that mindset, he received a phone call from Jeff Hammerbacher, the COO of a newfangled Silicon Valley startup with 8 million student users, who persuaded Ben to fly to California to meet the people working there. Later, when Ben mentioned his desire to make a positive impact in his community, the CEO assured Ben that the venture would impact the very way the human race communicated with each other, across cultures, political differences and national territories — literally bringing the world together. Ben concluded the CEO — Mark Zuckerberg — was either quite mad, or that he was a true visionary. Ben told me, “I knew Mark was going to build the company with or without me, and once I met the design team, I was just blown away. Every designer was insanely talented, both visually and technically.” And so, he decided to join in the effort.

In time, Ben would come to lead the communication design team at Facebook as they built the company from 8 million users to almost a billion. He found the scale of every initiative to be surreal. “It was strange to design experiments that were measured in millions of people,” he told me. But, he also knew that the ability to connect so many people offered a huge opportunity to stay true to his goal of melding his career and his intention to make a positive difference in the world. Ben had an idea to work with Stanford’s Peace Innovation initiative, in connection with Stanford’s Persuasive Technology Lab, to start peace.facebook.com, which in turn sparked a conversation around the world about whether people believed we would reach peace in the next 50 years. (Incidentally, Americans are consistently far more pessimistic about this than other countries, such as Egypt, which is among the most optimistic). It was just one of the many ways that Ben decided to bake his mission into his career.

Most recently he left Facebook and joined with Enrique Allen to cofound The Designer Fund. Enrique is also part of the founding team at 500 Startups, an early stage seed fund and accelerator in Silicon Valley. The Designer Fund invests in designer-led startups that bake positive social impact into the mission of the institution. Instead of impact being an afterthought or separate project, like some company’s apologetic foundations sometimes appear to be. (Explore some of their inspiring investments here: Neighborland, Angaza Design, Solar Mosaic and Launchpad Toys).

I use the example of Ben to illustrate someone who’s approaching his career by design — not by default. It’s something that each and every one of us has the potential to do. When you get to a place in life where you’re questioning what the work you are doing — all the hours you’re spending — are ultimately adding up to, you need a process for evaluating what matters most to you. Here’s what I suggest:

Step 1: Sketch Your Career. It is so easy to get consumed by the stream of activities in our careers. We get so caught up in living our lives that we don’t stop to think sufficiently about our lives. We are reacting instead of being strategic. When I find this happening, I use this simple tool to get a broader perspective. You start on the left at the beginning of your career and end on the right hand side (today). You draw a single line up if you were enjoying the experience and down if it was unfulfilling for you. Write down where you were working, what you were working on, and any other factors that shaped your experience.

It ends up looking something like this:

Step 2: Connect the Dots. Use the sketch from Step 1 as a launch pad into being an anthropologist of your own life. Go somewhere quiet. You might think of it like a strategic offsite for your own life and career.

Ask: When was I truly happy and why? What activity or theme do I keep coming back to? What is my gravitational pull? When was work effortless for me? What isn’t working for me? When do I seem most like myself? When was it meaningless and why? When was work meaningful and why? Don’t rush the process. Pause long enough to listen. Write the answers down as they come so you can reflect on them later.

Step 3: Ask, “What Will I Create that Will Make the World Awesome?” That may sound like a bit of a wild question but an essential element of strategy is, to state the obvious, thinking about what we want to create in the future.

Ask: What would I do if I could do anything? What would I do if all jobs paid the same? If I could only achieve one thing in my career, what would it be? What do I really want? Again, these are big questions. But my experience is that people spend far more time worried about their job than in creating a vision for their career and how they can uniquely contribute to the world. (If you are looking for a pep talk, this three minute video from “Kid President” does a brilliant job challenging us to figure out what we can do to make the world awesome).

It’s a simple process. But it can help us to break down some complex questions. Like the poet Mary Oliver’s beautifully haunting question: “Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

 

 

 

credits: HBR Blog Network

Be Happier: 10 Things to Stop Doing Right Now

Sometimes the route to happiness depends more on what you don’t do.

Happiness–in your business life and your personal life–is often a matter of subtraction, not addition.

Consider, for example, what happens when you stop doing the following 10 things:

1. Blaming.

People make mistakes. Employees don’t meet your expectations. Vendors don’t deliver on time.

So you blame them for your problems.

But you’re also to blame. Maybe you didn’t provide enough training. Maybe you didn’t build in enough of a buffer. Maybe you asked too much, too soon.

Taking responsibility when things go wrong instead of blaming others isn’t masochistic, it’s empowering–because then you focus on doing things better or smarter next time.

