Timothy Freriks's Blog, page 7
April 14, 2015
Simple Recipe for an Entrepreneur’s Success
To achieve success as an entrepreneur, it takes Ambition, Commitment, a Plan, and a Product people will pay for. If you have the first two, you can work out the others. I was thinking about all the successful entrepreneurs I’ve known and had a couple of thoughts. They aren’t necessarily the smartest people, the most innovative […]
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April 13, 2015
Do what you love and you won’t work a day?
“Do what you love and you won’t work a day” is inane bull-crap, IMHO. I love drinking beer, I truly do. But, no one will pay me for that. I love creating graphic art, which I think is pretty good, but it seems as though no one will pay me for that, either! Could I […]
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April 11, 2015
How do you get “Great Ideas”?
When aspiring entrepreneurs finally realize they have what it takes—desire, passion, drive, ambition— to be successful, they inevitably ask: “what great idea do I use to start my business?” Or, it is the other way around: They have great ideas and ask: “now what?” and “do I have what it takes?” I wrote my book for […]
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April 9, 2015
The Seven Steps of Customer Investigation
When aspiring entrepreneurs finally realize they have to spend more time developing the customer than developing the product in the early days, they are faced with a dilemma: “You mean I have to actually TALK to people?” Steve Blank and Eric Ries would answer the same way: yes. You can’t build a product around who you […]
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April 8, 2015
Does Self Assessment Really Come First?
I spend a lot of ink on self assessment in my book. I always thought that you have to figure out what you’re capable of and can do and are good at and passionate about before you can make a wise choice to be an entrepreneur. In my analytical, architectural mind, that makes sense: build […]
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April 7, 2015
Testing Assumptions with Customers
When you are testing the assumptions you generate in the Assessment stage of the ACE Methodology, you have to first define and verify them through research in the Confirmation stage. This means asking a lot of prospective customers the three critical questions: 1) do they really have the problem you think they do?, 2) do […]
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Testing Assumptions – Customer Investigation
When you are testing the assumptions you generate in the Assessment stage of the ACE Methodology, you have to first define and verify them through research in the Confirmation stage. This means asking a lot of prospective customers the three critical questions: 1) do they really have the problem you think they do?, 2) do […]
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April 6, 2015
I need to be an entrepreneur. Now what?
I cross paths with a lot of people, especially older job seekers, who say “I need to start my own business, but I don’t know what it will be”. Wanting to be an entrepreneur and independent is the first step along a path of millions of steps, each one carrying the virus of failure. If […]
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April 5, 2015
Pitching to Investors is a Sales Process
When entrepreneurs try to raise money at any level, it involves a “pitch”. Pitching to investors can be defined within the context of a sales process where you and your idea is the product and the investor is the customer. There are some rules, but first, don’t pitch until you are ready. Before the pitch, entrepreneurs have to understand […]
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April 1, 2015
Sculpting an Entrepreneurial Elephant
In a college art class (a long time ago) we were told to sculpt a “successful elephant” with a lump of clay. The puzzled guy next to me asked how to start making a successful elephant. Consistent with my smart-ass nature, I said, “remove everything that doesn’t look like an elephant”. I meet a young […]
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