Entrepreneurs, and those who work at startups, are a special part of the workforce.
They embrace innovation and disruption. They live on the edge, and, at times, chase the latest shiny object. But their willingness to fail and try something new often enable them to make a big difference.
The Vator community is made up of these unique people. To that end, we've changed our user profiles to allow entrepreneurs to express their interests and lessons about entrepreneurship.
These profiles will allow us to highlight an entrepreneur every day.
Today's entrepreneur is Joe Kraus.
An Investor
Excite.com, JotSpot
HomeAway, ngmoco, RelayRides, OpenCandy, gomiso
I love eating Ramen.
Rewarding: seeing a vision manifested. the relationships that form when a group of people tries to tackle the impossible. changing lives when you have a successful outcome.
Frustrating: not knowing if you're early or wrong. constant tradeoffs and resource decisions. constant selling.
I have two #1 mistakes. Not being persistent enough and not hiring well and/or hiring too fast
1. persistence rules the day. the negotiation usually begins at 'no'
2. hire slowly and hire better than yourself, always.
3. failure is over-rated. You learn far more from successes than failures.
4. better to be a trendspotter than a trendsetter
5. you only make what you measure.
(Note: If you want to be featured, please fill out your Vator profile, answer the questions in the basic information area, and be sure to add a big photo as wide as 400 pixels! Email newsroom@vator.tv with a link to your Vator profile so we can check it out!)