And when you get better or smarter, you also get happier.

2. Impressing.

No one likes you for your clothes, your car, your possessions, your title, or your accomplishments. Those are all “things.” People may like your things–but that doesn’t mean they like you.

Sure, superficially they might seem to, but superficial is also insubstantial, and a relationship that is not based on substance is not a real relationship.

Genuine relationships make you happier, and you’ll only form genuine relationships when you stop trying to impress and start trying to just be yourself.

3. Clinging.

When you’re afraid or insecure, you hold on tightly to what you know, even if what you know isn’t particularly good for you.

An absence of fear or insecurity isn’t happiness: It’s just an absence of fear or insecurity.

Holding on to what you think you need won’t make you happier; letting go so you can reach for and try to earn what you want will.

Even if you don’t succeed in earning what you want, the act of trying alone will make you feel better about yourself.

4. Interrupting.

Interrupting isn’t just rude. When you interrupt someone, what you’re really saying is, “I’m not listening to you so I can understand what you’re saying; I’m listening to you so I can decide what I want to say.”

Want people to like you? Listen to what they say. Focus on what they say. Ask questions to make sure you understand what they say.

They’ll love you for it–and you’ll love how that makes you feel.

5. Whining.

Your words have power, especially over you. Whining about your problems makes you feel worse, not better.

If something is wrong, don’t waste time complaining. Put that effort into making the situation better. Unless you want to whine about it forever, eventually you’ll have to do that. So why waste time? Fix it now.

Don’t talk about what’s wrong. Talk about how you’ll make things better, even if that conversation is only with yourself.

And do the same with your friends or colleagues. Don’t just be the shoulder they cry on.

Friends don’t let friends whine–friends help friends make their lives better.

6. Controlling.

Yeah, you’re the boss. Yeah, you’re the titan of industry. Yeah, you’re the small tail that wags a huge dog.

Still, the only thing you really control is you. If you find yourself trying hard to control other people, you’ve decided that you, your goals, your dreams, or even just your opinions are more important than theirs.

Plus, control is short term at best, because it often requires force, or fear, or authority, or some form of pressure–none of those let you feel good about yourself.

Find people who want to go where you’re going. They’ll work harder, have more fun, and create better business and personal relationships.

And all of you will be happier.

7. Criticizing.

Yeah, you’re more educated. Yeah, you’re more experienced. Yeah, you’ve been around more blocks and climbed more mountains and slayed more dragons.

That doesn’t make you smarter, or better, or more insightful.

That just makes you you: unique, matchless, one of a kind, but in the end, just you.

Just like everyone else–including your employees.

Everyone is different: not better, not worse, just different. Appreciate the differences instead of the shortcomings and you’ll see people–and yourself–in a better light.

8. Preaching.

Criticizing has a brother. His name is Preaching. They share the same father: Judging.

The higher you rise and the more you accomplish, the more likely you are to think you know everything–and to tell people everything you think you know.

When you speak with more finality than foundation, people may hear you but they don’t listen. Few things are sadder and leave you feeling less happy.

9. Dwelling.

The past is valuable. Learn from your mistakes. Learn from the mistakes of others.

Then let it go.

Easier said than done? It depends on your focus. When something bad happens to you, see that as a chance to learn something you didn’t know. When another person makes a mistake, see that as an opportunity to be kind, forgiving, and understanding.

The past is just training; it doesn’t define you. Think about what went wrong, but only in terms of how you will make sure that, next time, you and the people around you will know how to make sure it goes right.

10. Fearing.

We’re all afraid: of what might or might not happen, of what we can’t change, or what we won’t be able to do, or how other people might perceive us.

So it’s easier to hesitate, to wait for the right moment, to decide we need to think a little longer or do some more research or explore a few more alternatives.

Meanwhile days, weeks, months, and even years pass us by.

And so do our dreams.

Don’t let your fears hold you back. Whatever you’ve been planning, whatever you’ve imagined, whatever you’ve dreamed of, get started on it today.

If you want to start a business, take the first step. If you want to change careers, take the first step. If you want to expand or enter a new market or offer new products or services, take the first step.

Put your fears aside and get started. Do something. Do anything.

Otherwise, today is gone. Once tomorrow comes, today is lost forever.

Today is the most precious asset you own–and is the one thing you should truly fear wasting.

The Warden and 23 prisoners

The warden meets with 23 new prisoners when they arrive. He tells them, “You may meet today and plan a strategy. But after today, you will be in isolated cells and will have no communication with one another.

