Recently, I heard my brother-in-law, Demian Entrekin, advise an entrepreneur to look at her startup as a building and step outside of it every once rather than get mired in dealing with the plumbing. Before working on tiny details, first figure out if anyone wants to use the facilities. Maybe it’s the location that’s the problem, not the internal workings inside the company.
In like vein, Sharon Wienbar, VC at Scale Venture Partners and a recent judge of the Catalyst Competition, said that entrepreneurs need to be clear-minded and hard-nosed in order to step out of the situation and look at their startup from a “critical vantage point.”
In many ways, being an entrepreneur is like being in hand-to-hand combat daily, she said. Sometimes, you have to stop with the hand-to-hand combat and realize whether you’re making tactical decisions from the wrong vantage point.
If you’re salesperson is not hitting their numbers, then let them go, she suggested. If a project is not meeting its potential, then redirect.
Other advise that Sharon has is an obvious one, but one that’s never too old to hear: Don’t run out of money.
Yet, if you think something is worth pursuing, don’t starve the opportunity. Spend as little as possible, until you get traction.
Finally, find the right team. There are people with “great resumes and real talent, but they might not be right for the opportunity,” she said. Know how to pick the right people for the right job. This type of matchmaking is something most every company does.
