Technosailor.com

Guy Kawasaki recently wrote his post, the “Art of Execution” that is an extract from his book. It is a good top 10 list, but he is missing 3 extra bullets. Guy also talks about it in an MP3 he put together on the “Art of Raising Capital“.

I have three more bullets I would like to add:

11.) Make sure your VC can execute: He mentioned a funny quote in the blog entry: “the good news is you got the money, but the bad news is you got the money”. This is where so many entrepreneurs I have met are so focused on the getting down their perfect pitch and meeting with VC’s that they forget that they have a company to build. Many are good at raising money but when they finally get it, they don’t properly prepare to use it. This was an obvious factor in the dot com bust a few years ago when young entrepreneurs didn’t have any operational experience and brought in adult supervision too late in the game. Adding to that fact, many of their VC board members were smart-ass freshly minted MBA’s that were more “quant-jock” than trusted advisor. These guys can evolve into great VC’s but they needed proper mentorship to learn how to execute themselves. I guess this why in 1999 there were 12,000 VC’s in the industry and now there are 6,000. Natural selection at its finest.

I find that the true measure of a successful entrepreneur is their ability to execute. I don’t know if this is a natural instinct that many have built into their DNA, but for many people who come from smaller organizations where your impact is felt every day you have to deliver or you are out.

I know many venture capitalists and 99% of them are really good people, but many have never run a company so they don’t understand how to mentor those who need to learn to execute better. This is not a generalization because some have a great instinct for it and you are lucky to have them on your board. I find that the best VC’s are those who have lived the life of an Entrepreneur and/or have some operational experience. The next time I raise money I will make sure I work with a VC that has this background.

12.) If you can’t execute, get a co-founder or a core teammate that can: I know that it is tough to find someone that shares your vision and passion to start a company. Especially when you share 50% of the riches but not necessarily 50% of the workload. Believe me, I know. Many people go it alone and found a company because they are the only one they know crazy enough to do it or believe in the thing they are trying to create before anybody else does. Many first time entrepreneurs have all the right intentions and the passion to build something, but they are just vision people and not execution people. The first company I built I learned the hard way that vision will only get you so far and it failed. Second time around I realized I had to make things happen so learned to be more execution focused. I hate most of the internal operational stuff, so found a good part-time person to help me with that stuff. As the company grew I brought on a minority partner who was all execution and it was great. I am lucky I learned from my mistakes and it was a success for everyone.

13.) Remember that “Vision without Execution is just bullsh!t”: Many people talk about “getting things done” or “making it happen”, but this is all just talk unless you do it. I like to say “Vision without execution is just bulls**t”. It is my quote and I am taking ownership of it. If I am remembered and in anyway I want this statement attributed to me in the ‘Book of Quotes’. Sure many people say similar things, but I wanted the raw bottom line to burn onto your brain so you remember it in the days to come. Vision is a fantastic thing and motivates people to do great things. However, if you sit on your ass and don’t look like you are doing anything, people will resent you and think you are just full of it. Even if you are doing things to ensure that your vision is carried out, that is execution. Prosthelitizing that “this is the way of the future” will only get you so far.

Further reading:

For some excellent reading on the topic of execution, read the book with the same name. Execution is written by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan. It rocks and you will love the way it lays it out for you.

Pick up your copy of the WordPress Bible, a wildly popular resource for beginners and experts alike.

Written by Steven Fisher on March 22, 2006

Popularity: 1% [?]