“In the prison is a switch room, which contains two light switches labeled 1 and 2, each of which can be in either up or the down position. I am not telling you their present positions. The switches are not connected to anything.

“After today, from time to time whenever I feel so inclined, I will select one prisoner at random and escort him to the switch room. This prisoner will select one of the two switches and reverse its position. He must flip one switch when he visits the switch room, and may only flip one of the switches. Then he’ll be led back to his cell.

“No one else will be allowed to alter the switches until I lead the next prisoner into the switch room. I’m going to choose prisoners at random. I may choose the same guy three times in a row, or I may jump around and come back. I will not touch the switches, if I wanted you dead you would already be dead.

“Given enough time, everyone will eventually visit the switch room the same number of times as everyone else. At any time, anyone may declare to me, ‘We have all visited the switch room.’

“If it is true, then you will all be set free. If it is false, and somebody has not yet visited the switch room, you will all die horribly. You will be carefully monitored, and any attempt to break any of these rules will result in instant death to all of you”

What is the strategy they come up with so that they can be free?

start thinking.. your time starts now…

got an answer post it here.. dint get the answer?. keep thinking..

P.S. This was a question from google interview.

Must have Mentors for Entrpreneurs

Entrepreneur. It’s a tough word — both to spell and to call yourself. Being an entrepreneur brings with it a love of leaping head first into the unknown. Life-long entrepreneurs love new challenges, and live their lives in a constant growth phase. One of the common resources an entrepreneur turns to is a mentor. Asking for advice and bouncing ideas off of others is essential to the success of an entrepreneur’s journey.

I’ve been fortunate to have a variety of mentors over the years, and I can’t imagine standing where I am if it wasn’t for them. Despite all the challenges of running a business, the biggest constant in my life is those mentors, and their advice.

I also think it’s important that mentors come from many different perspectives, as mine have. These are the five types of mentors I’ve had over the years, and the ones I think any entrepreneur can benefit from:

1. A friend that knew you before you started your own thing.
Perhaps no voice matters more than the one that knew you before you had a startup. They knew you when all this was just a dream, or when you didn’t even know what a startup was. They can speak to your roots and ground you when you get lost in the startup haze.

For instance, when I go back home to the East Coast, my friends ask me about everything except tech and business. They tell me how impressed they are but remind me that I need to slow down, to live the life I want, doing what I love. No entrepreneur should lose sight of that.

2. A person with your similar skill set at your point of learning.
Having regular coffee dates or Skype chats with people who are in your similar phase of growth can lead to valuable relationships. I have a group like this, and we push each other and question each other’s decisions. We have been there when things fell through and when our big days happened.

There is a confidence that can come with camaraderie like that. We understand what each of us is going through.

3. A colleague you don’t love working with.
One of the biggest challenges that face any entrepreneur is justifying what you want to do and why it’s going to disrupt the status quo — whether it be to investors, future co-founders, team members, the press or others. It helps if you’re good at talking to just about anyone. Fine tune your ability to take feedback and get good at turning it into positive results. There is no quicker way to do this than to push forward with a relationship that isn’t particularly enjoyable or easy at first.

4. A person with the exact opposite skill set than yours.
Seek out mentors who are most unlike yourself. For me it’s been coffees with product managers, and tech leads. I’ve met with chief operating officers and have standing chats with our office manager. Do I know much about any of that? Not really. Do I know more now than I did before I met with them? Sure as heck I do.

Having these types of mentors and encounters has motivated me to take classes in coding and financials, and it’s humbling to see just how much you don’t know. Life-long learning is critical to success in business, and particularly to those who have bought into an industry founded on innovation.

5. A friend who always knew you’d be an entrepreneur.
Meet often with someone who knows you as “your entrepreneurial self” and not in any other way. He or she is likely the one to say “you got this” and “this is what you do” — even when you’re doubting it yourself. That person can’t imagine you ever taking the safe option or quitting. He or she would never tell you it’s OK if you haven’t given something your best effort, and will cheer every one of your accomplishments.

credits to Entrepreneur.com

Changes needed in LeaderShip style!

You might not feel it day-to-day, but business management is in a major transition.  The old days of command-and-control leadership are fading in favor of what might be better termed a trust-and-track method, in which people are not just told what to do, but why they are doing it.  More formally, we’re moving from what was called “transactional” leadership to “transformative” leadership. And there’s no turning back.

Business owners certainly have a long way to go, especially in more established companies where old practices die hard.  But you can see increasing evidence that by creating a company with a clear purpose and values, you’ll find your employees connect themselves to something bigger, and that increases productivity.  In other words, a culture of engagement leads to greater customer loyalty, and better financial success.

