Page 88 - 6 Secrets to Startup Success

Founder Readiness 67

LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE – A wide range of prior leadership roles can
provide experience and learning that translate well to the needs of a
new venture. Whether in a business setting or not, any role in which
you have to get things done through others will test and refine your
leadership skills.

At the same time, leadership roles in large businesses usually bring
valuable learning experiences for future entrepreneurs. Every big
company contains a wide spectrum of leaders and styles, some better
suited than others for the startup world, but the skills required to uti-
lize the talent and time of others in achieving higher level goals will
serve a new entrepreneur well in almost any new venture setting.

As with other aspects of experience, only you can fully assess how
well your prior leadership roles match up with your new venture chal-
lenge, guided by the questions: Where have you led? What have you learned
about how to lead? How well do these experiences transfer to your startup role,
and in what ways can you best leverage your leadership strengths?

GENERAL BUSINESS SEASONING AND EXPOSURE – Taking on a range of
jobs early in a career almost always adds valuable business skills and
perspective. “I was an English major in college,” says Mark Kahn. “I
spent a lot of time in different jobs at News Corp. and got to touch
many sides of the business. I think I got a better kind of education
than one might get at a business school. It was a very good place to
get to learn something that I just wasn’t really familiar with, to be
honest with you. My father was a physician; my mother didn’t work.
It wasn’t as though I was surrounded by business growing up, so it
was my learning ground—and somebody paid me to do it, so that
was a double bonus.”

What skills have you learned through your work experience that will serve
you well in your founding role? Valuable examples include:

9 Negotiation (contracts, deals, etc.)

9 Organization, planning, and project management

9 Problem solving and decision making (critical thinking skills)

9 Financial acumen (financial reporting, accounting, etc.)

American Management Association • www.amanet.org