Everything You Should Know About Startup: 121 Foundational Concepts for Every Entrepreneur
By Joe Procopio
()
About this ebook
I'm going to answer all of the stupid (and not so stupid) questions about startup so that you don't have to ask them. Everything You Should Know About Startup is a no-BS guide aimed at both new and existing entrepreneurs.
What kind of business should I start?
Everything You Should Know About Startup walks you through product, service, retail, digital, and all the various types of companies you can build.
What roles do I need to fill?
Everything You Should Know About Startup goes beyond boss and employee. You'll need leaders, makers, salespeople, and folks that handle operations and growth. We'll talk about which roles you should fill and how to find the ones you can't fill.
What should my timeline look like?
Everything You Should Know About Startup covers the basic five stages of startup, from the very beginning through growth and to the end. You'll learn what each stage looks like and how to navigate it.
How do I get funded?
Everything You Should Know About Startup talks about funding in simple terms. We'll cover customer-first funding, bootstrapping, Friends and Family, and angel and venture capital investing.
How Do I Stay Motivated?
Everything You Should Know About Startup opens with a high-level explanation of why people become entrepreneurs, the valid and not-so-valid reasons, as well as how to stay plugged in for the long haul.
Everything You Should Know About Startup isn't for get-rich-quick schemers or dorm-room dreamers. It's for anyone who wants more independence in their life and realizes that taking control of their career is the first step.
Joe Procopio is a multi-exit, multi-failure entrepreneur who has been through 11 startups and has been a key player in the rise of the Raleigh/Durham startup ecosystem over the last 20 years. Most recently, he built and sold a startup (ExitEvent) while building and selling another startup (Automated Insights). He's just like you, probably a little louder. You can find out more about his experience, his motivation, and his vibe at joeprocopio.com
Joe Procopio
Joe Procopio is a serial entrepreneur, investor, mentor, and writer. Everything you need to know about him can be found at http://joeprocopio.com or by following him at @jproco.
Related to Everything You Should Know About Startup
Related ebooks
How To Be A Business Failure! Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Work Your Assets Off: Stop Working So Hard in Business and Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow to Think Like an Entrepreneur Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Be a Startup Superstar: Ignite Your Career Working at a Tech Startup Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSo You Want to Start a Business: The 7 Step Guide to Create, Start & Grow Your Own Business Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Startup Funding Formula: How to Raise Money for Your Business from Bootstrapping to IPO: Startup, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStart-up to Scale-up: What funders expect at each stage Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHarvest Your Equity: Avoid Tax Traps and Bring Home the Most Money from Employee Stock Options and RSUs Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSmall Business Ceo: Strategies to Navigate the Four Stages of Growth from Start-Up to Success Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Solopreneur's Money Manifesto: How to Master Your Finances and Create the Life You Want Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYour Next Big Thing: Creating Successful Business Ideas from Scratch (Entrepreneurship, Building a Small Business, Startups) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings35 Silent Business Killers: How to Stop Them Before They Kill Your Business Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSmall By Design: The Entrepreneur’s Guide For Growing Big While Staying Small Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNo Vision All Drive: What I Learned from My First Company Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsput SHIT in its place Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSmartups: Lessons from Rob Ryan's Entrepreneur America Boot Camp for Start-Ups Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The FD Advantage (What your FD should be Doing) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBuilding Success: Winning the Inner Game in Construction Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnticipate Failure: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Navigating Uncertainty, Avoiding Disaster, and Building a Successful Business Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTo the TOP: Smart Free Marketing for Entrepreneurs and Start-Ups Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTurn Your Startup Into Money Making Robot Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOff-Ramps and On-Ramps Revisited Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Entrepreneur's Book Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Savvy Entrepreneur's Business Handbook: A Strategic Guide to Fundraising, Networking, Market Fit and More Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe White Shirt: Find Your Peaceful & Life-giving Career at Any Stage of Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBreaking Out and Making Big: A No-Nonsense Book on New Age Start-Ups and Entrepreneurship Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsYour Mark on the World, Stories of Service That Show Us How to Give More with a Purpose without Giving up What's Most Important Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Small Business & Entrepreneurs For You
