Let’s keep repeating the same approach & hope it magically improves! [#SarcasmFont]

Startup Founder, Advisor, Thinker; Virality Expert. JOIN US for: NEW “Viral Whatever!” + Our “ReThinkingStartups.com Movement” + “18 STARTUPS IN 2018?!?” (wtf?)

Feb 17

info@StartupWhatever.com if any of this sounds like something you’d like to get involved with! PLEASE — JOIN US!

***Please take a moment and really let those stats sink in…*** *because they are at the core of A LOT of our* ***ReThinkingStartups.com Improvement Initiatives*** *— all of which will be* ***PITCHING FOR PARTNERS!***
*(Contact* ***info@StartupWhatever.com*** *to discuss!)*

**You can call me Debbie Downer / Negative Nancy [though I prefer Realistic Rick / Logical Larry / Accurate Alex], but…**

If ~99% of startups fail, yet ~100% of entrepreneurs believe they’ll succeed, then YOUR Assumptions, Beliefs, Confidence about YOUR startup, simply can’t be viewed as objective or valid…

So, the honest/harsh (objective!) reality is that you (and your startup) are NOT A SMART BET (for an investor, or even for yourself to make the All-In / Full-Time leap!) — UNLESS or UNTIL you have AT LEAST one of…

**Honorable Mentions:**
- *“Been There / Done That”* — **Prior Startup SUCCESS** *(not just experience)*
- Joining a **TOP Incubator/Accelerator program** with a proven track-record of success (i.e. Y-Combinator)
- [NOTE: I’m open to adding more if anyone has additional thoughts — Jeff@StartupWhatever.com]

**P.S.** In case you were wondering, **no, I don’t consider “CUSTOMER DISCOVERY” to be a good enough indicator** — partly because I think most people kinda suck at it. **Spoiler Alert:** There’s often **a HUGE difference** between someone who ***SAYS*** ***“I like it!”*** or “Dude, that’s awesome!” or ***“Wow! That’s a really cool [****startup, app, product, service, whatever****] idea”*** or even ***“Yeah, I would totally use that!”*** — and someone who will ***ACTUALLY*** purchase your product, pay for your service, download/use your app, etc.

THE BAD NEWS:

Unless/Until you have one or more of those OBJECTIVE INDICATORS — then your assumptions, your hypotheses, your confidence, etc. are objectively no better than everyone else’s; so, unfortunately, neither is your likelihood of success. #99percentFAIL #100percentBelieveTheyWillSucceed #BadMath

THE GOOD NEWS:

We’re living in a time when countless entrepreneur-friendly services (like WordPress, Amazon Web Services, Shopify, MailChimp, Google Analytics, Facebook Ad-Targeting, and MANY others) make it EASIER, CHEAPER, and FASTER than ever before to build, launch, and A-B test a Startup MVP (minimally viable product).

So … it is not only possible, but we actually RECOMMEND getting started in a PART-time capacity to build your MVP and test your assumptions. THEN, if/when you’ve achieved one of the aforementioned “OBJECTIVE Indicators”, you will be able to make the “Go All-In?” decision with much more OBJECTIVE information at your disposal (and investors will have a much better way of objectively evaluating you!) in regard to whether or not you have a better than average chance of success!

PART-TIME PURSUIT OF *PROOF!

…*Proof of Concept?
…*Proof of Assumptions?
…*Proof of MVP Viability?
…*Proof of Reliable Objective Indicators — of above-average (~1%) success likelihood

Whether your “full-time” job is in Corporate America, already with a startup, or as a full-time student, we’d like to introduce you to the idea of putting “Multiple Eggs in Multiple Baskets” and the many potential benefits of PART-Time ***“STARTER STARTUPS!”***

PRIMARY PRINCIPLES & PHILOSOPHIES:

(For “STARTER STARTUPS” and Our “PART-TIME PURSUIT Of PROOF” Programs & Improvement Initiatives)

Entrepreneurial Self-Awareness
Complementary Co-Founders
Objectivity Over Optimism
(“statistically probable” vs. “theoretically possible”)
Bootstrapped / Self-Funded / Low Overhead
(at least initially, “prior to proof”)
Risk-Mitigation (not risk glorification & celebration)
Entrepreneurial Employees
Shared Resources / Economies of Scale
Blurring the lines between Products, Content, Marketing
Anticipate Pivots BEFORE you’re forced to
A-B Testing isn’t just for marketing! A-B Test EVERYTHING — even Potential Pivots (on your core product!)
Short-Term Goals: PROVE Key Assumptions and/or Achieve RELIABLE OBJECTIVE INDICATORS
Crawl → then Walk → then Run
PART-Time Pursuit of Proof (…of Concept, of Assumptions, of MVP Viability, of Reliable Objective Indicators…)

We believe the idea of **“you must be all-in / full-time”** (on one startup) is not only **OVER-RATED** and unnecessary (*at least initially!), but it is actually a bit **OUT-DATED —** from a time (just a few years ago!) **before AWS and WordPress and Shopify and UpWork and Facebook Ad-Targeting and Google Analytics and…** the countless other startup resources that allow you to launch a startup MVP (test assumptions, validate hypotheses, etc.) so much **EASIER, FASTER and CHEAPER** than ever before!
(**www.theSWANstartup.com — S**acrificing Weekends And Nights)

Smart investors don’t just invest in one company; they diversify their portfolio to mitigate risk and increase chances of big wins. We believe that startups / entrepreneurs should consider that concept too — at least initially, “prior to proof” — with their **“Investment HOURS”** rather than “Investment DOLLARS”… (***MultipleBasketStartups.com***)

MANY Atlanta-based “Starter Startups” — Presently Pitching for PART-Time Partners! JOIN US!

But contact us if you’re at all intrigued by anything you’ve read and/or if you’d like to work with us! info@StartupWhatever.com
— — — — — — —
**IamNOTaCEO.com** *(Entrepreneurial Epiphanies)*
**ThoughtsOnStartups.com** *(Thoughts & Theories)*
**ReThinkingStartups.com** *(Improvement Initiatives)*
**ViralWhatever.com** (“We make Sh*t Go Viral” Secret Sauce)
Part-Time “Pursuit of Proof” Premises & Programs:
**StarterStartups.com** / **MultipleBasketStartups.com** / **theSWANstartup.com**
Practicing What We Preach:
**18Startups.com** / **PitchingForPartners.com**