Here’s my list of “old school” practices you ought to chuck, and “new school” practices to champion instead:

1. Out: Micro-management, or the need to control every aspect of your company. In: Empowerment, the ability to give your people some rope–even rope to make mistakes without blame.

2. Out: Management by walking around the office; it is no longer enough to be visible. In: Leadership by watching and listening, engaging in conversation, implementing the ideas presented to you, and distributing the results.

3. Out: Pretending you know everything. You don’t have all the answers, so why try to make people think you do?  In: Knowing your leadership team members and trusting them. Choose great people who have the right skills and fit the culture.  And get out of the way.

4. Out: No mistakes, or a “no tolerance policy” some still think works. In: Learning from mistakes, or being the first to admit an error.

5. Out: The balance sheet drives the business, and informs all other decisions. In: People drive the business, boosting customer loyalty, and profit.

6. Out: Job competency is sufficient. Do the job asked, and you’ll survive. In: Recruit “A” players who will go the extra mile. They’re out there.

7. Out: Invest in technology to increase productivity. In: Invest in people.

8. Out: Demand change; be very specific about what you want and when. In: Nurture change; your people can come up with the best ideas and you can give them credit for it.

9. Out: Fried food in the cafeteria. In: Wellness in the workplace.

10. Out: Incentives; pay employees more money and they’ll do more. In: Rewards; being valued matters more than money.

So ask yourself which of these out-of-date practices you’re still using. There’s no time like now to try something new.

school dropouts!!

Do you feel dejected or left behind by your peers because you don’t have a college degree? Do you see your supposed illiteracy as a limitation to achieving your dreams? Or are you in the group that thinks education is the ultimate yardstick for success? If any of these questions best describes you, then please read on.

How does it sound to your ears that most of the world’s richest men and women were school drop outs? Well don’t be surprised; it’s the truth.

“I have nothing against education. But at times, education gives people false confidence. It makes people relax, trusting in the power of their certificates rather than in working hard.” – Rasaq Okoya

Today, I will be sharing with you a brief compilation of the entrepreneurial success stories of self made men and women; who took the bull by the horn by building a business, without being held back by the lack of a college degree. These men and women found their entrepreneurial spirit, surmounted business challenges, completed the entrepreneurial process and became successful entrepreneurs.

 “I have been within the four walls of school and I have been on the street. I can confidently tell you that the street is tougher, challenging, daring, exciting and more rewarding. In school; you play alone. But on the street, you play with the big boys.” – Ajaero Tony Martins

Warren Buffett, Mo Ibrahim, Mike Adenuga, Oprah Winfrey, George Soros, John D. Rockefeller, Sam Walton, Jerry Yang and David Filo, Anita Roddick, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Jeff Bezos, Pierre Omidyar, Martha Stewart, Henry Ross Perot and Aliko Dangote; the richest black man in the world did not make the list because they possessed college degrees. Without wasting much of your time, below is acomprehensive list of some of the world’s richest school drop out billionaires.

“Behind every adversity is an opportunity. If you lament over the adversity, you will miss the opportunity.” – Ajaero Tony Martins

  The World’s Richest School Drop Out Billionaires

1.            Bill Gates: He is the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft Corporation, the world largest software company. Dropped out of Harvard to focus on building Microsoft. According to Forbes magazine, Bill Gates has held the position of the world richest man for thirteen consecutive years and he not showing a sign of letting go that position.

“To win big, you sometimes have to take big risks.” – Bill Gates

“We were young, but we had good advice good ideas and lots of enthusiasm.” – Bill Gates

2.            Thomas Edison: Thomas Edison was labeled dumb and scatterbrain by his school teachers but he went on to become one of the world’s greatest inventors and founded General Electric; one of the most powerful companies in the world.

 “Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” – Thomas Edison

3.            Orji Uzor Kalu: He is one of the richest men on the soil of Africa. This young billionaire was rusticated from college for his participation in a student’s protest. Instead of lamenting over his predicament; he started trading on palm oil and from that humble beginning, he grew his business into a conglomerate “Slok Group.” Though he was later pardoned by the school authorities, he rejected the amnesty offer thereby refusing to return to school.

“A good businessman must have nose for business the same way a journalist has nose for news. Once your eyes, ears, nose, heart and brain are trained on business, you sniff business opportunities everywhere.” – Orji Uzor Kalu

4.            Li Ka Shing: Billionaire owner of Hutchinson Whampoa; one of the largest conglomerates in Hong Kong, with operations that span over fifty countries and more than 220,000 staff worldwide. Dropped out of school at the age of 15 and started out by selling watch bands.

