81. No procrastination, in business matters. A startup requires fast action and faster decisions. Larger companies can allow problems to evolve, even mature before someone takes action. Startups cannot. One simple way to determine if you are dealing with a startup mentality: this person will not wait for a return phone call, he will simply keep calling and leaving messages. This may not be an endearing trait, but it is a consistent one.

82. An internal voice that keeps saying, “why not do it this way?” Or some variation of the same question. It does not matter if you are out eating or at a ballgame, the startup person is always thinking of new ways of doing things. [tag]Tony Christianson of Cherry Tree Ventures[/tag] used to have a drawerful of business ideas, actually concepts that needed ‘starting.’ Most of the time, the ideas come from impatience or unhappiness about a current product or service.

83. Tested under fire and managed ok. [tag]David Pomije[/tag] of FuncoLand used to recommend that entrepreneurs go through bankruptcy at least once. You don’t have to go out and avoid debts by declaring bankruptcy, there are other ways. I have a good friend who had his own investing company, and got several of his friends into a questionable investment. When it exploded, instead of avoiding his friends and rationalizing it away with a cavalier “they had the offering documents like I did,” he knuckled down, and paid them all back out of his own pocket. If he called me today and said he needed a loan to start up a new business, I would send him some money, no questions asked. Also, entrepreneurs who have been members of higher level sports teams have experienced tough times, of being behind, and have had to perform at higher levels than they thought possible have been tested enough.

84. Worry less about the big competitors and more about the guy in the garage. The typical new entrepreneur is overly concerned about what General Motors will do about his new anti-litter device that attaches to the backseat. I actually experienced this almost exactly. A guy had developed a molded mini-trashcan of sorts that would attach cleverly inside a Lexus. His question of me? How could he protect his idea from Toyota, the parent company of Lexus. I am sure this must happen, I have not seen it. Most of the time, the large company will completely discount and disregard your offerings. When Scott and I started Varitronics, Kroy Inc. really discounted our offering, even made fun of us personally. This is more common than you would think—so don’t worry about the big guys, worry more about the guy just like you, with a slightly bigger garage.

85. Thinking about barriers, not products so much. Every product can be designed better: Fact. Just because you have the best product today, does not mean you will have it tomorrow. Someone will make it look better, work faster or cost less. If you are in software, this might take just weeks. You can create a significant barrier to others who want enter your niche or space, by thinking of every part of the business process as something that can be improved. In JobDig, for example, we can create our weekly newspapers, each unique with dozens and dozens of graphically perfect display ads, in a few hours. The problem we solved was how to scale the graphic design function without having dozens of graphic designers on the payroll waiting for Friday afternoon closings. This ability is a significant barrier.

86. Get excited about little things. A lot of the incremental improvements in a new company are fairly small and seemingly insignificant. The entrepreneur needs to be able to get satisfaction out of these daily little achievements. They intuitively know that little things done well add up to a successful bigger event, a launch of a new software release, for example.

87. Can stay UP all day. This is harder than it sounds. This is like performing on stage, with two shows daily. Your apparent self confidence and attitude will work wonders on associates, staff and stakeholders. They feed off this confidence and attitude to help you create the business.

88. Sunshine pump. Let’s say you are having a bad day and a friend calls you. He is obviously down about something, almost depressed—one, can you hear it in his voice and two, by simply talking to him over the phone, can you make his day brighter?

89. Business math in reverse. Good startup people can walk through Costco, or a car dealership or listen to a highly paid business consultant and figure out the metrics, or the math behind the economics of the products or services being sold. They know what a direct sales effort costs, and even know what the going rate is for a poor, mediocre or stellar sales rep. They know the margins required for indirect distribution and can calculate quickly what each level in the distribution chain must pay or cost. This back-of-the-envelope calculation is often the beginning stages of a new company, because it exposes an opportunity.

