Before I jump off to Hastings Aquatic Centre (pictured) I had to say something about
Cameron Reilly's on the money post (whose permalinks arent working - scroll down to "
Running from Opportunity Post"), which I read just before last nights Imac 20" DVD Entertainment :
Be Cool, which is a fun film (i even like the annoying vince caughn schtick -
Raji:
Stop hatin', start participatin'. Come on, twinkle twinkle, baby, twinkle twinkle. Wanna take a shot at me kid? Do it.) if you want to learn about the music industry and how to run a record label and break new talent.
Cam, who when I started blogging (was and still is) One of the
4 Original Aussie Bloggers with a sizeable global audience (his c
orporate monolith chomsky conspiracy theory asides :) nails a few thing about the corporate condition : This is esp true as we enter a period downunder when anything to do with a
startup / google / web 2.0 looks very attractive from the outside. Im sure my next taxi ride will be talking about Ajax and Open API's.
Now I'm a big believer in the
grass is always greener when it comes to human behaviour. (i know the grass is green'
n'all, but over summer down here - it's brown
: "the grass is always browner" doesnt have the same ring does it ?)
Meaning if u r corporate u want to do startup and if u r startup after the initial honeymoon, u just want some security and lifestyle again. Let me tell u, it soon gets boring not being able to order anything off the menu, or the cheapest thing there; It feels like u r back at uni, where I also spent alot of time !
Key: Sometimes I feel like...like I talked such a good game when we was young, man. About my own studio and my own label, that...shit, DJay, now I'm just payin' rent, man. This shit right here gotta work. It gotta work, man, 'cause it ain't over for me.
Going from a sports car to catching the train for hours a day. It's a different life. But
your labour like the stock market is a collection of assets, the return of which are related to how they are employed and at what time.
Timing is absolutely essential - We did a 2WEB podcast where Duncan Riley said 6 months didnt matter. It absolutely does. (as duncan implictly believes based on when he started blogging and b5media !)
Shelby: If you had to say something different other than "beat that bitch," what would it be?
DJay: I don't know. Shit. Stuff like, um... stomp that ho?
As a potential
"primary investor" to use the line from Hustle and Flow (best film ive seen this year after Crash) you need to know if your skills can be used in a new business opportunity to make more money (for you) than you are in your current low risk/low return job - which has a fixed measure income return. You also need to know your skills will create real economic value for the business you are entering, or you will have no/low value, that will become quickly known, and bang - you gave up the company car, petrol card, mobile phone, phone account, insurance, health, interstate and overseas trips, team building events and $4K-$8K per month after tax... and u r now unemployed. Time to go to CES or whatever its now called.
Even if the business is hot for a moment,
98% of them will fail, or just barely break-even. How many people setup web businesses to do with photos' to have had only a handful bought for example ? If your focus is solely making money economic history and research from Hamel eg Built to Last, will tell you, that you will not make the money you want and you will fail. History is there for a reason; To Warn Us. To Warn You. But maybe like people say of Jason Calacanis, this is reverse pyschology. Unlikely. That is you being dilusionally optimistic about the chance that you can quit your job and be your own women. Man. Whatever. Do you have what it takes ? For the haul. In Australia the businesses setup in 1997 ala carsales, seek, are only now getting close to completion of their 'initial' goals. Startups are like wineries, and growing the grapes, making the wine, and selling it, takes on average 7-8 years, irrespective of industry.
While we are equating human archetypes with asset classes and investing styles : You have to know whether you are an interest earning deposit (the safest return that wont lose your savings, which could be substantial ie Your Job - just go speak to your boss and say u want to do something new ok);
Maybe you are a Hedge Fund (you change industries and deploy different skills at different times to make money) or maybe you are a VC/Entrepreneur type (I just want to solve big problems, make early stage bets, and get in early/get out quick, before someone else takes this localised RSS, Blogging, Searching, Video Sharing, Wireless opportunity etc)
Key:
There are two types of people: those that talk the talk and those that walk the walk. People who walk the walk sometimes talk the talk but most times they don't talk at all, 'cause they walkin'. Now, people who talk the talk, when it comes time for them to walk the walk, you know what they do? They talk people like me into walkin' for them.
