7 Attributes of an Extraordinary Entrepreneur

Ashton Kutcher made headlines at SXSW this year when he announced the launch of a new investment fund with business partner Guy Oseary. But Kutcher and Oseary are not new to the startup game. In fact, Kutcher made early investments in Uber, Airbnb, and Spotify, showing a keen eye for investing in promising startups. When CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo asked Kutcher what he looks for in new companies, one of his answers was “extraordinary entrepreneurs."

What creates an “extraordinary entrepreneur” in the eyes of an investor? As Founder and CEO of Foxwordy, a startup that is the first private social network for lawyers, as well as a member of one of the largest angel investor groups that invests in Silicon Valley startups, I’ve found there are key qualities that attract investors’ attention and lead to strong, lasting investor/entrepreneur relationships.  

Here are seven key attributes of extraordinary entrepreneurs:

1. Strategic 

When it comes to your funding strategy, there are three schools of thought. One approach is to take only those investments you currently need, while the other approach is to take as much investment as you are able to get. Yet another approach is forget fundraising and focus on building the best business you can and the money will come. While there are pros and cons to each approach, what’s important is to figure out which one makes sense for your venture and stick to it. Defining your strategy in advance helps avoid setting yourself up for unmet expectations or taking your eye off the ball when it needs to be on the product or the business.

2. Frugal

Whatever funding you have must be used wisely. Spend your investors' money as if it were your own. Even better, have it be your own. I am a strong believer in the importance of entrepreneurs investing their own money into their own companies, and it is something investors are bound to appreciate and respect. WhatsApp, for example, hardly spent any of the $8M they raised from early investors, because they didn’t need to, although they certainly could have. Spend when you need to do so and save when you don’t.

3. Expert

Investor Mark Birch explains that prior domain expertise is not always a prerequisite to startup success. However, Birch cautions, “You can’t simply Google and Wikipedia your way to expertise, it requires time, research, talking to knowledgeable people and digging deep into the guts of the matter.”

Indeed, if you are new to your startup’s industry and don’t have the necessary domain expertise, you’ll need to invest time in building knowledge and networks, as well as focus on making key hires that bring domain expertise to the table. Zipcar founder Robin Chase, for example, talked about how she started a car company, yet knew nothing about cars. She made a smart move by hiring a VP of Operations who had deep experience with Hertz. 

4. Decisive 

Investors want to see that you have the backbone to deal with the difficult decisions that inevitably will arise. From having to fire family members to deciding whether to expand from a single location to multiple locations, entrepreneurs face tough calls on a routine basis and how you deal with those decisions demonstrates your leadership abilities.

5. Transparent

Authentic communication is imperative to building trust in any relationship, especially between entrepreneurs and investors. Provide transparency via regular reporting and be sure to share the ups as well as the downs. Investors know how challenging it is to build a new business and open, honest communication about challenges and successes is key.

6. Persistent

You’ve heard it before and it’s true: never give up! Investors want to see determination. In fact, how you deal with setbacks can be the very thing that sets you apart in the eyes of investors.

Richard Branson says, "many venture capital investors evaluate potential partners on how they reacted to a failed business, seeing it as a test of character, rather than a mark against them." The "key," according to Branson, is how entrepreneurs bounce back.

7. Open to advice

Don’t be afraid to connect with potential investors for input and advice. Many investors are entrepreneurs themselves and have immense knowledge and experience to share. Rather than demonstrating uncertainty or lack of knowledge, asking for advice shows a willingness to learn and consider multiple points of view. Doing so may also open the window of opportunity for funding. As Datanyze CEO Ilya Semin noted, "If you want advice, ask for money. But if you want money, ask for advice."

Is there a secret formula to being an "extraordinary entrepreneur"? Probably not. But adopting these seven attributes can certainly help you get recognized for the entrepreneur you are. Moving forward, demonstrating these key qualities will go miles towards ensuring the ongoing relationships with your investors are amazing.

Monica Zent

6 Key Tips for Leading by Example

Leading is all about influence. How you present yourself in a leadership role affects your ability to successfully leverage authority and motivate others. Do you inspire people to follow your lead? If not, consider evaluating your performance and addressing crucial gaps.

Tweaking a few key behaviors can make a huge difference in how others perceive you. Many people don’t take this point seriously enough and damage relationships, reputations and careers in the process. Be proactive. Here's the deal: Leading can be a rewarding, yet challenging undertaking. Follow these six tips to model excellence and gracefully inspire others to follow your lead:

1. Establish an impeccable standard of excellence.

Set high expectations at the outset and raise the bar on any crucial factors. The best way to establish a standard is by modeling the expected behavior yourself. Showcase excellence. When your actions have the potential to affect everyone around you and the bottom line, don't dabble in mediocrity. Reflecting excellence is critical to exercising effective leadership. This is ground zero for establishing influence.

2. Deliver on results promised. 

Able leadership requires an ability to deliver results. Rhetoric has little value  if outcomes are what's essential. Instead of touting wins from past performances, focus on capturing tangible gains now.  

Harness the power of chunking, a process for organizing tasks and breaking them down into bite-size pieces to avoid stress and burnout. Remember to follow up and follow through, too.

Engage experts if necessary to timely and competently pull projects forward. In the end, only substance and the final sum will matter. Excuses won’t.

