Kevin Vogelsang

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I documented my rationale more closely in another series of essays (“Kevin, Why entrepreneurship for you?”), but at any rate, in the summer of 2008, I eventually made the decision that I wanted to start my own company, so I started trying to figure out what that meant and how to do it.  Here’s how I got my initial understanding of the the startup world and starting a business in general:

• I did a bunch of internet searches.  This was completely unhelpful for reasons I talked about yesterday: “The difficulty of Knowledge Acquisition on the Web“
• I went to the MIT e-Club (entrepreneur’s club) a few times.  This turned out to not be too helpful for me because I never got the chance to talk to the right people that were there.  Additionally, I was so new to the concept I didn’t even know what exactly to ask.
• I took several MBA courses at Sloan.  These were very practical courses and all were very helpful.  These included:
  • Technology Sales and Sales Management with Howard Anderson and Ken Morse (awesome class)
  • Early Stage Capital with Shari Loessberg (awesome)
  • Business Law with John Akula (awesome, everyone should take a law course like this)
  • New Enterprises with Noubar Afeyan, (a business planning course, but a good primer with good stories from Noubar)
    • From this class, I learned that getting as many stories as possible was very elucidating.
• At some point during the semester, someone pointed me to Paul Graham’s essays.  These are very helpful.  I read them all and learned quite a bit.  I suggest everyone do the same.
• I enrolled in the MIT Venture Mentoring Service.  I went in and pitched a number of ideas.  Good ol’ Lou Goldish would tell me I was never going to be able to do any of this, and this was a good thing.  My creativity had my head up in the stars.  And this was an absolute gift; my creativity lead me to the startup world where people pursue ideas. But, I needed to temper this creativity and figure out how to better harness it (in business and in all aspects of my life frankly).  Thankfully, Lou helped me with that.  He helped me get focused on the next few inches in front of my face and better understand the level of focus necessary for a startup company (and every endeavor) and what can be accomplished with very little resources.  Now, I largely did figure this stuff out for myself, but having someone basically tell me my ideas were stupid helped me with this.  (Oh, and I never interpreted my ideas as actually being stupid, more on this sort of thing later….)
• I used the MIT alumni directory and about any other means I could find to get in touch with investors and entrepreneurs that were connected to MIT and the entrepreneurial community.  I talked to as many people as possible about their experience.  This was extremely valuable.  I was able to gain a lot of experience vicariously through others. I also realized that everyone has a different opinion on pretty much anything related to startups, a good lesson.

This was how I got my bearings and got started.  It was a very difficult process finding my way around, even at MIT where I’m told the resources and entrepreneurial culture are much stronger than anywhere else in Boston.  I can only imagine how much more difficult this process would be elsewhere.

This is how I did it.  And while you may not be able to use all these resources, I think you can find ways to make use a lot of these methods.  Understanding startups is like learning about a new country, to learn you have to fully immerse yourself in the culture.

But if I were to do it again, I would first read Paul Graham’s Essays (you’ll find more of his essays here). to give yourself a primer on the language.  I would then find someone that seems to know something about startup companies.  Then get them to introduce you to other people involved in the community.  Also have them tell you what blogs they read on the topic.  Through blogs (we’ll count Twitter in this as well) and talking to people you know, you’ll eventually find your way into the community.  And knowledge is held within communities. You need to find the community.

(This is the advice on a more conceptual level.  I’ll provide more specific advice later.)

I eventually found a team and raised seed money from Shotput Ventures, but that’s another part of the story…..

-Kevin
5.5.2010

I probably still count as a new entrepreneur.  But, I’ve been around startups for several years and  founded one.  That’s a significant difference from someone who’s just setting out on pursuing an opportunity, so humor me.

The Big Question that everyone seems to miss is the most obvious.  Amidst all the excitement, new entrepreneurs forget to ask: “Why do I want to do this?”

The two most common answers:

1. “For Profit”.  Well, I hope you’re in it for profit, and I hope it’s a big opportunity.  But there’s also a big chance that it will fail and that it isn’t actually a big opportunity.  If you’re a more experienced entrepreneur that has built a business before, and is sitting on some money and some success, this is a perfectly fine answer.  But, if you aren’t, you better be sure to assess the brutal facts before you dive in.  Luckily, people will make fun of your idea and tell you it won’t work enough that you’ll probably just give up.

2. “A lot of people have this problem.”  This is a better answer for a new entrepreneur.  But, my first question in return is, do they?  And how do you know? And does it matter to you enough to be poor/frustrated/stressed/have a 3rd mortgage?

The best answer by far for a new entrepreneur is “I have this problem.  I want this company to exist.” Personal need is powerful.  First of all, you are your customer.  You understand what you need to make.  Second,  if the problem is one that you really want to solve,  it’ll keep you up at night.  You won’t be able to stop thinking about it.  And this is the perfect state to be in, because when you’ve started your company, it’s going to be in the back of your mind all the time then too, so you might as well start getting used to it.

I have to wake up in 4.5 hours.  But, I figured I’d write this post.  I can’t sleep because I have a company on my mind and visions of dreams come true dancing through my head.

-Kevin
2.19.2010