“The first year, I didn’t have much capital so I did everything myself. I had to keep my overhead low by learning everything about running a business, from accounting to fixing the gears of my equipment. I really started from scratch.” – Li Ka Shing

5.            Richard Branson: Best known for his adventurous spirit and outrageous business tactics. He dropped out of school at the age of 16 to start his first successful business venture; Student Magazine, bought his own 79-acre Caribbean island when he was just 24 and he was knighted in 1999. He is the billionaire founder of the Virgin brand and its 360 companies. His companies include the famous Virgin Atlantic Airways.

 “I wanted to be an editor or journalist. I wasn’t really interested in becoming an entrepreneur, but I soon found I had to become an entrepreneur in order to keep my magazine going.” – Richard Branson

 Successful Entrepreneurs and World’s Richest School Drop Out Billionaires

6.            Lawrence J. Ellison: Larry Ellison dropped out of college twiceand was told by his adoptive father that he would never amount to anything but he went on to become a billionaire by building Oracle, the world’s second largest software company.

 “I have had all the disadvantages required for success.” – Larry Ellison

7.            Michael Dell: He dropped out of college at the age of 19 to start PC’s Limited; later renamed Dell Computers Inc. Dell became the most profitable PC manufacturer in the world making Michael Dell a billionaire.

    “I had to give it a full go and see what happened.” – Michael Dell

8.            Steve Jobs: Billionaire co-founder of Apple Inc and Pixar; dropped out of Reed College to start Apple.

9.            Henry Ford: This automobile billionaire was born in abject poverty. He never saw the four walls of school but he went on to build Ford Motor Companyand become one of the richest men that ever lived.

 “Thinking is the hardest work to do, that’s why so few people are engaged in it.” – Henry Ford

10.          Walt Disney: Walt, regarded as the most influential animator because of his creativity with cartoons. He dropped out of high school at 16 and founded Walt Disney; a company which now has an annual revenue of about $30billion.

“If you can dream it, you can do it.” – Walt Disney

 

11.          Ray Kroc: Billionaire Ray Kroc never saw the four walls of school and spent most of his life working as a salesman. He bought McDonald’s in 1961 for $2.7m and grew it into a multi billion dollar company.

“Press on. Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” – Ray Kroc

12.          Debbi Fields: A 20 year old housewife with no education and business experience started Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chippery and became the most successful cookie company owner. She later renamed, franchised, and then sold Mrs. Field’s Cookies.

“You don’t have to be superhuman to do what you believe in.” – Debbi Fields

13.          Cosmos Maduka: Nigerian Elementary school drop out andbillionaire founder of the Coscharis Group.

14.          Ingvar Kamprad: Billionaire founder of IKEA. He dropped out of high school at the age of 17 to start IKEA; now the top home furniture retailer in the world, with over 90,000 employees working in its 200-plus stores, and annual revenues in excess of $10 billion.

 “I’m not afraid of turning 80 and I have lots of things to do. I don’t have time for dying.” – Ingvar Kamprad

15.          Carl Lindner: Billionaire investor and founder of United Dairy Farmers. He dropped out of high school at the age of 14 to deliver milk for his family diary.

16.          Simon Cowell: Famous for his involvement in American Idols, hedropped out of school at age 16 and started his own record label “Fanfare” at the age of 23.

“Good is not enough; you’ve got to be great.” – Simon Cowell

17.          Mary Kay Ash: Founder of Mary Kay Inc and best known as the most outstanding business woman in the 20th century. Mary never saw the four walls of school.

“When you reach an obstacle, turn it into an opportunity. You have the choice. You can overcome and be a winner, or you can allow it to overcome you and be a loser. The choice is yours and yours alone. Refuse to throw in the towel. Go that extra mile that failures refuse to travel. It is far better to be exhausted from success than to be rested from failure.” – Mary Kay Ash

18.          Coco Chanel: Fashion magnate and founder of the Coco Chanel brand, she never saw the four walls of school.

19.          Wayne Huizenga: Wayne is the only person in history to build three Fortune 1000 companies practically from scratch: Waste Management Inc, Blockbuster Entertainment and AutoNation. He is the only person to have developed six NYSE-listed companies.

He also owns the Miami Dolphins and is previous owner of the Florida Marlins baseball team and the Panthers hockey team, making him the only person ever to own three pro teams in a single market, two of which won national championships. He dropped out of college to join a friend in a garbage collection business.

20.          Barry Diller: This billionaire media magnate dropped out of college to start Fox Broadcasting Company. He is chairman of Expedia, and was once the CEO of IAC/InterActiveCorp which includes Home Shopping Network and Ticketmaster.

