Advice from a successful entrepreneur
Steven Chang was a student in my entrepreneurship class. He started a successful company and returned to Carnegie Mellon to thank me for the training. I asked him to give advice to my students. Following was what he said:
“Not long ago I was like you, Computer Science students who wanted to start a company. I enrolled in Professor Vu ’s class and followed the instructions to analyze the market, identify opportunities, came up with idea for a product and talked to potential customers to justify the idea. I am sure you are doing the same thing like that in this class. I know some may not like it because you think you have a good idea. Do not make that mistake. I had the same feeling several year ago that my idea was good. But when I talked to customers, I found that they did not like my idea, so I had to change to another idea. After several ideas, a lot of talks to customers, and many failures, I came up with a better idea to use “eyes tracking” algorithm in virtual reality (VR) devices where users can use their eyes to control the VR devices. This idea was accepted by several video game companies so with approval from Professor Vu, I started my company with three students in the class.”
“Running a startup is not the same as working for an established company because work never stops. You are constantly changing and adjusting to balance the work to meet the market demand. Most of us work 14 to 16 hours a day, there is no weekend or holiday. Many entrepreneurs do not know how difficult it is until they experience the “up and down” of the startup’s world. One day it is good, the next day things go bad. One day we think we could be the next “Apple” then the next day we feel we could bankrupt. I do not realize how hard all of us are working because I spend all my time working or thinking about our startup. As entrepreneurs, you enter an entirely different way of life with so many unexpected events that you never think it could happen.”
“You are entirely consumed by your startup, you work day and night, and keep doing it until you exhausted and sleep on your desk. The minute you wake up, you continue to work nonstop. The startup is “extreme work, ” but your passion drives you to create, to build, to develop something that you believe in. My girlfriend left me as I could not spend time with her. One of my co-founders left after six months because he could not handle the stress, and I had to hire three more programmers. My money ran out, I had to borrow from friends and family. There is a limit to how much you can take and you will get to the point when you cannot work anymore. There was a time I were so desperate and thought to delete every code, destroy everything that I did so I can become a “normal people.” However, my passion for creating the product keep the startup going.”
“Throughout all my time doing startup, I never even think about getting rich but only creating something exciting, a “piece of art” that people will admire. All of my co-founders also have the same motivation. We never talk about making money as we are entirely consumed by our drive to achieve the goal: “Making the best VR product.” We all passionate about working on something that is challenging and creative, something we believe could change the world. Of course, we are optimistic, but we believe in our goal. The fact is most people will NOT survive the “up and down” in the world of a startup. Many would abandon their dream. It is better that way because startup is NOT for everybody, NOT for someone who has a weak heart, NOT for someone who is afraid of failure, and NOT for someone who thinks startup is easy and fun. The best way to describe startup is like how to survive in a desert without water. You have to learn quickly how to find water else you will die.”
“In startup business, all estimates are wrong. It always takes longer than you expect. If you think you can do it in five months, it will take ten months. If you promise customers that you can finish the product in one year, it will take you three times more. Everything from building the product to take it to the market always takes much longer than you think, so be careful and not making a promise that you cannot keep. As technical people, we believe if we work hard, things will happen, but in reality, there are many issues that we do not expect. For example, people get sick or decide to leave the company could be a disaster. The startup is a small group, five to ten people, and two or three are leaving, that 20% or 30% or more of the workforce. You do not have enough money to hire more people so you must be careful about spending. There is a wrong notion that if you start a company, people will invest in and you will have money. That is completely WRONG. No one would give you money until you have something to prove to them that you are making money. Without a product and customers, do NOT expect to get funding from investors.”
“Investors are business people, and often greedy. They only invest in something that they think will get them many times in return. You cannot depend on them to fund and support you. If you are not smart enough, as soon as your company is profitable, they will take control of your company and eliminate you. That is the fact of startup that few people would tell you. Look at what happened to Steve Jobs when he got fired from Apple. We were lucky because we worked with several video game companies and when they saw our product, they invested in our company as partners. It was a mutual benefit for both, we have the technology that can support them, and we need them to integrate our product into their business, so I did not have to do marketing or sales. There is a positive side to having partnership with established company because they know the market, the customers, the users and what is hot and what is not.”
“To be a successful entrepreneur, you must have a vision of what the product is, but before that, you must have strong technical skills to know how to develop the product. Today you are competing with people all over the world, without a very broad technical skills to create great product, you will not succeed. My advice is if you want to start a company, you must begin with a deep technical skills. Everybody can dream but to make your dream become a reality requires skills and the determination to make it happens. One you decide what to do, you must implement it as quickly as possible else others may do the same before you. When starting a company, you must totally commit to it to pursue your dream. You should not give up, even when facing many obstacles. You must dedicate everything to your goals, sometimes at the cost to your relationships with friends because you must work tirelessly, at least sixteen-hour a day and seven-days a week until you achieve your goals What I have learned from CMU gave me the technical foundation to build a great product but what I have learned in this class is priceless. My advice: Follow the instruction and dream big, you will do well.”
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
