I’m All In

Jon Callaghan, partner at True Ventures, said it himself:

When you’re on the drug, you’ll know it…You’ve got to be all in.  Otherwise it’s just a hobby”

After living out in San Francisco for eight weeks and experiencing what it’s like to be a TEC intern at True Ventures, I can now confidently say that I am drug addict.  No, I am not addicted to the “treats” that I am offered on a daily basis at Market and 6th, I am addicted to the new trendy drug called Entrepreneurship (all the cool kids are doing it).  In all seriousness, in combining my work at The Site Slinger, with my work at BrightRoll, along with my commitments at True Ventures, this has indeed been the busiest 8 weeks of my life.  I would say it felt like I slept through it and it was all a dream (Inception) because it went by so fast, but I’d be lying, because I didn’t sleep much at all, and it was an experience that was better than any dream I’ve ever had of Emmanuelle Chriqui (Sloan from Entourage).

So what exactly did I learn this summer, and why was it so awesome?  Aside from all the cool schwag you get as an intern (Flip camera, iPad from BrightRoll, FitBit, BOOKS!, etc. etc.), you also get a really unique experience that only 15 other people in the world have ever had.  This internship is seriously one of kind.  Imagine an internship where you interact with some of the biggest influencer’s in the Silicon Valley on a daily basis?  Imagine a internship where you sit across from the founder of the company and can actually learn something new from them every day when you go into the office?  Imagine an internship where you aren’t stuck photocopying at some corporation working 9-5 just so you can get to the weekend?  This whole “imagine an internship…” thing is a bit repetitive but, I’m not being paid to say that the True Ventures TEC internship programs was truly a life changing experience.

True Ventures gave us all these little black Moleskin books at the beginning of this adventure to take notes in as we went along.  Although I didn’t use it nearly as much as I should have, I did compile some overall lessons that I’d like to share.  Here are my top 11 tips (because top 10 is so 2009):

1. Entrepreneurship is not very everyone. It’s all about the Hustle.   If you don’t have the motivation to hustle 24 hours a day, then the entrepreneurial lifestyle is not for you.
2. Talk to anyone that will listen. The more people you have in your network, the higher chance you’ll be connected to the person you need later on the down the line.  It’s also not just about “connecting” with the person, you need to follow up with them in stay in contact to really build a meaningful relationship.
3. Engineers are sexy in the Valley. A good one is worth his/her weight in gold so if you find a good one, respect them and give them the freedom to create and develop in that complicated 0010110100 stuff. (sidenote: if you are on the fence about learning how to program, totally go for it.  Even if you just know the basics of TCW, you have an edge on others.  However, I personally think ANYONE can learn how to code.  The difficult part is mastering it.  If you can master it, then you are a rockstar).
4. Early stage venture investments invest almost completely in the people. Ideas are cheap, good people are not.  Surround yourself by good peeps and weed out the poisonous people who bring you down.
5. Iteration is important. Reid Hoffman from LinkedIn said “If you’re not embarrassed when you ship, you’ve waited too long.”  Get the product out the door to guage interest in the product before spending countless days developing a product that may only solve your own needs and not the needs of the market.
6. “Entrepreneurship is throwing yourself off a cliff, and building a plane on the way down.” This quote is also from Reid Hoffman from LinkedIn.  I couldn’t agree more with the quote.  It goes back to the hustle you need as an entrepreneur.  Do you have the hustle in you to take that leap of faith?  You have no security blanket and you have no severance package if you fail.  Do you believe in yourself to build something before the $$ runs out?
7. Best advice for Idea Generation: pick a market first, and then identify a problem that exists in that market.  Create an idea that solves that problem.  ALWAYS know your market.
8. If you haven’t failed yet, then you haven’t tried enough (unless you are really lucky).  Learn from your failures and keep hustling.
9. Entrepreneurship is not about luck, it’s about preparing yourself for those lucky situations so when that lucky phone call comes in you can pick it up and seal the deal.
10. Model your engineering team after the characters from Winnie the Pooh. If you don’t have a Tigger to compliment your Eeyore, you are doomed to fail.  (this one comes from my peeps at BrightRoll )
11. Have fun. It’s not a job, it’s a lifestyle.  Life is too short to do something you don’t love so live life the way you want to and don’t let anyone hold you back.

So that’s all from me.  Surround yourself with good, great, awesome, amazing people, come up with an idea, pick your theme song, and just do it.