“There’s a world in which reasons are made up because reality is too painful.” – Barry Diller

21.          Andrew Carnegie: Founder of Carnegie Steel Company and one of the richest men that ever lived. Born in abject poverty, Andrew never saw the four walls of school.

“I shall argue that strong men conversely know when to compromise and that all principles can be compromised to serve a greater purpose.” – Andrew Carnegie

22.          Sir Philip Green: Billionaire retail mogul and owner of the Arcadia brand, he dropped out of school at the age of 16. After four business failures, Philip Green made his first million at the age of 33.

“If you’ve got a natural talent, I think it’s fantastic. If I wasn’t in retail, being a singer or a tennis player would be a better idea.” – Sir Philip Green

23.          Madame C. J. Walker: She was born into the family of ex-slaves and farmers. Despite being widowed at the age of 20 and faced with extreme hardship, she started a cosmetics business and went on to become the first American self made female millionaire.

“I had to make my own living and my own opportunity! But I made it! Don’t sit down and wait for the opportunities to come. Get up and make them” – Madam C.J. Walker

24.          Mark Zuckerberg: The youngest billionaire in the world, dropped out of Harvard to promote his social networking platform; Facebook. As at 2010,he was 23 years and worth $4billion.

25.          Ted Turner: Billionaire drop out media mogul and founder of CNN; pledged a billion dollars to the United Nation.

“All my life, people have said that I wasn’t going to make it.” – Ted Turner

“Over a three year period, I gave away half of what I had. To be honest, my hands shook as I signed it away. I knew I was taking myself out of the race to be the richest man in the world.” – Ted Turner

26.          Cornelius Vanderbilt: Dropped out of school at the age of 11, began operating his own boat at the age of 16 and became one of the richest men in history.

 “If I had learned education, I would not have had time to learn anything else.” –  Cornelius Vanderbilt

27.          Mayer Amschel Rothschild: was born in a ghetto; started business as a money lender and built the largest private fortune in history. He never saw the four walls of school.

“Give me control over a nation’s money supply and I don’t care who make the laws.” – Mayer Amschel Rothschild

28.          Ty Warner: Billionaire real estate investor, hotel owner, sole owner, CEO, and Chairman of Ty, Inc. Ty Warner is a savvy, yet private business man. Ty, Inc; made $700 million in a single year with the Beanie Babies craze without spending money on advertising. He has since expanded to include Ty Girlz dolls, directly competing with Bratz dolls.

29.          Howard Hughes: Dropped out of California Institute of Technology and Rice University; founded Hughes Aircrafts and Co and went on to become a billionaire.

“I intend to be, the richest man in the world.” Howard Hughes

30.          Giorgio Armani: Billionaire founder of the fashion brand; Giorgio Armani S.P.A. Dropped out of medical school at the University of Bologna because he couldn’t stand the sight of blood.

“Remain true to yourself and your philosophy.” – Giorgio Armani

31.          Asa Candler: Founder of the Billionaire company and world’s most popular brand; Coca Cola. He dropped out of school at the age of 10.

32.          Jenny Craig: With no college degree, this woman started Jenny Craig Inc from scratch and grew it to become one of the largest and most recognized companies in the weight management industry.

“If I make a commitment to something, I will stick to it no matter what.” – Jenny Craig

33.          Rachael Ray: Despite having no formal training in culinary arts, Rachel Ray made a name for herself in the food industry. With numerous shows on the Food Network, a talk show and cookbooks, high-energy Rachael never slowed down. She has also appeared in magazines as well has having her own magazine debut in 2006.

34.          Milton Hershey: With only a fourth grade education, Milton Hershey started his own chocolate company. Hershey’s Milk Chocolate became the first nationally marketed chocolate.

35.          Frank Lloyd Wright: surpassed all odds to become the most influential architect of the twentieth century. Frank Lloyd Wright designed more than 1,100 projects with about half actually being built. He never saw the four walls of high school.

36.          David Geffen: billionaire founder of Geffen Records and co-founder ofDreamWorks.

“I never went to business school. I was just bumbling through a lot of my life. I was like the guy behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz.” – David Geffen

37.          Billy Joe (Red) McCombs: founder of Clear Channel media, real estate investor.

38.          Craig McCaw: billionaire founder of McCaw Cellular.

39.          Dave Thomas: billionaire founder of Wendy’s.

“There’s no one to stop you but yourself.” – Dave Thomas

40.          ay Van Andel: billionaire co-founder of Amway.

