Working in Entrepreneur Time – like working in The Matrix without the cool coats
What? You're saying it couldn't happen?
Lately I’ve been taking a bit of a breather from consulting for entrepreneurs. It’s been nice. Very little stress. Dreams filled with rainbows and puppy dogs. Each morning birds chirped as they helped me dress.
Okay, maybe it wasn’t that Disney. But it was nice.
Until last week.
Last week I helped an entrepreneur who is launching a new product. His product is already in the market, but not much of the foundational, strategic marketing work has been done. They didn’t yet have a clear understanding of the product category or consumer.
This is not the surprising part. Right or wrong, startups frequently launch the product first, then back their way into the product strategy.
(That thud you just heard was every corporate marketing person reading this falling off their chair.)
What was surprising was how quickly I’d forgotten about the entrepreneur time vortex.
It’s a real thing, I swear. Entrepreneurs all know it. Anyone who’s worked in a startup understands it. And if you’re thinking about working for an entrepreneur you’re going to have to learn about it.
Startups run on Standard Entrepreneur Time. Read more »
Do You Know Your Boss? A Day in the Life of an Entrepreneur
Would you recognize an entrepreneur boss? (Tip: it would be easier without the blindfolds.)
Inc. Magazine’s list of the 500 Fastest Growing Companies came out recently and luckily for us, this year they also shared tasty tidbits about entrepreneur bosses. Find out how your boss really spends his days. More importantly, find out what it means for you. (It is all about you, right?) Read more »
Characteristics of an Entrepreneur Boss – Recognize Your Boss? (Friday Fun)
Know 'em when you see 'em. Then run for cover. (Invasion of the Body Snatchers 1978)
Corporate America is filled with good bosses and bad bosses. Entrepreneurial startups are filled with quirky bosses. For a little Friday brain break, I give you this list of entrepreneur characteristics to watch out for.
If your boss fits any of the profiles, never fear. I know a place offering two for one straitjackets; one for your entrepreneur boss, and one for you. Read more »
Are You Happy at Work? Your Entrepreneur Boss Is.
According to a new study, 35 percent of small business owners are “extremely happy” that they work for themselves. Another 42 percent are “very happy.”
That means that almost 80 percent of the entrepreneurs surveyed are walking around with smiles on their faces. If not actual, physical smiles, then mental smiles.
Statistically, this is relevant. Eighty percent? That’s a lot a percent!
To give some perspective, in a World Values Study only 59 percent of the population of Brazil claimed to be happy. Fifty nine percent! And they have sandy white beaches and Carnival. Read more »
Enough About Me – Interviewing for a Job With an Entrepreneur
My guest post on Careerealism, “Turning the Tables: How to Interview a Potential Employer,” requires further explanation if the job you are seeking is with an entrepreneur.
On Careerealism I talk about the importance of learning everything you can about the company you’re interviewing with, and I offer suggestions for how to get more information from your interviewer.
This is not going to be a problem if you’re interviewing with an entrepreneur.
On the contrary, unlike most job interviews where you’re sweating in the hot seat, in an interview with an entrepreneur, you may not get to talk at all.
Mums the Word
Though the entrepreneur may start by asking a question (maybe even two if the interviewee came from a competitor), the interview will quickly turn to the topic of the company.
The entrepreneur will talk about the early days of the business. He’ll talk about the enormous hurdles they faced. He’ll talk about the even bigger successes. Fish stories will be told. There will be no reeling the topic back to you.
Don’t take it personally. There’s a reason for this, and it has nothing to do with your qualifications. Read more »
Entrepreneurs Think Your Degree is Stupid
In the past I’ve mentioned entrepreneurs’ distaste for corporate America in posts like Corporate Hatred for Richard Branson, and Entrepreneurs Are Like Porn.
I’ve even suggested that if you work for, or are interviewing for a job with an entrepreneur, that you play down any association you have had with big business. Much as an FBI recruit might want to hide a last name of Gotti or Gambino.
But today’s column in Canada’s The Globe & Mail takes my point to a whole new level.
Today, successful entrepreneur and author John Warrillow wrote that entrepreneurs should weed out any job applicants who “wasted their time” getting an MBA. He says that a resume with the letters MBA on it, should simply be tossed. Read more »
Your Baby is Ugly (and other things not to tell your entrepreneur boss)
In Fortune magazine’s new series “You Can’t Fire Everyone” Hank Gilman gives some great advice on What to Do When Star Employees Quit. He makes suggestions like making a counter offer, not bad-mouthing the new job, and understanding that sometimes employees have to change jobs to grow in their career.
All good tips for bosses.
But if you are planning on quitting a start-up, don’t expect your entrepreneur boss to behave so rationally. In fact, if you’re planning on quitting a start-up, strap on your crash helmet; there will be fall out.
Even the Mighty Fear Public Speaking – Find Out Why
Mark Suster wrote on FastCompany about entrepreneurs he calls “conference ho’s.” (Yes, he means whores.) These junket-junkies spend too much time jet setting here and there to see and be seen; or more specifically, to speak and be spoken to from behind a podium. Suster questions whether all this public exposure is of value to the entrepreneur’s company, or just to their ego. A good question.
A better question might be where Suster found these verbose, spotlight-seeking entrepreneur CEOs.
I have worked for not one, not two, not three (see where I’m going?) but four accomplished, successful, not to mention normally arrogant, self-aggrandizing, over-confident entrepreneurs who couldn’t string a sentence together when in front of a microphone. Read more »
5 Benefits to a Boss with no Experience
Miuccia Prada studied to be a mime for 5 years before taking the helm of her father’s fashion business. That’s the kind of past business experience you’d look for in a boss, right? A boss who knows how to appear stuck in an invisible box. Not exactly.
Jump Right In – No Experience Required
The entrepreneurial path to CEO/founder is not always a conventional one. I once worked for a start-up publishing company, started up by a professional skydiver. (Insert sky diving joke here, please.) Sure, people can successfully change industries, but you have to wonder what kind of business prowess leaping from planes gives you.
I got the answer the day the company’s office furniture was repossessed. Read more »
Corporate Hatred for Richard Branson
“I’m not Mr. Lebowski. You’re Mr. Lebowski. I’m the Dude. So that’s what you call me. You know, uh, that or His Dudeness or Duder, or El Duderino.” – The Big Lebowski
Jeff Bridges as the very uncorporate Big Lebowski
While being interviewed about his multi-billion dollar Virgin empire, entrepreneur Richard Branson was quick to point out that his business is nothing like a “big, giant corporation.”
Really dude? One of your divisions is building a rocket to take customers on intergalactic road trips. Lot’s of mom and pop businesses doing that these days?
But Branson’s sentiment is not unusual for entrepreneurs; like the Big Lebowski, entrepreneurs have a universal hatred for formality. Read more »
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