Linda Swenson

Linda Swenson

35 years of extensive financial and operational experience including financial/operational audit with Laventhol & Horwath, CPA, and founder/principal of Equity Alliance Group, an SEC Broker Dealer.

Website: http://revolucionww.com
Redondo Beach, California, United States
Member since January 16, 2012
  • About
Investor interests
Type of investor Early stage VC
Typical investment size $25,000 - $50,000
Typical investments in a year 4
Categories of interest
Credentials None

I am a(n):

Entrepreneur

If you're an entrepreneur or corporate innovator, why?

I want to change the world.

My favorite startups:

Dropbox, Mail Chimp, Square, BeachMint, JNSQ

What's most frustrating and rewarding about entrepreneurship/innovation?

Frustration – After taking the chance to act on you inspiration and then working both hard and smart for long hours month after month, or even years, people contribute your success to statements like “you were lucky” or “you were in the right time at the right place”.

Rewarding – The satisfaction of giving birth to an idea, concept or business and watching it mature and become successful and then watching that success provide a better life for your employees.

What's the No. 1 mistake entrepreneurs/innovators make?

Allowing the peripheral tasks of running a business such as employee issues, insurance and even simple basics like choosing or maintaining a copier to draw your focus away from your original concept of “if I do this, this will happen and when this happens the business will be successful and I will make money”. Unfortunately your energy goes where your focus is. To be successful you must keep your energy focused on the implementation of your basic business concept.

What are the top three lessons you've learned as an entrepreneur?

1. The myth that your time is your own. The proverbial buck stops with the entrepreneur. When your employees and associates are spending quality time with their families, the entrepreneur must put in the extra hours, whether planned or not, to insure that all that should, or at least can be done, is done.

2. Your business is actually two businesses. Besides the business of your business, there is the business of your employees. Besides recruiting, dealing with benefits and so forth, employees are people with all the strengths, weaknesses, and personal distractions that can affect their ability to be accountable and professional at their job duties day in and day out.

3. Start with a business plan and stay focused on its implementation. A business plan is critical. It doesn’t have to be worthy of an award, but even if you’re the only one that will look at it you have to have it. Nobody goes into business to not succeed. A new business starts with an idea that if I do this and this, I will make money. Once you start your business too many things can distract you away from the basic concept of how you were going to make money, which is the measure of whether your business is successful or not. Your business plan serves as the road map. Pull it out at least once a month and review it to see how far you have strayed or how much of your focus is not on the implementation of your business concept. Stay focused on what it is that will make you profitable.