MY (few) STRENGTHS, MY (many) WEAKNESSES, and… #SelfAwareness

(IamNOTaCEO.com, Part 3)

NOT Actually Jeff — But it Might As Well Be…

With ~20 Years Experience with Startups (including: VC-funded, Angel-funded, Bootstrapped… Acquisitions, Dissolutions, Asset-Sales… Successes, Failures… and everything in between!), I’ve seen/learned A LOT — not only about the startup world in general (ThoughtsOnStartups.com), but about myself as an entrepreneur. I have become keenly aware of my (few!) entrepreneurial strengths…

…as well as my (many!) entrepreneurial weaknesses …

For Example:
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In response to this list, many will say “Well, then clearly this Jackass doesn’t have what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur!”

I get it. And I completely respect that initial reaction. Heck, it’s exactly what I would say if the person we were talking about was almost anybody else!

But I would argue that I actually just listed criteria more applicable to being a successful CEO or COO… and that it is possible (albeit more challenging) to be a successful ENTREPRENEUR and a successful FOUNDER even if you are NOT the typical CEO/COO type… particularly if you are self-aware enough to truly understand your strengths/weaknesses and are able to surround yourself with execution partners (Co-Founders, employees, even interns!) with complementary skill-sets!

Soooo, I listed above some of the MANY things I SUCK at… which I really hope you will keep in mind (so as not to think I sound too Arrogant? Boastful? Conceited? Douchey? Egotistical? Full-of-myself? … #ABCDEF), when I explain that, despite the MANY things I suck at, there are, however, a FEW things that I’m pretty f*ckin’ great at:

• I’m an innovative thinker, an imaginative re-thinker, an inventive problem-solver, and a great strategy/vision/intuition idea guy. My (relatively unique) experience/expertise is creating, recognizing, and/or evaluating concepts and content with the viral potential to resonate with large/diverse audiences, intuitively recognizing many factors in the many areas (the art, science, psychology, math, etc.) that impact virality and differentiate a regular “idea” from what I call an “IDEA+++”

*Note: Above is Primarily for B2C Ideas. For B2B, I suppose you’d replace “Viral Potential” with “Product-Market-Fit” — but, admittedly, my strengths are much more with B2C rather than B2B.

• I was at my creative best (numerous viral ventures, engaging millions of people, huge amounts of viral buzz and national media coverage) back when I was embracing my “Entrepreneurial A.D.D.”, working on many ideas/projects simultaneously. I intend to get back to that in 2018 and beyond — if, If, IF, *IF* I can successfully attract the right execution partners with skills complementary to mine… [NOTE: I’ve had success with this approach in the past:

“ In 2007, I made the (scary) decision to “fire myself” as CEO of my own startup. [#BestDecisionEVER] Six months later, we had raised $850,000 in funding; a year later, we were a profitable 7-figure company…” (full column)

• Will ALL my ideas/ventures be successful or go viral? Of course not. But I’ve achieved viral traction with ~12.5% of all creative concepts/content I’ve launched over the years (ViralWhatever.com for more) — so, with the quantity / quality of ideas, products, content, “Starter Startups” I plan to launch (based on ReThinkingStartups.com Strategies & Improvement Initiatives) — and *IF* I’m able to attract some great execution partners — I’m extremely excited / optimistic about our plans for the FUTURE…