90. A builder, not a maker, nor operator. Creating a new business where none existed before is a very unique skill. I don’t care if you built it by being the best inventor or maker, or even if you happened to be the best manager of a certain function. If you built it, even if you started from another discipline…you built something new from scratch, from zero. Before you came along, there was nothing. You may have made it or operated it…mostly you built it. I know a young woman who is building her own cookie company. She is literally the cookie maker and the operator of the tools, mixing machines and so forth. She is building a business.

91. Trust instincts, but drop bad ideas fast. The subtitle of this blog perfectly describes this entrepreneur: “frequently wrong, never in doubt.” That was intended to be somewhat funny, but the people who work around me would probably say it is so so so so true. Hey! If I don’t believe in my own ideas strongly, how will we actually find the RIGHT one? I don’t care if I am a universe of one, I trust myself more than some un-engaged focus group. And so should you. And, I never guaranteed that I would have only good ideas anyway.

92. Grounded in experiences, developed in practice. Successful entrepreneurs have all sorts of experiences. Bill Gates came from a rich family and dropped out of Harvard. Michael Dell was a college student, [tag]Ray Kroc[/tag] was a middle age malted machine salesman. My friend TOM, who the heck knows about him, he just seems to be everyone’s friend. The point is, everyone has some experiences that help get you prepared. I was in the Air Force ,and when I knew I wanted to leave, I asked my friend Marge Setter what I needed to do in order to be better prepared. She suggested I find a direct sales company and join it. I did. I learned how to build a team of other business owners selling products. I learned how to sell others on joining my team as well as selling products. There is nothing quite like the experience of buying products, storing them in your garage and learning how to sell them. For those of you who have this experience of HAVING to sell ‘stuff’ by the end of the month in order to pay rent, you will know exactly how it feels to make payroll every two weeks. Same thing.

93. Screw security. If you are all about safety, benefits protection, fast cars and big cigars, you might not have the real, down-deep confidence it might take. Actually, I am not sure it is confidence or stupidity—what it is, is a belief that no matter what, at the end of the day, you can figure it out, and make it all happen.

94. Understanding of the Law of Requisite Variety. This is a law described by cybernetician [tag]Ross Ashby[/tag] which perfectly describes the creative entrepreneur. Basically, the law says that in any system (company, department, a meeting) all things being equal, the individual with the widest range of responses (the most ideas) will control the system. To me this means that the gift or trick is in promoting plenty of ideas, fast and furiously. The process is quantity first, then quality. Lots of people can sift and sort ideas, criticizing and developing. Your job is to get the most ideas on the table, from you or others.

95. High energy. This may be a work ethic mentality or a caffeine-induced edginess. I cannot recall one entrepreneur who appears sluggish or lethargic or slug-like. What’s even more apparent is that they are NOT energy suckers, but energy creators.

96. Quick studies. This can be very irritating to others, but these people hear the first sentence and generally understand the paragraph. They quickly get concepts, and are moving immediately past the product feature discussion to how it will get sold and supported..and improved upon. They get bored easily.

97. Don’t blame others. Remember when mom told you about pointing at others, that three fingers were actually pointing back at YOU? What this meant to me, was that if something went wrong in a department or company, chances are it was my fault, my error. Knowing this has made me less likely to blame others, my challenge has been to do what I can to eliminate my own mistakes.

98. Engaging personality. Do people like you? Here is a test: tell someone about your life so far, where you grew up, went to school, and so forth. Does your personal story engage them? Are they laughing, nodding their head, actively listening? The point is–You can tell. If it isn’t engaging to them , you aren’t. It is not the story, it is you. Learn to tell it better. This is the first thing you should learn how to do.
9 9. Honesty. They are honest to a fault, if that could possibly be true. They tell bad news often and believably, but to the right audience. They are honest with themselves and certainly others. They will often not tolerate dishonesty in any form. Don’t lie to them.

100. Humorous. I saved the best and most critical for last. Startups are full of pressure, and the release mechanism is humor. These people are quick witted, sometimes  profane, and love to laugh with people. They will say the most inappropriate things and at the exact wrong moment. People are not sure if he’s crazy like a fox or simply crazy.