The Ultimate Side Hustle Book: 450 Moneymaking Ideas for the Gig Economy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Robert's Rules of Order: The Original Manual for Assembly Rules, Business Etiquette, and Conduct Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Capital Gaines: Smart Things I Learned Doing Stupid Stuff Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Side Hustle: How to Turn Your Spare Time into $1000 a Month or More Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Overcoming Impossible: Learn to Lead, Build a Team, and Catapult Your Business to Success Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Company Rules: Or Everything I Know About Business I Learned from the CIA Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Small Business For Dummies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Starting a Business All-In-One For Dummies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Real Artists Don't Starve: Timeless Strategies for Thriving in the New Creative Age Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dream Big: Know What You Want, Why You Want It, and What You’re Going to Do About It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Everything Nonprofit Toolkit: The all-in-one resource for establishing a nonprofit that will grow, thrive, and succeed Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of Timothy Ferriss' book: The 4-Hour Workweek: More time, more money, more life: Summary Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The LLC and Corporation Start-Up Guide: Your Complete Guide to Launching the Right Business Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nine-Figure Mindset: How to Go from Zero to Over $100 Million in Net Worth Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Creative, Inc.: The Ultimate Guide to Running a Successful Freelance Business Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/548 Days to the Work and Life You Love: Find It—or Create It Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Start Your Own Business Bible: 501 New Ventures You Can Launch Today Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wealthology: The Science of Smashing Money Blocks Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Millionaire Fastlane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a Lifetime Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Feck Perfuction: Dangerous Ideas on the Business of Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Open & Operate a Financially Successful Notary Business Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Grow Your Small Business: A 6-Step Plan to Help Your Business Take Off Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Reviews for Everything You Should Know About Startup
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Everything You Should Know About Startup - Joe Procopio
Five Reasons Why You Should Be an Entrepreneur
Independence
Do What You Love, Do What You Want, Be Your Own Boss, Unlimited Possibilities, Fulfillment
I'm going to level with you right out of the gate. No matter what your reasons are for getting into startup, I can assure you that those reasons are valid.
There's no judgment here, there's no list of right and wrong reasons for becoming an entrepreneur, despite what you will hear from people, including me, about phony entrepreneurism (known as wantrepreneurism), greed, or even whether or not your idea is particularly good. Let the haters hate.
I will tell you this though: The primary reason you SHOULD be getting into startup is Independence.
Independence
Independence is the driving factor for why I'm an entrepreneur, nothing else. For me, the monetary rewards would likely be better elsewhere, I'm not necessarily a person who has to make this world a better place through my work, and I can thrive in both the entrepreneurial and corporate environments.
No, the reason I'm an entrepreneur is because I treasure my independence. I want to go to work every morning feeling excited about what I'm going to do that day, and I want to come home every night feeling satisfaction in a job well done.
That doesn't happen every day, mind you, but for me, it happens more often being an entrepreneur than not. It may not happen for you. It definitely won't happen every day. But at some point on your startup journey, you'll feel the rush of independence, and you might get addicted to it.
Being an entrepreneur is not a lifestyle choice or a hobby, it's a career. There are just as many responsibilities, headaches, heartaches, and pitfalls as a corporate career. There are, however, a plethora of reasons why everyone should try startup at least once in their life. Here are some of those reasons, and yours might be totally different.
Do What You Love and the money will follow. It's one of the oldest clichés in the book but also one of the most ignored. It gets drilled into our heads pretty early that the pathway to success is hard work, good grades, the right college, a steady job, and then the cycle of sacrifice and promotion until retirement at age 65.
I fall victim to this too. I embarked on that path, and I pretty much derailed when I realized that that wasn't what I wanted out my life. But then it became a moment of truth when I realized that I'd be OK without the trappings that come with that path -- the money, the house, the cars, the sort of respect that comes when people hear you're a VP of Something at Somewhere.
Do What You Love and the money will follow is true. I can state that emphatically. The money will follow -- but understand that how much and when aren't ever guaranteed. If you're planning on buying your first house at 25, joining the local country club at 30, and making your first million at any point on your timeline, be prepared for those expectations to be trashed.
Success, the monetary and respect kind, comes when it comes, not just for entrepreneurs, but for anyone truly chasing what they love. It's why musicians and artists and actors and athletes stay in the game even when they're not at the top level. Are you prepared to spend your career in the minor leagues? You will if you love the game.
Do What You Want is like Do What You Love, but… snottier.
I have a lot of Do What You Want in me. Now, I've got my good points, people say I'm generally a good person, but one of my biggest flaws is I'm not motivated to do the things I'm not motivated to do. My saving grace is an inherited work ethic. Now, on the flip side, I'm pretty amazing at doing things I'm motivated to do. And you probably are too.
