Listen -- You might just get funded!

After being away for 2 weeks by going down to L.A from San Jose Area, and then travelling all the way to the east coast in snowy weather, Toronto, Canada, I am glad to be back in the South Bay area to work and blog again!

In a fairly recent meeting that I had sat in and discussed by Hal's blog titled To get Funded - Learn to Listen (Jan 11, 2011), I too had felt that the CEO's approach to answering the potential investor's questions and concerns could have been handled in a more professional way. Rather than tackling and giving a concise and succinct response to questions raised on competition, and revenue-generating, the CEO became a bit hostile. Not only did it become a debate and wherein the potential investors were patient enough to clarify and rephrase their questions many times, at the end of it all, the question was still left unanswered!

I believe that listening will definitely be necessary to get a venture funded, especially when dealing with potential investor(s) who are willing to help your venture (after all, why not if they can make money from it eventually) get to where you want your venture to be. But to get there, you need to do one thing: LISTEN. 

To end my blog, I'd like to leave a quote from the infamous John Marshall (American Founder of constitutional law and the Supreme Court of the United States of America 1755-1835): "To listen well is as powerful a means of communication and influence as to talk well" -- If we can just realize how important listening is as a tool to communicate and influence in a harmonic way with talking, not only will entrepreneurs have an increased shot at getting funded, but also shows investor(s) your coachability and commitment to your venture.

Entrepreneurs have no age limit

In a recent discussion on LinkedIn, someone posted the following with regards to entrepreneurial age:


Entrepreneurs have no age limit

With growing economic challenges in every field and tough job market you now see entrepreneurs of every age group trying to test their skills. The trend is clear entrepreneurship is growing at a faster pace than in the past but younger entrepreneurs are finding it easier to promote their startups due to their comfort level in using the social media channels.

Regardless of age boom in entrepreneurship is seen and hopefully will ignite economic growth.

My thoughts:

I have to agree with this. Entrepreneurs are no longer for the old and experienced. In fact, there are some great, intelligent, passionate, and motivated individuals or group of individuals out there trying to create something for themselves. As lay-offs and unemployment rates continue to be high globally, many people around the world are taking up entrepreneurship to take their dreams/visions to another level! Anyone can be an entrepreneur, but to succeed, one requires the following: Passion, Timing, Hardwork, Determination, and Strong motivation for success. Without these key ingredients, one will find that being an entrepreneur are "too high risk" and one will never realize their true potential and do something that they are truly passionate about.

Timing is everything!

Found a $20 bill on the floor outside? Got the job you've always wanted? Something was handed to you on a silver platter? All these things are made possible by "luck". But in every "luck", there are also great "timing".

So how does this apply to entrepreneurs? Finding the right venture and industry/sector to target all rests not only on passion but also from great "timing". The opportunity to make something for your company depends on many factors, for example:

- Market Condition (recession or boom?)
- Current Needs and Wants (what's hot and not?)
- Demographics (young generation? middle-age? baby boomers?)
- Barrier of Entry (easy or hard?)
- Industry Saturation (blue vs red ocean?)
- Nature of the company (Time-sensitive? Capital Intensive? etc.)
- Strong Management Team (Experience? Coachability? Expertise? Communication? etc.)

Although the list can go on, many of these factors must be considered to turn great "timing" in your favor. With the proper research and due diligence, a company can succeed and be sustainable with the help of "timing". But of course, the other thing to also watch out for is that "timing" sometimes will knock on your "opportunity" door, and unless you open the door and embrace it, you may just miss a great opportunity that "timing" has for you.

So what's the bottom-line? You need to be prepared and open for when and where the right "timing" will appear. It may only happen once (or more to lucky people), so why not embrace it and grasp the opportunity! After all, we only have one life to live, so we might as well live out your passion and use the proper timing to succeed, and live a life with no regrets!

A key ingredient for Entrepreneurs

As I sipped on my coffee this morning, I can't help but reflect back on what it is that drives and motivates me to be an entrepreneur. Most people would ask me if it's for the potential to make a lot of money? glory? reputation? fame? or just to be the next big-shot guy out there. It is true that some, if not all these things comes to successful entrepreneurs as "rewards"  through their hard work, determination, and labor. But what really drives and motivates "real" entrepreneurs (a necessary key ingredient) is their determination and willingness to do something that they are really passionate about and give it 110% of their efforts and time.

