Reasons for Success

Learning what will make a start-up successful is even more difficult than diagnosing what went wrong. Again, using the organic metaphor, it's more difficult to tell why someone is healthy than why they are sick. Also, quite frequently behavior gets associated with success when there really is no correlation. Never the less, the following are some observations about entrepreneurial success:

• Knowing when to let go: Knowing yourself and your own limitations is a critical first step for successful entrepreneurs. This begins with the first hires that the entrepreneur makes. Hire the best and give them the responsibility, authority and reward they deserve. "Managing a start-up requires learning to let go. And, part of letting go is developing others -- creating opportunities for people to move up and run organizations on their own", asserts Ronald Grzywinski, Shorebank Corp. It's important to learn fast that building a company is not about you. Matt Cutler, net.Genesis, stated it this way, "You have so much of yourself invested, you've lost a lot of friends, your hobbies. You're so committed to making it work. But, at some point you have to realize it's not about you. It's about the business." The fear of letting go is real. It's your idea, your drive that got it this far. "People who start a company want to hang on to it. They want to protect what they've started. But they really need to let the people inside the organization -- and even those outside it (subcontractors, vendors, etc.) -- bring ideas to life" is the way Kirk Perron, Jamba Juice Co. founder stated it.
  

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Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of trying to hold on to too much of the company ownership. That's also natural, but not productive towards building a successful company. The entrepreneurial vision should not be a large piece of a small pie, but a smaller piece of an infinitely larger pie. That's the magic of a team that transforms into a vital company. This magical process starts with the investors who back the company. If start-up companies make it through the first few critical years, it still isn't safe. As a company moves through its stages of development, different skills and abilities are needed in the leadership roles. It's rare that an entrepreneur can transcend these changes. Moreover, older start-ups also begin to face changing market and business environmental conditions.

In a recent survey of executives of some of the fastest growing companies in the US, PricewaterhouseCoopers found that 32% of the CEOs thought that their own ability to manage or reorganize their business could be an impediment to growth during the next twelve months. This is up from only 10% seven years ago.  The CEOs who were the most apprehensive were leaders of technology companies and businesses that had an international aspect. About 39% of those leaders were uncertain about their ability. These data reflect the fast changing markets and technologies that today's entrepreneurs have to contend with. "The challenge is to find great people and then inspire and empower them. The skills that it takes to start a company are not the same skills that it takes to keep a company going," explains Ester Dyson, EDventure Holdings, Inc.

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