3. Value people and nurture relationships.  

Top-notch people skills are vital to sound leadership. Develop premium listening, communication and decision-making skill sets. Demonstrate integrity by being open, honest and fair.

Your transparency will reap clear rewards. If you treat people well, most will be encouraged to return the favor. By elevating the importance of people and relationships, you enhance your ability to relate to others in an authentic and meaningful way.

4. Promote strategic cooperation.

Collaboration is an indispensable component of leadership as captured in John Donne's line “No man is an island." This is especially true if you can build high-performing teams, according to the Harvard Business Review's site. Isn’t it fascinating that no matter how brilliant people are as individuals, they are often far more effective when working with others?

People often produce higher quality, more efficient work products when collaborating. Commit to this by actively embracing opportunities for healthy cooperation. Make teamwork an attractive aspect of workplace culture. Less burnout, increased trust among peers and enhanced interpersonal relationships will result. 

5. Resolve conflict quickly and effectively.

Approach conflict proactively, which means the sooner you resolve things, the better. As a core leadership competency, conflict resolution is a delicate process that requires thoughtful intervention. Disagreements naturally occur. But persistent hostility should not be tolerated. The bottom line? Conflict gets in the way of everything else. Thus your ability to quickly and effectively facilitate resolution will undoubtedly boost your ability to lead.

6. Freely develop and support others.

Professional development is an extraordinary mechanism for facilitating growth. Demonstrate your commitment to expanding your reach and your team's by prioritizing opportunities for enrichment. Allot time and resources to make the process stress free. Challenge yourself and your team to overcome shortcomings at regular intervals throughout the year. Then acknowledge and reward proactive participation to build enthusiasm and encourage continued progress.

 Karima Mariama - Arthur

The 9 Things You Need to Know About Selling

If somebody told me years ago that a future generation of would-be entrepreneurs would learn how to sell from a bunch of writers, researchers, and consultants who’ve never sold a product or managed a sales force in their lives, I wouldn’t have believed it.

And while no article – or book, for that matter – can really teach you how to be a great salesperson, I can definitely share some interesting and counter-intuitive insights that took me a while to figure out, starting with the do's and dont's of delivering a sales pitch:

Selling is a marathon, not a sprint. Selling is a process – an often long and arduous one. The bigger the deal, the longer it takes and the more hoops you have to jump through. On the plus side, you’ll have more time to build a solid foundation for an enduring relationship. If you want to be the last one standing at the end, don’t push too hard in the beginning.

You’re always selling. Whether you’re pitching a new concept to investors, a potential partner to join you, or your board on a risky strategy, you’re more or less always selling something. And if you’re not aware of that, you’re not going to do the right thing to ensure your best chance of success. Truth is, even sales people spend more time selling their own company than their customers.

Make “yes” the logical and emotional choice. Selling is a skill set. Granted, a transaction does eventually take place, but the vast majority of the time, you’re cultivating a relationship, listening to determine your customer’s needs, or building a case for an investment of time and resources or a leap of faith. If you do it right, saying “yes” becomes the logical and emotional choice.

Be sure there’s a real opportunity. Cold calling isn’t synonymous with wasting your and everybody else’s time. Cold calling is when you believe there is a real opportunity and this is your first unsolicited contact with a company or individual. Once you’ve identified the right person and that there is at least a possible fit, then go for it. Otherwise, you’ll come across like a dummy, waste precious time, and maybe even burn bridges or harm your reputation.

Know whom you’re talking to. Try not to get too far along without knowing whom you’re meeting with, what their role is, what motivates them, and how to approach them. Do what you can to learn in advance what they’re doing and what they might be looking for. That way you can come up with a strategy that makes sense. There are ways to do that and adjust your plan on the fly, but that comes with experience.

Don’t try too hard to relate personally. This is probably the biggest mistake small business people make. Sure, you want to build a relationship, but if you try to get too personal too quick, you risk appearing too eager, invading their personal space, or turning the other person off. Instead, pay attention and react to their cues, tone, and body language.

Don’t show off how smart you are. I’ve been guilty of this myself, but not intentionally. Oftentimes, in a transparent attempt to relate and maybe indicate we know what others are talking about, we come off like know-it-alls who love to fill the air with the sound of our own voice. The truth is the customer doesn’t care one bit about what you know. He just wants to know if you’ve got a solution to his problem. So listen.

Give a little, get a little. Selling is a game of give and take. If you do it right, you give a little, get a little, and repeat the process over and over. For example, after providing a general outline of your product, you might ask them to tell you about their product or company so you can determine if there’s a fit. If, on the other hand, you spill your guts all at once and they say “not interested,” you’ve provided a ton of information, gotten nothing in return, and possibly missed an opportunity to offer a customized solution.

Never rehearse. There are several reasons for that, but the most important one is that it’s harder to think on your feet and adapt to new information. Instead, the rule you should always follow is to simply know your material cold, know as much about who you’re pitching as you can, come up with a reasonable plan, and then ask lots of questions, listen for answers, and adjust as needed. Trust your gut.
No matter what happens, remember this: You’ll make lots of mistakes but you’ll get better in time. Most people think I’m a natural-born salesperson, but nothing could be further from the truth. Just listen and learn … from the right people.

Great Article by Steve Tobak ( Tobak is managing partner of Invisor Consulting -- a Silicon Valley-based management and strategy consulting firm -- and a former senior executive of the technology industry.)