Last week I had a party to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the foundation of my start-up.

Ok, it was a joint party with me (it was my 45th birthday) but let’s focus on the more important aspect people:

My start-up survived to Year 5 🙌😊😬🎉

When you look at the stats that makes us the minority [about 60% of all businesses don’t make it to year 5 or beyond]; that’s all the more impressive considering Covid came along 6 months into the foundation of my business 🤧.

The best news is that not only are we surviving; we are thriving with a team, a large portfolio of customers and a steady revenue stream.

With that in mind, we’ve recently set out an ambitious plan for the next 5 years [more on that in a later blog].

But just as importantly [and a key input into our new 5 Year ambitions] is the honest reflection on what has and hasn’t worked in the last 5 years

The 21 Rules Any Start-up Founder Should Know

A couple of years ago I helped write a book called “The 21 Rules Any Junior Lawyer Should Know”.

It had been commissioned by a publishing firm who wanted a tongue-in-cheek insight on what it really was like for lawyers just starting out.

In homage to that, I present the 21 most impactful insights I have gathered in the last 5 years, but in the most honest way I know how.

1. Nobody gives a damn! — wahoo, you have a new business: Who cares? Similarly, you created a post about it: Who cares? You gotta do better than that 🙅
2. If you can’t sell, you ain’t going nowhere! — It might be obvious but let me remind you: it doesn’t matter how good your product or service is, if nobody gets excited by it then ✖️
3. You get a maximum of 10 seconds of someone’s attention — if what you’re saying doesn’t land then tough shit ⏰
4. Your messaging is terrible — seriously it takes about 18 months and articulating your business about 10,000 times before it starts to click 🗣️
5. Pay more attention to the clues! — people will give you feedback all the time about what they think about your business. Usually this will be polite nodding (or maybe multitasking on their phone whilst you’re talking to them) so read the room and take that as your cue 🕵🏼🕵🏻‍♀️
6. Refine, refine, refine! — if you’re not iterating your offer, then you’re just going to stagnate and I’m not even talking about Growth here; I’m talking about survival 🎡
7. Validate everything like a scientist— no good journalist would write a story based on one source, so why are you building a product or launching a new project based on one opinion (particularly if the opinion is yours)?🔬
8. Stop believing there is a magic marketing hack — even one epic, viral post fades and your best content will be missed by most people so consistency trumps everything 🪧
9. Make shit happen —absolutely nothing and no one is going to come looking for you so if you aren’t proactive and productive then don’t expect anything to happen 💩
10. You ain’t too good for any job in the early days — Sleeves are there to be rolled up so if it needs someone to hand-deliver flyers or proof read a website or send personalised emails or record 1000s of voice notes then that my friend is you. Don’t just get in the mud, embrace it! 🐖
11. There is no cavalry on the horizon (unlike in a big company) — when your computer breaks or you have a breach of contract, etc, you will have to work out how the hell to sort it 🐴
12. You’re most likely too risk averse to be a good founder — what would your nemesis do with your business to outdo you? Go do that then 😶‍🌫️
13. You’ll make way more wrong decisions than right ones — you’re probably spending too much Money, focusing your time on the wrong things, chasing the wrong customers and more. That doesn’t matter as long as you learn from it and make corrections 🙄
14. You’ll ignore most of the best advice you get — for some reason you’ll value “learning it the hard way” and then realise what others were telling you was so true 🤦🏻‍♂️
15. You will be lonely as fcuk at times — don’t take it for granted, put in place a community support system sooner rather than later 🫥
16. At least 50% of your success will depend on your mood — shit mood = shit business, good mood = mediocre business, sorting out your demons = phenomenal business 👿
17. You’re not as good as you think you are — there is always someone who can do something better or a company with a better product; that doesn’t matter, go learn, go collaborate 😖
18. The narratives in your head and your own dilutions are holding you back — ”I can’t do that”, “That will never work”, “I’m sorry to bother you”, etc all stop good things happening. Lose the fear and embrace the confidence of a 4 year old who thinks they are Batman 🦇
19. You will invariably get too cocky — a good customer, a good project, a good team, good profits can all be lost easily so enjoy the good times but don’t get too comfortable 🐓
20. Don’t believe founders on social media - honestly people lie on social media about how great their business is doing, how great their skills are, etc. Real successful founders don’t have the time to be on social media [they probably will lie/exaggerate in person too] 🤥
21. You’re an idiot if you’re not having fun — why else did you start the company 🤷🏻‍♂️

What have I learnt from my own lessons?

I’d love to say that I’ve stamped out all the above behaviours from how I operate nowadays but that would be lying.

I’m still what you may call “a work in progress” but that’s fine and I’m a lot more polished as a Founder nowadays the I was at the start so I’m bullish for the next 5 years 🙌.

Hopefully, by sharing my experiences, you too can accelerate your own polishing… But the again Rule 14 dictates that you probably won’t 🤣.

Faris

Faris is the CEO and Founder of Shiageto Consulting, an innovative consultancy that helps firms and individuals sharpen their effectiveness. Connect with him here

Success = IQ x EQ x FQ

Want to assess your levels of IQ, EQ and FQ? click here

Originally Published on https://farisaranki.medium.com/

Faris Aranki Strategy & Emotional Intelligence

Having spent over 20 years delivering strategic change for the corporate and non-corporate worlds, Faris has experienced first-hand the fine differences between strategic success and failure.
His work has spanned numerous companies (from global behemoths to small start-ups), in numerous countries, across a range of sectors, supporting them all to unlock strategic success.

He came to realize that often what hinders institutions from achieving their goals goes beyond the quality of their strategy; it is their ability to engage effectively with others at all levels and remove barriers in their way. This has led to his passion for improving strategic effectiveness within all businesses and individuals and the foundation of Shiageto Consulting.

Over time, Faris has worked to distill his knowledge of how to solve complex problems in a structured manner combined with his skill on engaging effectively with others and his ability to quickly determine the barriers to a strategy's success. This knowledge has formed the foundation of Shiageto’s workshops, courses and methodologies. Faris believes that any firm or team can adopt these improvements; all it requires is a little of the right support -something Shiageto provides!

On top of leading our business, Faris is now an accomplished speaker and contributor for a variety of outlets.