Page 79 - 6 Secrets to Startup Success

58 6 SECRETS TO STARTUP SUCCESS

will be vital to your success. The road to startup wealth usually re-
quires financial sacrifice in the early going, sometimes extended over
many years. Well-prepared founders are willing and able to operate
at reduced income levels as long as necessary. If financial motivation
is the only thing driving you, you may not be willing or able to handle
the economic realities of early-stage startup life.

HIGHER CALLING/MISSION – Some entrepreneurs are passionately
driven by a special cause or a higher calling. Their animating fire
cannot be quenched. Lynn Ivey personifies this reason for starting a
business. I’ve met very few people who bring her combination of un-
shakable belief, optimism, and energy to their startup effort. As we
will see in later chapters, Lynn’s personal sense of mission propelled
The Ivey through some very tough sledding. This is true across the
startup landscape in the form of many mission-driven founders, who
seem to draw energy and inspiration from a source greater than
themselves.

Unfortunately, mission-driven founders may be more likely than
others to become trapped by their passion. Their confident certainty
and sense of destiny can blind them to the more sobering aspects of
building a business, and they may be slow to understand that their
mission and message won’t resonate with everyone. If you feel driven
by a higher calling, be sure to surround yourself with reality checks
to counterbalance the stubbornness that can come with inspiration.

MARKET OPPORTUNITY – Of all the reasons to start a business, I be-
lieve most strongly in this one as a predictor of ultimate success.
When founders are driven to address a known gap in the marketplace,
their energy is directed precisely where it should be—on solving an
emerging or existing customer need. They are much more likely to
build their new business on a foundation of solid market demand. J.C.
Faulkner has always been an entrepreneur in waiting—it’s stamped
in his DNA—and so it was only a matter of time before he made his
startup leap. But his specific idea for D1 sprang from his timely
recognition of an emerging gap in the marketplace. He was passionate
about catching the coming wave of home finance activity and de-
signed his venture to do so.

American Management Association • www.amanet.org