Need a kick in the entrepreneurial pants? Look no further than the latest installment in the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation‘s Sketchbook Series.
In the video, which was released earlier this month, serial entrepreneur Geoffrey Clapp encourages entrepreneurs to stop talking and start doing. “Go build something,” he says. “Go do something. It doesn’t even really matter what it is. But do something together. Build something. Make something happen.”
Beyond spurring entrepreneurs to act, Clapp offers an assortment of advice regarding how to go about building businesses.
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For instance, he touches on customer validation:
“It’s not OK just to sit in your office and say ‘This is what I think people would want.’ Great startups go and talk to their users. Great startups get out there.”
And on structuring a startup:
“Why do you need junior and senior titles in your startup? You don’t. What you need is a group of people that are busting their tail to get something done. It doesn’t matter what their titles are.”
And on the importance of employees buying in:
“When you have five people sitting in a tiny room, one person is 20 percent. And if that one person isn’t pulling their weight, they’re taking away from everybody else.”
At its essence, Clapp says, a successful startup is the combination of a great idea, a great team, a solution to a meaningful problem and a viable business model. “Don’t get caught up in the process and the culture of entrepreneurship,” he says. “Go be an entrepreneur.”
Credits: Video from the Kauffman Foundation on YouTube.
