Keynote Talk "Survival Guide for Founders"
This week, I delivered a keynote titled "Survival Guide for Founders", and I'd like to share some thoughts from it with you in this edition of MadeMeThink.
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Keynote “Survival Guide for Founders”
Since 2017, I've had the opportunity to give a keynote at a local startup event, tailored for around 140 first-time founders. It means something that the organizer keeps inviting me back to give a keynote. Perhaps it means they believe in second chances, or maybe, they're confident I'll nail it eventually 😉
One of the unique challenges I face with this keynote is the diverse background of the audience. Founders come from a wide spectrum of sectors, from traditional fields like crafts, trade and services to the cutting-edge world of tech startups. In this respect, I had to think about overarching topics that are relevant to every founder.
The keynote, titled "Survival Guide for Founders" was designed to deliver crucial hints, insights, and tips vital for those starting their entrepreneurial journey. With a tight 25-minute slot, I crafted five slides covering key topics. Below, I'll share some selected thoughts from my keynote talk:
1. Having a clear future vision
It is important for founders to have a goal, a vision for the future in mind. Where should their entrepreneurial journey take them? In his book "Be Useful", Arnold Schwarzenegger sums it up pretty well:
“If you can’t fully see your vision — if you can’t picture what success is and what it isn’t — it becomes very hard to assess opportunities” - Arnold Schwarzenegger
So you need to know where you want to go in order to take the right steps. Or as one of my favorite philosophers Seneca said: “If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable”. In Schwarenegger's words:
The only difference between them and us, between me and you, between any two people, is the clarity of the picture we have for our future, the strength of our plan to get there, and whether or not we have accepted that the choice to make that vision a reality is ours and ours alone.” - Arnold Schwarzenegger
But it takes a lot of hard work to achieve this future, and as a founder you have to be prepared for that:
“If there is one unavoidable truth in this world , it’s that there is no substitute for putting in the work (…) working your ass off is the only thing that works 100 percent of the time for 100 percent of the things worth achieving.” - Arnold Schwarzenegger
I know the hard work part all too well from my entrepreneurial ventures. I recently saw a video on Insta that I think captures the feeling of the start-up phase really well (if you don't speak German, the text in the video says: My therapist: So, how are you doing today? Me: Fine, my life is in a state of flow? The flow:"
2. Prioritization
As a founder, you have a lot on your plate. It is therefore absolutely critical to prioritize. You need a relentless focus on the activities that create value. Entrepreneurs are paid for the value they provide, not primarily for their time (although time can be an input). It's a daily battle against distractions, interruptions and procrastination.
Therefore entrepreneurs should keep the Pareto Principle in mind, also known as the 80/20 rule, which states that 80% of the results can be achieved with 20% of the effort. Focusing on the 20% of activities that have the greatest impact on achieving your goals is crucial in entrepreneurial endeavors.
In my daily life, I consistently apply specific techniques to efficiently prioritize my work, e.g. the “Ivy Lee Method” and the “Parkinson Law”.
The Ivy Lee Method involves a few straightforward steps for enhancing productivity:
At the end of each workday, identify the (up to) six most important tasks you need to complete the following day.
Rank these tasks in order of their importance.
When you start your day, concentrate solely on the first task. Work until the first task is finished before moving on to the second task.
Continue this process throughout the day until you've worked through all six tasks.
Any unfinished tasks are moved to the next day's list of six important tasks.
Repeat this process every working day.
Parkinson's Law asserts that work expands to fill the time available for its completion, suggesting that by setting tighter deadlines, you can enhance productivity by encouraging more focused and efficient work habits. In this respect, I give the respective task that I have prioritized as described above a time frame (e.g. 2 hours) in which I must have completed it. That's super helpful, because otherwise tasks can stretch out for a long time.
With this in mind, I am now limiting this article to 3 thoughts from my keynote. I actually wanted to write 5, but then I would have spent 5 hours on it instead of 3, which would not have been in the spirit of the last paragraph. And besides, I have my doubts as to whether anyone reads my longer articles to the end anyway 😅🤷♂️🙈
3. Positioning
Imagine you're facing heart problems. Who would you turn to for an examination? To a cardiologist, a specialist with in-depth knowledge of heart conditions, or to a general practitioner, who covers a broad range of medical issues? And which of the two could demand a higher fee for the check-up?
Positioning is crucial for startups, primarily because their advertising budgets are often constrained. This limitation means they can exert only minimal, if any, communication pressure, which makes it imperative that their communication is highly relevant and effective.
Founders often want to reach EVERYONE with their services, meaning they do not limit their target group in the hope of reaching a larger market. However, the communication message then becomes so abstract in order to appeal to everyone that it ends up appealing to no one.
Therefore, it normally makes sense to identify a niche aligned with the founders' interests, where they can offer added value through their services and ensure profitability. The perfect niche is one meter wide and one kilometer deep.
After identifying a suitable niche, start-ups can still employ the Bowling Pin Strategy, as discussed by Moore. This approach involves selecting a niche, establishing a strong presence within it, and then progressively targeting adjacent niches, much like knocking down subsequent pins in a bowling game. Each "pin" represents a separate market segment with its own unique value proposition, communication messages, and so forth.
Below are two pictures from my keynote talk. The location was very nice, a museum, see the exhibited animals on the top right of the picture...
A Personal update…
These weeks are super busy for me. After being at the TechArena conference and exploring Sweden a bit, I had quite some work that needed to be done. I'm also giving a few keynotes these weeks. And there are a couple of upcoming courses at the university. I'm currently completely restructuring my course on digital business models. I want to create a new (blended learning) learning experience. In the course, students should acquire knowledge through a series of articles (such as this one). In the course units, I would then like to offer other learning experiences. For example, in the first session I have invited three founders with whom we will exchange thoughts on digital business models over croissants and coffee. On another evening, I want to order pizza and watch a movie about business models with the students, give different teams various tasks on what they have to observe in the movie and then discuss it with them afterwards. I am curious to see how this new learning experience will be received. For me, it's a lot of extra work for now...
This publication also takes quite some time. As you may know, this year I have resolved to publish one article a week on MadeMeThink. The first ten weeks are already over and I've managed to stay true to my own New Year's resolutions so far 🤗 It is quite challenging to write content every week, not so much cognitively, more in terms of time. I would say an article takes about half a day 🥶 On social media I've tried to generate reach for my articles, from Linkedin to Warpcast to Instagram, basically I've tried every social network. Actually, only Linkedin worked for me, which is why I will no longer be active on the other social networks and will now focus on Linkedin 🤷♂️ I just managed to reach 4000+ followers there, yippie :) So if we are not yet connected on Linkedin, please add me there as well.
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Disclaimer: The thoughts published in this publication are my personal opinion and should not be considered as investment advice or a recommendation for any type of action. I am not a financial expert. The startups, organizations or corporates highlighted in this publication have caught my interest. This mention is not an endorsement or recommendation to engage with them. Readers should always do their own research.