41.          Micky Jagtiani: billionaire retailer, Landmark International

42.          John Paul DeJoria: billionaire co-founder of John Paul Mitchell Systems and Patron Spirits tequilla.

43.          David Green: billionaire founder of Hobby Lobby.

44.          Frederick “Freddy” Laker: billionaire airline entrepreneur.

45.          Kirk Kerkorian: billionaire investor, owner of Mandalay Bay and Mirage Resorts, and MGM movie studio.

46.          Leandro Rizzuto: billionaire founder of Conair

47.          Leslie Wexner, billionaire founder of Limited Brands.

48.          Marc Rich: billionaire commodities investor and founder of Marc Rich & Co.

49.          S. Daniel Abraham: billionaire founder of Slim-Fast.

50.          Theodore Waitt: billionaire founder of Gateway Computers.

51.          Y.C. Wang: billionaire founder of Formosa Plastics.

52.          Paul Allen: billionaire co-founder of Microsoft Corporation; dropped out of Washington State University.

53.          Ralph Lauren: Billionaire fashion mogul. Studied business at Baruch College for two years and dropped out.

54.          Dean Kamen: Billionaire Kamen holds more than 80 US patents;famous for the Segwey PT, Auto syringe and IBOT robotic wheelchair; dropped out of Worcester Polytechnic.

55.          Dhirubhai Ambani: Famous founder of Reliance Group and father to two billionaires; Anil and Mukesh Ambani. Started Reliance Industries from scratch and never saw the four walls of school.

 

credit: strategicbusinessteam

25 top internet billionaries.. how they made it?!

Who are the 25 top internet billionaires in the world? What’s the secret to the success of the top internet entrepreneurs? How did they come about their wealth? How did they become billionaires? And how can you replicate their success strategies to become a millionaire or billionaire? You are going to find out soon.

In this article, I am going to list the top 25 internet billionaires and also highlight the secret to their success. But before I proceed, I want to emphasize the point that this article not focused on the wealth and net worth of the internet billionaires; rather, it’s more interested in the “how” of their success.

If you are more interested in knowing the estimated net worth of the internet billionaires; then Forbes magazine is the right place to go. But if you are interested in learning the exact step by step strategies that helped these internet entrepreneurs became billionaires; then please read on. Now who are the 25 top internet entrepreneurs  in the world?

   25 Top Internet Billionaires in the World

1.            Mark Zuckerberg –          Facebook

2.            Larry Page –       Google

3.            Steve Case –      AOL

4.            Jeff Bezos –        Amazon

5.            Reed Hastings –                Netflix

6.            Jerry Yang –        Yahoo!

7.            Craig Newmark –             Craiglist

8.            Pierre Omidyar –              Ebay

9.            Sergey Brin – Google

10.          Eric Schmidt – Google

11.          Masayoshi Son – Softbank

12.          Hiroshi Mikitani – Japan’s leading online shopping mall

13.          Charles Schwab – Online investing to the masses

14.          Ma Huateng – Runs China’s most popular online chat service

15.          Robin Li – Baidu

16.          Mark Cuban – Broadcast

17.          Andreas Von Bechtolsheim – Google Investor

18.          William Ding – China’s second largest online gaming site

19.          Shi Yuzhu – Giant Interactive

20.          Yoshikazu Tanaka – Gree

21.          David Filo – Yahoo!

22.          Marc Benioff – SalesForce

23.          Peter Thiel  – Facebook Investor

24.          Jack Ma – Alibaba

25.          Todd Wargner – Broadcast

Now that the 25 top internet billionaires in the world have been listed, I think it’s time we dig into the behind-the-scene secret to their success.

   25 Top Internet Entrepreneur Billionaires and the Secret to their Success

1.            They took advantage of trend

“There are no shortcuts. You have to work hard, and try to put yourself in a position where if luck strikes, you can see the opportunity and take advantage of it. I would also say it’s hard not to fool yourself. Everyone tells you how they are going to be “special,” but few do the work to get there. Do the work.” – Mark Cuban

The fist secret to the success of the internet billionaires was their preparedness and ability to take advantage of a moving business opportunity. The internet came as a trend and while most established business owners fought to resist its impact on their businesses; these internet billionaires embraced the internet and went about seeking ways to use it as leverage. The ability to take advantage of trend; the ability to accept change is the big difference between successful entrepreneurs and the average business owners.

“To truly prepare for the unexpected, you’ve got to position yourself to keep a couple of options open so when the door of opportunity opens, you’re close enough to squeeze through.” – Pierre Omidyar

2.            They started small

The 25 internet entrepreneurs listed above are billionaires by all standard but they were not so many years ago; and they did not become internet billionaires overnight, they started small. Most people admire entrepreneurs such as Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Larry Page but only few knew the starting point of these entrepreneurs.

