Introduction to the systematic venture
Beliefs comes before ability
A journal, not a tutorial
I’m starting this blog with a big disclaimer: this is a journal, documenting my own learnings along the way, and by no means a tutorial. I’m not a super millionaire or Mark Zuckerberg-like. I’m just a random entrepreneur who loves writing, and that’s pretty much it.
A big bet on yourself
I have no idea how to raise $5M on a PowerPoint, and neither do I know how to get from 0 to 1,000 customers in two weeks using drop-shipping ads.
What I do know is that there are some tips I wish somebody told me before I entered my entrepreneurial journey. Choosing to be an entrepreneur is the biggest bet you can make on yourself: nobody starts with the necessary skills, and the market will sooner rather than later expose your flaws. Whether you are a technical founder or a flamboyant salesman, you can easily list all the skills you wish you had to succeed more quickly.
We all been there, I am a technical founder who taught myself how to sell and do marketing, and I still feel weird when posting something on social media1. It's part of the journey; getting out of your comfort zone without lying to yourself or cutting ethical corners is fine. As an entrepreneur, the sooner you know what you don't know, the better you will be at targeting your market. Nobody is a great developer, salesman, HR, product owner, and social media manager simultaneously. The goal is not to be the best everywhere. It's to be not too bad until you make enough money to pay a specialist or ask a robot to perform the tasks you don't like.
For bootstrappers, with love.
I love bootstrapped companies, and, as a matter of fact, less than 2% of small businesses will ever raise funds. Needless to say we are in the middle of a bear market2 - not to say a potential 2007-like depression - and most VCs will just not look for anything else than saving their portfolio companies.
I never raised a dime from VCs, I don't have any financing network in this world. I feel like you can grow a lot in the first months and years without needing fresh external capital. It's harder and longer, but it's possible and can even be a strength. You will need to focus on what generates non-linear outcomes, where $1 invested gets you $10, and where you can leverage network effects: the only permissionless marketing tools everyone can use for free. We will discuss that later, but let's keep that in mind.
There are infinite topics to tackle, but I believe not all of them are equally important. Entrepreneurs make decisions, and the most crucial are probably the product they will work, the market they will engage in with this product, and their distribution tactics. I do agree not all teams are the same in addressing an issue. Still, I can't make assumptions about your ability, so I will mainly focus on systematic methods regarding product development, lead generation, and how to evolve with uncertainty in a market.
Survival first
I firmly believe that you start making good decisions by actively avoiding the ones that could potentially get you wiped out of the market in the blink of an eye. Call me Mr. Obvious if you like, but I firmly maintain that surviving is your very first and most critical objective in this competitive landscape. To achieve that, you need antifragile and robust core principles and foundations that can withstand the unpredictable nature of the market. Ethical principles, unwavering integrity, and a commitment to long-term thinking will not be part of any trade-off or compromise in this endeavor.
If you are looking for a quick-fix get-rich-quick scheme or searching for advice on how to find the next pump-and-dump crypto opportunity, I suggest you go ahead and spend some time on TikTok, where you can follow some hustler porn influencers who may entice you with their flashy lifestyles.
Here I will only focus on talking to the dedicated founders who give themselves a realistic five years to truly succeed and achieve financial freedom through systematic value generation, building sustainable businesses that can thrive over time.
Too many entrepreneurs enter markets with no competitive advantage and lock themselves in dead-end situations where they no longer iterate and keep pushing in the wrong direction. As small business owners, our most considerable edge against bigger competitors is our ability to iterate and pivot overnight. It's never as dramatic as it sounds. I don't mean to be a garage psychologist, but many founders overthink changes and implementations. The world is changing quickly, and all businesses - especially digital ones - need to adapt to current trends. I am not talking about wave surfing. Don't get me wrong, if you sell a cash-flow optimization mobile app for real estate agencies. I do not suggest you add the label web3 or ChatGPT just because it's the new hype. However, new permissionless tools and open-source technologies are published almost every day. You might lose a lot of time by not looking at what you can automatize or create in just a few hours.
Be hyper-focused when you work, but avoid the tunnel effect and keep an eye on things that can help you work faster, especially on tedious tasks that do not add long-term value: Keep your time for where you can apply your non-replaceable, particular, market-related knowledge. In this blog, I will emphasize psychological barriers that prevent many small, promising micro and small businesses from reaching their full potential, from pricing you too cheap to overthinking change and iteration. Remember: your ideas are worthless if not executed. Your execution is worthless if you don’t iterate. Your iteration is worthless if it takes no market feedback into account. And everything is worthless if you get no sort of feedback from the market.
I agree one needs to think twice before flipping over all the company's processes. Still, when you burn cash and lose clients, you take a huge risk by doing nothing3. Do not take this as a piece of medical literature. I am talking with my own bias. I just want you to be able to relate to a few things because I am convinced many of us are going through the same steps of struggle.
Quick reminder
Please keep in mind I am no hotshot who sold three businesses by the age of 18, and I welcome feedback and critics. Also, I strongly encourage you to do your homework and not follow someone else's heuristics without testing it mentally, or practically.
Welcome, and thanks for reading.
Voss
LinkedIn is simultaneously the cringest place on earth, and the best for B2B distribution.
Written in 2023
Yes, even you, VC-backed spoiled kid. It’s 2024 and LPs want returns.