F***k What You Heard, A Startup Is...

About starting out and building an organic enterprise slowly, profitably and in a sustainable manner before having the need to borrow money to grow. Well, yea it's true, a healthy ecosystem has funders & founders. Founders however, need to lead the way without having to lean on funders so that they can build without deviating from their original purpose or mission of their business. In order to build a customer-focussed business you need to ensure the distractions of funders telling you what to do are removed or at best managed at arm's length. The PR rhetoric we read to death about startups raising multiple rounds of funding on the promise of 'customer acquisitions at 'x' rate needs to fall for the simple reason that it's all a big fat lie.

Here's a thought:

1. invest time & effort in your skill or art; 
2. solve a real problem in the market; 
3. charge a fee and sell it; 
4. ask for non-monetary help from seasoned 'elders' in the business world; 
5. grow your customer base organically; 
6. Bank real money; 
7. re-invest the profits to grow your business; 
8. live modestly and STOP LYING TO THE WORLD...after all, you've got to consider that BUSINESS IS BUILT AT THE SPEED OF TRUST.

PS: ...by the way, a by-product of building a healthy startup is that you attract quality people that stick with you for the long run. Others call it 'job creation'.

Happy building ✌