Building [Your Name] Inc.
Reputation > Riches
Last night, I was thinking about reputation, visioneering, branding and legacies. For some weird reason, I thought about The Startup of You by Reid Hoffman. I think I took a couple of pages of notes at least. Learnt so much from Reid and I’m pumped about his podcast, Masters of Scale, every week. Yes, “Starting a company is like throwing yourself off the cliff and assembling an airplane on the way down” is what Reid says every time and I actually believe it. This (expletive) is not easy.
Anyway, these are some of my notes from reading. I have the PDF if anyone is interested.
Enjoy and remember to always be in permanent beta.
Most people shouldn’t start companies. The long odds of success, combined with the constant emotional whiplash, makes starting a business the right path for only some people. But all humans are entrepreneurs
Being an entrepreneur simply means having the will to create. By virtue of all human activities, we are all entrepreneurs
Whether you’re a lawyer or doctor or teacher or engineer or even a business owner, today you need to also think of yourself as an entrepreneur at the helm of at least one living, growing startup venture: your career.
With the death of traditional career paths, so goes the kind of traditional professional development previous generations enjoyed. you can no longer count on employer-sponsored training to enhance your communication skills or expand your technical know-how.
It is your job to train and invest in yourself. Companies don’t want to invest in you because you may not stay for long. (I think this is wrong thinking by the way. I will always strive to invest in my employees and make my company one where people will grow, regardless)
With the change of new opportunities as well as challenges, what’s required now is an entrepreneurial mindset The world is changing and the amount of time you spend at any one job is shrinking. This means you need to be adapting all the time. And if you fail to adapt, no one- not your employer, not the government- is going to catch you when you fall
Entrepreneurs deal with these uncertainties, changes, and constraints head on. They take stock of their assets, aspirations, and the market realities to develop a competitive advantage. They craft flexible, iterative plans. They build a network of relationships throughout their industry that outlive their start up. They aggressively seek and create breakout opportunities that involve focused risk, and actively manage that risk. They tap their network for the business intelligence to navigate tough challenges. And they do these things from the moment they hatch that nascent idea to every day after that- even as these companies go from being run out of a garage to occupying floors of office space. To success professionally in today’s world, you need to adopt these same entrepreneurial strategies.
Companies act small to retain an innovative edge no matter how large they grow. Think back to Sam Walton and Wal-Mart. They did this very well sticking to the same formulas and principles they had when they were a 5-person team. You need to forever be a startup.
Article List— What I’m reading:
Prudential to buy Seattle-area insurance tech startup Assurance for $2.35B: “This is how to build a company and get an excellent exit! If you don’t need to raise money, don’t.”
Zimbabwe’s EcoCash woes show dangers of early reliance on mobile money: “Begs the question can we actually go cashless in Africa with all our power problems.”
China e-giant Alibaba searching for African gems: Jackie is more bullish on Africa than some of our own rich men. Investing 1m$ in finding developing “the next decision makers” seems like such a simple idea. If for every country in Africa, the 1%-ers invested this amount to find the next decision makers, we’d probably be better off.”
Investors Research: Basic Understanding Before Fundraising — Angel Investors: “Gets to the basics of this industry. Great for those of my friends who read the newsletter because they support me, but don’t understand anything I’m rambling about relating to VC. I appreciate you guys 😂”
End Legacy College Admissions: “I don’t see a problem with legacy admissions. I guess I should explain? Call me for explanation.”
The Time Netflix Considered Selling Itself to Amazon for Peanuts: “Prime example. Get it? 🙂. Good for Reed for seeing the future and not following Marc Randolph’s advice.”
Life after power – Burkina Faso: Blaise Compaoré, homesick blues: “IDK, looks like he’s having fun.”
Big Saturday Read: The death of Robert Mugabe: “I like this guys writing. Quite descriptive about Robbie’s life.”
Podcast— What I’m listening to
Gangster Capitalism: You ever wondered what happened to bring up the college admissions scandal? Listen to this podcast series.
Book—What I’m reading x2. My book list is nearing 1000 books. Send help 🌚
Made in America (Sam Walton): Went back and looked through my notes after reading this book. Sam was really a different type of guy. Entrepreneurs like him and Elon only come across once in a while, man.