What is the one piece of advice I would give to first-time founders or entrepreneurs?

One weakness of a first-time startup by an untested entrepreneur is, “you picked you”.

Normally for any executive or CEO selection and hiring there is a process whereby a job description is written, “What do we need in experience, skills and strengths?” A search and multiple interviews of multiple candidates is conducted. Candidates are evaluated against the criteria and the best candidate is chosen.

None of this happens when you start your first company. So, there is a bit of luck involved as to whether you have the mix of talents, experiences and qualities to be a successful CEO in a competitive world as well as navigate a startup. A startup CEO requires extra skills that a CEO of an ongoing, established and successful firm does not require.

Focus on steps that can quickly and consistently let you learn on the job and become a successful CEO which will in turn help your startup succeed.

What can you do to compensate for this problem?

1. Take an inventory of your skills, experiences and strengths.
2. Compare this to what is needed for your startup to survive and succeed.
3. Hire people that have skills, experiences and strengths you do not have.
4. Form a real Board of Directors to help you solve top level challenges, develop business strategies and deal with crisis.
5. Keep a list of your and the company mistakes so you don’t duplicate them. You will make mistakes, so the goal is to reduce the number and severity of mistakes so that your startup survives long enough to succeed.
6. Be aware of the list of reasons startups fail. Check-in and make sure your firm is avoiding these problems.
   

For more on CEOs and Startups checkout the Best Practices Wiki:

• Lessons for Startups
• Startup CEO Best Practices
• Effective CEO
• Lessons to Build Effective Leaders - 100 Lessons to equip your people to create winning organizations
• Successful Entrepreneur Best Practices
• Why Companies Fail

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Terry Gardiner is the founder of the Best Practices Wiki, a free public repository of best practices for small businesses and nonprofits.  He has four decades of hands-on leadership, management and organizational growth experience in business, government and nonprofits.  He is the author of Six-Word Lessons to Build Effective Leaders.

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