Andy Klein is the pioneer of taking companies public on the Internet. He started Spring Street Brewing Company - the most high-profile and successful direct public offering ever. I met Klein back in 1996, when he led the offering on the Web. Eventually, and here's a little-known secret, Andy wanted to create more buzz around his beer company, he decided to create a market to provide liquidity for the shares. That market became known as Wit Capital, which went public and in 1999, went on to acquire another investment bank, Soundview, in that same year.
Andy is currently running his latest startup - Spotzer.
Here's his advice.
- You can probably do anything, but not everything. Make sure you find a team you can trust, so you can walk away and allow them to do their work and allow yourself to do yours.
- Vision is one thing, milestones is another. Entrepreneurs need to have big ambitions, but focus on real milestones each month. Learn how to balance vision with milestones.
- A lot of entrepreneurs badly underestimate how difficult it is to raise money. It doesn't happen itself. It's a lot of hard work to raise it. Expect that.
