The opinions expressed by contributors are of their own.
I was at a low point a long time ago. I had no real authority because we were working with people who didn't know what we were doing. There were several small conflicts between our team and financiers. It was a sad time.
I am excited to get out of bed every morning and see what the day brings. Since September 2020 we have experienced a 530 percent growth in our trading platform.
Money is no longer the great motivator it used to be after I found financial success. Being surrounded by motivated, highly skilled people trying to build something truly special is what makes satisfaction. My co-founder is a perfect example.
You don't need a giant company to make success stories.
Our two-person team works well for us. The marginal cost of production is virtually zero with technology. We can grow quickly. We could make $1 million. We can work with $100 million. The system is at scale. Staying small and lean is a big benefit for a tech startup.
The people you work with are the most important. There are many ways to find someone who can turn your dream into reality.
I will tell you how to not look.
On paper, I had everything. I had a great job title with a startup company in Asia that was cutting-edge in the field ofBlockchain. It sounded pretty.
I knew a guy in my hometown. One good thing leads to another, that's how it was. His father had a lot of money. They needed people who could build something. I could be leading the way at the highest levels.
Things went sour very quickly, as I learned the hard way the lessons of being lured with big money dreams. I had no authority. Every decision had to go through a couple of cigar-chomping old guys who liked to drink and enjoy the lifestyle of top executives, without actually doing much work.
The team and I made the best of it and were able to progress through the first phase. We would get to the finish line with persistence and patience.
The partners couldn't come up with the funds for the second phase. We hit an impasse there. There are a lot of companies with bad leadership. Not every company has top people that forget to pay the people working for them, and I bought a plane ticket home and never looked back.
Some people have nice stories about meeting someone new, or taking a leap of faith on someone they barely know and things turn out great. A blind date turns into a marriage. An interview for a dream job is possible after a friendly chat at a conference after-party.
It's a bad idea to ignore the early signs of shady business practices. It is similar to dating. An attractive prospect makes you look at everything with glasses that are bright, and all the red flags look the same. Red flags were present from the beginning, but I kept telling myself that things would be different once we finished.
Making co-founder's exit a seamless process is related.
Smart is good. It is not everything.
You want to surround yourself with people who can help you learn. It is not enough to be smart. There are a lot of smart people working minimum wage jobs. A lot of smart people never make it.
I remember my first business. I just finished university. I collaborated with a person who was intellectually gifted. They were always learning new things. We debated ideas that mattered in the real world.
An older businessman once told me that companies fail because of money or ego. Our new startup was brought down by the latter. The person I admired was causing big problems in meetings. I saw it for the first time. The other side left in the middle of the meeting because he got so aggressive. Things did not improve.
My partner was smart, but he was unreliable and did not produce what we needed consistently.
There are 5 expert tips on how to choose a co- founder for your business.
Even if their work didn't work out, look at what they achieved.
I met my current co-founder at a conference and talked about the state of cryptocurrencies and machine learning. We started working on a social media app. The process was still useful even though we didn't get funding for it. I saw how my co- founder operated. He dealt with both technical and business issues. Our skill sets are very similar.
I have been fortunate in my career so far. I have met a lot of smart people. There are negatives. There are a lot of eccentric cowboys in the tech space. ego and personal instability can be serious hurdles for these people.
My co-founder doesn't like drama. One trait makes him special. Good people make great companies because they have a common aim.
There are 14 things that successful people do every day.
