Early Stage Capital: A Necessary Ingredient?

Several weeks ago a group of city officials from Clarksville, TN visited our fair city of Durham to see what we were up to. They didn't expect to find a blossoming entrepreneurial ecosystem and wanted to know more.

Chris Heivly (Triangle Startup Factory), Bob Walker (8 Rivers Capital), and I were asked to spout off our thoughts on how things get done. As I sat there I wondered, "How many venture capital firms are in Clarksville, TN?" We all know the answer to that one. But does that mean all is lost for Clarksville and every other mid size city in America? Absolutely not. There is no relationship between early stage investors and an area's ability to innovate and make things happen.

Does capital help? Of course. But bootstrappers can stir the pot in any given city. May each of us go forth and do so.

When I grow up I want to be an entrepreneur...

As I was driving my 4 year old to school last week I asked the sometimes cliche question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Drew responded with, "A Durham Bulls baseball player."

This whole career discussion reminded me of conversations I had as a young man. Looking back it seemed I only had a few career options: doctor, lawyer, insurance agent (since that's what my Dad did). I'm not sure any one pulled me aside and said, "Have you ever thought about buying a business or starting your own?"

This will not be the case with my son. My goal is to teach him the skills to be in a position to have the flexibility and the smarts to "Do More Faster."

You might be an entrepreneur if....

1. You come home and convince your spouse that you are about to take over the world with your new venture and that she will need to work to support you

2. You wait until your potential investors leave the meeting so they don't see you push starting your car

3. You and your family eat black beans and rice most nights (the other nights it's black bean soup)

4. You work for no pay for a year

5. You wake up at 3AM with ideas and can't go to sleep unless you get up and put them on paper

6. You read books like Do More Faster and then realize you probably should read it again in order to apply the principles

7. You patiently wait for another update from Eric Ries's blog StartUp Lessons Learned

What's your Facemash?

Over the past few months I have listened to Randy Komisar's Getting to Plan B podcast from Stanford's Entrepreneur Thought Leaders many times. The principles are slowly sinking in. The ideas is that Plan A will fail and Plan B (or C, D or E) will be the success.

Almost all major success has followed this pattern. For example, right now I am watching CNBC's The Facebook Obsession and Mark first started Facemash, which was Plan A.

So what's your Facemash? It's time to start Plan A so that you will get to Plan B.