Page 87 - 6 Secrets to Startup Success

66 6 SECRETS TO STARTUP SUCCESS

technical skill set relate to your new business? Starting a business from
scratch brings enough uncertainty and difficulty as it is without the
added complication of learning an entirely new industry or disci-
pline. When it comes to starting a new restaurant, I’ll back the kitchen
manager with ten years at Outback Steakhouse over the career at-
torney who loves to cook.

By the time they launched their first ventures, J.C. Faulkner and
Mark Kahn had been working on the leading edges of their fields long
enough to develop deep expertise and perspective. They understood
their evolving industries, whose opinion to seek, and what questions
to ask. They knew how to spot important trends and filter out irrele-
vant noise. By contrast, despite her twenty years of banking experi-
ence, Lynn Ivey was a rookie in the senior healthcare space. Her
learning curve was a lot steeper than it would have been had she
brought years of prior experience in the industry.

SALES AND MARKETING EXPERIENCE – The essence of business is the
acquisition of customers, clients, and users. A founder who brings
market-facing skills will enjoy a higher probability of success than a
person who lacks these capabilities. Sales skills are best acquired
through experience, ideally in the same industry as your new venture.
But a strong track record of sales success in any industry implies that
the founder brings an understanding of the importance of sales and
all that it requires, as well as sales skills and habits that will transfer
to new markets.

Early in the ascent of Modality, Mark Williams realized that
growing his business would require a fundamental shift in his priorities
and time allocation, away from product development and toward
greater immersion in the market of prospective institutional clients
and business partners. While Mark possessed a natural gift for relating
to clients and partners—he’s often the most intelligent, poised, and
humble person in the room—he was unaccustomed to filtering and
prioritizing sales leads or converting high-potential prospects into
closed deals. He has diligently worked on this skill set as Modality has
grown, but readily admits that an earlier tour of business-to-business
sales and marketing would have benefited him and Modality greatly.

American Management Association • www.amanet.org