Do What You Want is a perfectly legit reason to pursue startup, and it took me a few tries to realize that it's also perfectly OK to follow your passion. There's another cliché you hear all the time, and people talk about wanting to hire people who are passionate about what they do. That's a little true, people want to hire people who are passionate about what they want them to do.
Now, there's a huge difference between Do What You Want and being selfish. Or lazy. But in all cases, much like chasing Do What You Love, you have to be prepared to live with the consequences. Sacrifice is easy. Sacrifice for something you don't believe in is sad and nearly impossible. That's not selfish. That's not lazy. It's just how we're wired.
Look, as long as you look out for other people and compensate for this flaw, you're going to end up on the right side of being a good person. Just don't expect the rewards to come to you if you don't do the things you don't want to do every so often.
Be Your Own Boss is generally the reason most people give for WANTING to start their own company. But I'll warn you, it's usually not the reason people give for why they LOVE RUNNING their own company.
Because being your own boss can suck. A lot.
Much like working from home, it's a concept that sounds great on paper, but in practice it's not what it's cracked up to be. Working from home is not the answer, it's actually much better to work in a really cool office that you like coming to every day.
It's kind of the same with startup and Be Your Own Boss. You want to work for a company you love being a part of, and work for a boss who is really awesome and not a jerk. But it's a lot harder than it sounds to stay really awesome and not be a jerk when you're the boss, especially to yourself.
I'll tell you this too. Being the boss of other people, that's no fun either.
With that out of the way, being your own boss is pretty incredible, once you get the hang of it. If anything, you have to learn to give yourself a break, you have to have a lot of patience, and you have to make sacrifices that all bosses make, even the jerks.
Unlimited Possibilities are the real American Dream. But let's go back for a second to the conventional definition of the American Dream seen in retrospect with 70-or-so years of history since the end of World War II.
Work your butt off for 40 years making a living and staying loyal and then retiring and getting by for the next 25 years and then you're dead.
Dark.
So one of the big draws of startup is that there are no limits almost anywhere. No one from corporate
is going to put a cap on how much money you can make, or how much responsibility and authority you are given, or how high you climb in your field.
That's pretty awesome. But it works both ways.
Remember, with a job, you (almost) always have a paycheck. They can (almost) never pay you less than they promised. There's a (relative) security that you'll have a job now and in the (foreseeable) future. You (probably) won't show up one day and hear that the business won't make it.
My point is that even though there are few guarantees in the corporate world, and there are even fewer in startup. The kicker is that the corporate job is nothing like what it used to be, and the additional risk you take on with startup is, technically, mathematically, less than the possible unlimited reward.
In startup, there are amazing highs and terrible lows. If you can live with the terrible lows, the sky really is the limit.
Fulfillment is one of the softer motivational factors for startup. One of the things people tell me about what changed when they got into startup is that they felt like they realized they had a headache their entire life that they didn't notice and then suddenly once they got into startup it was gone.
One of the big reasons our jobs can suck it because they lack Fulfillment. And a lot of that time, they lack fulfillment because we spend too much time chasing things that are ultimately unfulfilling.
That's on us. Not them.
Money is not fulfilling. What you do with it can be fulfilling, but it's usually hard to connect the work we do to the good that comes out of where that paycheck goes. Titles aren't fulfilling. Titles are bull. Titles are scrip in place of more money. A career isn't fulfilling in and of itself. But what you make of it can be, should be, and would be -- if you had the opportunity to forge it on your terms.
If you can get this in your job, awesome, stay right there.
But ultimately, Fulfillment is what startup is. It's not doing what you love or what you want to do. The best days in startup come from waking up every day and doing what you SHOULD be doing. You'll feel it. And if you don't, it's time to change things up.
Wealth
The Lottery, Your Career, Investment vs. Revenue, Foundation First, Don't Blow It
Let's talk about money. A lot of money. Big money. The root of all evil.
So you want to get into startup for the money. I get it. I'm not going to waste your time debating the merits of capitalism, morality, ethics, or throw a bunch of biblical tales at you. I actually admire your ambition. But there are some things you need to know.
Wealth
Wealth is a legitimate reason for becoming an entrepreneur. As I discussed in the last chapter, startup is full of unlimited possibilities, and in a lot of ways, startup makes it easier to get to where you want to be financially, once you throw out the conventional timetables and status symbols of the traditional American dream.
On the other hand, it's never easy to make money with startup, especially at first. Because unlike the corporate path, your mistakes won't get covered, you can't coast, and there's no large organization to get your back when your own personal results flag or you hit a slump.
And it's expensive to get your business to a