Free advice is often ignored. The act of paying for a mentor—the transaction itself—creates a powerful commitment mechanism. This financial investment ensures you value the guidance, pay attention, and are more likely to implement it, dramatically accelerating your progress and helping you avoid costly mistakes.
Granting a full co-founder 50% equity is a massive, often regrettable, early decision. A better model is to bring on a 'partner' with a smaller, vested equity stake (e.g., 10%). This provides accountability and complementary skills without sacrificing majority ownership and control.
Avoid the classic bootstrap vs. raise dilemma by using customer financing. Pre-sell your product or service to a group of early customers. This strategy not only provides the necessary starting capital without giving up equity but also serves as the ultimate form of market validation.
The traditional value proposition of college is being challenged by AI tools that offer instant, expert-level information. For aspiring entrepreneurs, this shifts the calculus, making immediate real-world experience a more attractive and faster path to success than incurring debt for a formal degree.
Many founders fail not from a lack of market opportunity, but from trying to serve too many customer types with too many offerings. This creates overwhelming complexity in marketing, sales, and product. Picking a narrow niche simplifies operations and creates a clearer path to traction and profitability.
Don't wait until you're completely exhausted to sell your company, as buyers will sense your desperation and gain the advantage. The ideal time to exit is when your passion for the market wanes or growth slows, allowing you to negotiate from a position of strength before burnout sets in.