Cameron's post contained a few essential truths which Ill paste into my browser so I can get going ! Cam says "I couldn't jump from the safety of a job to the safety of something else." That line is eerily true for me, when I read it. For others it may be the worst advice ever.
There is no safe middle ground, unless You become a contractor/employee of a startup, in which there is a combination of guaranteed cash for a set period/deliverables. Or you pitch parties a unique structure which isnt done enough (eg establish a NewCo which a combination of parties provide resources to incl capital and you become CEO)
This type of role (The former Employeed One) is what I did in a large startup 1999-2001 in Australia, where we raised $50M+ and did $35m revenue in first year : I was 3rd or so employee which The Boss paid salaries with from his Platinum Amex Card pre Series A $12m VC round (which was followed by bigger Series B + C Rounds) He offered me high salary and enough equity in a VP type early employee role. What I didnt know was business could of shut over night. Although he was cashed up, so that meant there was some "ethical" protection.
So Letc cut to The Stock Optioned worker (which ironically i wrote my Masters Thesis on in late 90's) because Im going to be late for Footy. You look to pay your bills through salary and then create an asset base from a "Triggering Event" - which may as well be called a "Buggering Event" based on many people's perception of dot.boom outcomes the first time around.
Getting technical talent already in Web 2.0 in Australia is challenging because so many programmers and smart geeks werent burnt that they will instead take a contract with a large telco or bank.
As an entrepreneur that been done by the "
Buggering Event" before, this Web 2.0 Time around, the key is not to screw
your early stage contributors by
- Not providing enough shares- Doing so at a low to zero value- Having quick/fare vesting and basically enacting a policy which ensures if success happens, it is shared.
Constant communication, deadlines and being transparent is key. Also note there are a whole range of tax implications on stock and options for owning 0.1-20% of a company ! Which is just another way to be screwed : So always remember capital gains tax and how they work with stock options ! So communication is key, as is delivering two way on promises.
I
LOL'd if I can use a MySpace-ism when Cameron used corporate bulletpoints to repeat to his audience, what he had been told - the same of which I've heard, observed many times. (and had enough fights with exGF's to know to keep away from career advice i dont do it anymore)
Let me say though, every person is different and most shouldnt found a startup. It is
living hell, so romantic idealism will not help you when you file for bankruptcy, sack staff or cant pay wages or tax.
For early stage employees, coming in at the right time can work well for both parties : The business gets access to advanced, experienced experts at a price they couldnt afford (where they would be getting someone with only 2-4 years experience from a cash only consideration). The business can potentially benefit (it hopes) from having someone with 10-12 years - with best of breed in what they do. Sometimes though experience doesnt count - When you want the fearlessness of the young (my web designer is 22) who can also back it up with delivery.
From the below list which is spot on (
dont mess with Denise), Ive also compared to alot of successful employees and entrepreneurs in startup ventures, and many of them have marriages, kids and mortgages to manage. So not everyone stays in their corporate jobs. Some do make the leap; Some are successful, some go back to corporate farly quick but at least they know.
Devil is always in the detail, and those who have savings or can negotiate good seed funding deals can sometimes get a start.
Cam's List :- my wife is about to have another baby and the timing just isn't right- I have a mortgage, I can't afford to jump just yet- I don't know what I want to do, I'll just leave it another six months- there's this other job that I'm going to take and do that while I figure out what I really want to do with my lifeOK Im off to Hastings, already.....
Update : Hastings lost by 3 points due to bad kicking in last :(
DJay: See...man ain't like a dog.
And when I say "man," I'm talking about man as in mankind, not man as in men.
Because men, well, we a lot like a dog. You know, we like to piss on things. Sniff a bitch when we can. Even get a little pink hard-on the way they do. We
territorial as shit, you know, we gonna protect our own. But man, he know about death. Got him a sense of history.
Got religion. See...a dog, man, a dog don't know shit about no birthdays or Christmas or Easter bunny, none of that shit. And one day God gonna come calling, so you know, they going through life carefree. But people like you and me, man, we always guessing. Wondering,
"What if?" You know what I mean? So when you say to me, "
Hey, I don't think we should be doing this," I gotta say, baby, I
don't think we should be doing this neither, but we ain't gonna get no move on in this world, lying around in the sun,
licking our ass all day. I mean, we man. I mean, you a woman and all, but we man. So with this said, you tell me
what it is you wanna do with your life.