“There are no shortcuts.” – Reed Hastings

One key to becoming a successful entrepreneur or business owner is the ability to start small. Most people dream big but only few are humble enough to start small. I think it’s worthwhile you know that Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Page, Jerry Yang, David Filo, Sergey Brin started their internet businesses from the dorm of their various schools; Jeff Bezos started Amazon from his garage.

“Most people think it’s all about the idea. It’s not. EVERYONE has ideas. The hard part is doing the homework to know if the idea could work in an industry, then doing the preparation to be able to execute on the idea.” – Mark Cuban

These internet billionaires did not sit on their business ideas and business plan; waiting for the million dollar investor. They started with what they’ve got on hand and kept it going till they hit fame and fortune. So if you must replicate the success strategies of these internet billionaires, then you must be willing to start small.

3.            They worked for free

“It’s not because of the amount of money. For me and my colleagues; the most important thing is that we create an open information flow for people. Having media corporations owned by conglomerates is not just an attractive idea to me.” –Mark Zuckerberg

Extraordinary success comes with extraordinary sacrifice. During the early startup years of these internet billionaires, they weren’t paid a dime. They worked for free developing their business ideas and even when their various companies was formed; they kept working for free.

What’s the lesson I am trying to stress here? The lesson I am emphasizing is that “delayed gratification is essential to becoming a billionaire and building a successful business; whether on the internet or offline.”

4.            They were innovative

I did a careful research and found out that the internet billionaires were not pioneers in their niche; they were late comers but they came with a competitive strategy, “innovation.” Google and Yahoo weren’t the first search engine; before them was ask.com.

“We are targeting innovation. We believe mobile applications are essential.” – Larry Page

Amazon wasn’t the first online bookstore; other small independent bookstores existed butJeff Bezos used innovation as an edge to position Amazon as the world largest bookstore. Facebook wasn’t the first social networking site; MySpace was already on ground and successful but Mark Zuckerberg positioned Facebook using innovation as an edge.

The lesson here is that you don’t have to be the first to win; you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, all you have to do is improve on the present idea and you will have a winner on hand.

5.            They had a mission

“The thing I really care about is the mission; making the world open.” – Mark Zuckerberg

One of the reason the 25 internet entrepreneurs listed above became billionaires was because they had a mission; a mission to positively affect humanity. Why do you want to start a business? The answer to this question will determine if you’ll succeed or not.

“The most important single thing is to focus obsessively on the customer. Our goal is to be earth’s most customer-centric company.” – Jeff Bezos

A business mission is essential to starting a business and growing a businessbecause it helps you the entrepreneur maintain focus; it keeps you on course. Without a strong business mission; you might hit success but you can never sustain that success. MySpace went under because Facebook; its competitor had a stronger mission and that business mission became the driving force behind Facebook’s success.

“Basically, our goal is to organize the world’s information and to make it universally accessible and useful. That’s our mission. When we started, we had about 30 million Web pages, which was quite large for the time — that was two years ago. Now, we have well over a billion Web pages. So that gives you some idea of how we’ve grown in content. So we try to make more and more stuff available to people, we try to, when you come to Google, fulfill that need that you have as quickly as possible.” – Larry Page

6.            They served everyone for free

Have you ever been charged for doing a search on Google? Were you charged a subscription fee for your Yahoo, Google and Facebook account? The answer is no. The reason these internet billionaires became successful was because they served everyone for free. Mark Zuckerberg helped family and friends stay in touch without charging a dime. Google provides direction to vital information without charging a dime; Craiglist is also a free resource.

“If you want to be rich, simply serve more people.” – Rich Dad

Now what is the key point here? The key point for success here is to provide a valuable service to many people for free or a lot less than normal.

7.            They reinvested in their business

The last secret to the success of the internet billionaire was that they reinvested in their businesses. Jeff Bezos didn’t pay a dividend for five years; Larry Page and Sergey Brin worked their socks off without getting a dime. These internet entrepreneurs became billionaires because they reinvested not only the profits; but their time and resources.

Instead of taking a profit and throwing a party; they chose to stay committed and expand their business via strategic acquisitions. Re-investing in your business is essential to business growth and expansion.

As a final note, these are the top seven secrets to the success of the internet billionaires. Do you want to become an internet billionaire? All you have to do is to replicate these seven success secrets and I will see you at the top.

 

 

credits:strategicbusinessteam