We spend a lot of time on B2B News Network profiling companies, whether it’s large enterprises serving other corporations or startups that offer new and innovative ways to bring value to the table. Read enough of these stories and it’s almost impossible not to consider setting off on an entrepreneurial venture of your own.
Our founder, Jennifer Evans, knows about this dream first-hand, in a career that has seen her not only launch this site but SqueezeCMM, which was recently featured in the Top 50 Marketing Analytics Tools by customer experience management platform NGDATA.
Evans recently gave back to the community by reflecting on what she’s learned and offering it up in bite-sized nuggets on Twitter. ICYMI, here’s the stream of posts in its entirety.
Good afternoon everyone! It's a snowy April 15 in Toronto and we're excited to get underway with @nejsnave's reflections on 15 years of entrepreneurship. #startup pic.twitter.com/ZQBoPkp4jd
— B2B News Network (@B2BNewsNetwork) April 15, 2018
First thing I have learned about entrepreneurship: 1. ANYONE CAN DO IT: You don't have to be a genius to start a great company, in fact genius can often be a disadvantage! In B2B especially, you just have to be useful; product or service. Utility is everything. #b2bnnchat
— jennifer evans 🇵🇸 (@nejsnave) April 15, 2018
1. (Cont'd) There's a reason some of the best companies come out of automating something repetitive and spreadsheet based. #b2bnnchat #startups #b2b
— jennifer evans 🇵🇸 (@nejsnave) April 15, 2018
If you have appetite for it, and the stars are aligned, shoot for the moon, but have plans B C and D at the ready. Timing cannot be underestimated. Stay educated in shifts in your market: Keep your eyes open opportunistically all the time. Read. Talk to customers constantly …
— jennifer evans 🇵🇸 (@nejsnave) April 15, 2018
Assume 30% of things will go badly. Be prepared for the fact that even kind well-meaning people can be greedy and difficult out of fear + greed and be able rationalize it. Try to not take anything personally. Not everyone will treat you well. It's usually not personal. #b2bnnchat
— jennifer evans 🇵🇸 (@nejsnave) April 15, 2018
3. KNOW YOURSELF: Why are you here? In early days at my agency Sequentia, we used to have rules for working with a client: it had to be either fun, or make us famous or fabulously wealthy. Later on we added fit: did they share values. These are things you can preserve …
— jennifer evans 🇵🇸 (@nejsnave) April 15, 2018
Adjust. Too early can be more fatal for innovators than too late but if you are too early, a core group of customers can keep you going until the market shifts. #b2bnnchat
— jennifer evans 🇵🇸 (@nejsnave) April 15, 2018
4. LEADERSHIP IS NOT THROWING PEOPLE IN THE DEEP END. Your job as an entrepreneur is to create new leaders. But Never hire someone in a startup to do something critical at a level of expected performance and responsibility they have not done before; it's not fair. #b2bnnchat
— jennifer evans 🇵🇸 (@nejsnave) April 15, 2018
5. SELLING: Sales will always, always be harder than you think it is. If you're targeting enterprises, buyer motivation is avoiding looking underprepared, offbrand, or foolish … for startups it's not missing out. Watch the CEO sell-deliver trap in the early days. #b2bnnchat
— jennifer evans 🇵🇸 (@nejsnave) April 15, 2018
6. MONEY: it's all about the money/money is never the issue and doesn't matter. The reality is somewhere in the middle. Major business decisions are actually rarely about money; they are often about fear. Fear is usually the killer. Seek out fearless, positive, kind …
— jennifer evans 🇵🇸 (@nejsnave) April 15, 2018
7. Go in with open optimistic eyes. This is going to be a hard thing. Forget fairness or you will get trapped there. Things will be unfair. Everything is unfair. Things will get difficult. When things are at their worst they will get worse. Keep going, call in your war cabinet…
— jennifer evans 🇵🇸 (@nejsnave) April 15, 2018
(Well my numbering is all over the place but I think we are at) 8: RISK: Understand your risk tolerance. If you are going to be in business this is the most critical thing to know about yourself and your partners and is often hard to pinpoint. #b2bnnchat #startups
— jennifer evans 🇵🇸 (@nejsnave) April 15, 2018
