The four non-technical skills every entrepreneurial graduate should have (but that we don’t talk about enough).

I had a chance this afternoon to watch Generation Startup. This was a great movie documenting Venture For America Fellows and alumni as they worked to develop their companies. And it made me think about what helped them and others like them find success or fail to do so.

With the shift towards entrepreneurship as a viable and desirable option post-graduation (something I am glad to see), setting graduates up for success in this career path becomes more pressing, as it is not something that is easily taught without experience.

From my experience working on startups, advising entrepreneurs, and working with investors, here are five essential non-technical skills that any entrepreneurial individual should have to make sure that they are ready for the journey:

Storytelling. As a founder, it is essential to be able to sell all stakeholders on your vision. Simon Sinek has made a great talk about the value and structure of a well-told story for companies. This is what will motivate the technical talent to potentially turn down offers for higher salary and better benefits at a prestigious company to join you on your journey. You will need to build a culture around your mission to keep engagement of early employees. To capture the interest of potential customers, you need to know how to position yourself and clearly convey your value, in way that not only appeals to them, but also allows them to spread the word to others easily. A strong, evocative, and well told story can make the difference for investors. Telling the story that connects with your audience can make the difference between just a great idea, and a message that spreads.

Building relationships by providing value. In his book Give and Take, Adam Grant discusses how highly successful people need to have the ability to connect, as the most accomplished group of people in society tend to be givers. The most valuable relationships I’ve seen colleagues develop in their professional lives developed organically with people to whom they’ve chosen to provide value, simply because it would help them. That doesn’t mean just help people with the expectation to get something back. The more support you put out into the universe, though, the higher the odds that opportunities will develop in your life. Sam DeBrule, for example, who wrote the Secret Daily Guide to New York’s Startup Ecosystem, provided value to the ecosystem, which resulted in a number of inbound emails from investors and other interesting people. Should he decide to create a startup, those relationships could prove invaluable.

How could one provide value? I’ve written a separate post on that. The key point, though, is that your future customers, partners, investors, and employees can come from anywhere, most likely people you know and have helped before. Play the long game and provide value whenever you easily can.

Empathy. Across the development timeline, empathy is essential to success. Writing that first cold email to someone you want to meet? Empathy allows you to understand how busy they are, what they might respond to, and how to position yourself to get a meeting. Trying to discover customer pain points in a market or sell them a product? Stop selling, start listening and putting yourself in their shoes to see what they really need. Trying to change consumer behavior? As Seth Godin teaches in the altMBA program, we need to address them where they are and in their worldview if we want any chance of success. To create something of value that your employees, market, or colleagues want, you have to understand them first.

Obsession with Research. Danny Warshay- professor of Entrepreneurship and New Ventures, a class at Brown that my brother Dan MacCombie and I both took- hammered home consistently that before we proposed any idea for a venture, we complete thorough bottom-up (consumer level) research. I understood it, but thoroughly internalized it once I got to New York and began listening to startup’s pitch in competitions. There would be a pitch for an app to help tourists find local guides in cities they were visiting. And then another one. And another one. And another one, event after event.

The focus on research should extend beyond simply the competitive landscape for a product. For your product to be successful, have you tested out every theory that must hold true?

• Do they truly need the product, or just think it is nice to have?
• Will they pay more than it costs to acquire them as customers?
• How expensive will it be to get distribution?
• Will your partners have enough incentive to work with you?

Even as you get into the work on a startup, are you obsessed with answering the questions that investors might ask about your business? Have you found the right people, and do you know the terms that both of you might be able to agree on? I’ve seen friends with potentially high upside in their company have their equity diluted to almost nothing because they did not research their options and terms in agreements before signing.

Having this obsession with researching (in a time-effective manner) can make the difference between continued success and that one decision that leads to a failed company or sub-par outcome.

Though they are not sufficient alone to foster success, these four skills can make a huge difference for our entrepreneurial graduates. What other skills do you think are essential but not talked about enough?

If you think this may be of value to people that you know who are about to enter the world of entrepreneurship, please help them by sharing.

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