Passion, the driving force that separates real entrepreneurs from regular entrepreneurs, can causes one (or a few people) to do outrageous things that most people would not understand, unless they themselves are the real entrepreneur. So what makes a "real" entrepreneur and a "regular" entrepreneur?

My definition of a "real" entrepreneur are those who are willing to "roll-up-their-sleeves" to give it their all on something that they are most passionate about. There are those real entrepreneurs that would give up/quit their job(s) just to pursue what it is that they are really passionate about. Eventually, this passion becomes the fire in them that keeps them going on their business through their strong motivation and ideals. On the other hand, there are those who would have many sleepless nights trying to build their business, whether it's through writing some ideas down on paper to actually doing something related to it (i.e. programming for long periods of time). These "real" entrepreneurs work in whatever place that is available to them (sometimes in an apartment/basement holding 4-5 guys working and struggling together on an idea or a software).

How about "regular" entrepreneurs? I call and categorize these people as "entrepreneur explorers" or "waiting entrepreneurs". What is it that they seek from from their business? Most seek side income, and so the real passion isn't there. It is their hobby or something they are good at that they sell, and so they do it to make some money in the process. On the other hand, there are also those entrepreneurs who will work on their ideas, business plans, and other things on a part-time basis (or when they have time). They hold a day job, and even though they work on their business part-time, their hope is that if they can have enough funding, they may "consider" to quit their jobs and do the business full-time.

So which one is the right way of doing entrepreneurship? In all honesty, my answer is that it would depend on a person's situation and capacity. I have seen some great entrepreneurs who have worked part-time on their business and was able to get it off the ground. While I've seen others who have quit their jobs to work full-time but was unable to get their business going. Whether a person chooses the route of a "real" entrepreneur or a "regular" entrepreneur, what I strongly believe measures the amount of "entrepreneurial spirit" in a person is the amount of "undying" passion they have towards their business and/or ideas (of course, other factors such as business sense, timing, luck, network, etc. plays a part and I will cover in the future). Without this key ingredient, an entrepreneur will not only lose their motivation and focus, but would lose heart and their chance for success.

In short, entrepreneurship is definitely not for the faint-hearted. To be successful in this field, you must have passion as your key and #1 motivation and focus to reach your entrepreneurial goal(s).

Why be a finnovatrepreneur?

I was recently asked the question, "why use a fancy name like a finnovatrepreneur and not an innovator or an entrepreneur?" I've pondered for a bit and here is what I came up with.

I chose to be a finnovatrepreneur because I felt it suits who I am at this point in time. Although I have some experiences in the world of operational/corporate finance through working in a bank (where I got the financial background from), and my informal education/experiences of entrepreneurship outside of my regular classes during my undergrad years that has helped shape who I am today, I am very determined to work with start-ups to apply what I've learned and expand/obtain skills that I already have/don't have.

So in a nutshell, I hope to be someone who has the entrepreneurial spirit that can be creative and drive innovation, while at the same time, have the outlook of a venture capital (VC) approach (in terms of profitability and success-driven results), to create and/or assist start-ups that would truly create jobs and wealth for nation(s).

What is Finnovatrepreneur?

It's a mouthful, huh?

As I try to figure out what I should write about on my blog (or what my blog should be about), I asked myself, "what is it that defines me?" or rather, "what is it that I have done up to this point?". So with some very quick brainstorming (2 mins max!), I came up with a word that describes me... a Finnovatrepreneur!

Where did I come up with this word? I am pretty sure it's been used somewhere else but I thought it was pretty creative.

Fin - Finance/Financial
innova - Innovative
-trepreneur - Entrepreneur

So put it together, and voila! You have a Financial Innovative Entrepreneur! Yes, I know it's lame but hey, I do try to make an effort to engage my soon-to-be followers! I may not be a super experienced person, but my engagement in start-ups and my background in finance has caused me to be quite innovative in my entrepreneurial endeavors.

Anyway, I hope this is a great start to those who stumbled across my blog. I'll do my best to keep this blog active, so stay tuned!