Do you think you have to attend an elite college to be successful? You might be wrong.
It may take a long time to go through the bad advice you will give as you build your startup. These opinions can be taken as fact until proven otherwise. Before 2014, it was believed that there were no other places in the world where you could build a successful startup. One of the heads of a well-known venture company told me that they loved my work with the social enterprise. I started to increase the number of Black-owned high-growth businesses. However, they would not fund us unless we moved to Silicon Valley (Black population 24.3 percent) instead. Five years later, highly successful companies such as Etsy (New York), the Fintech Platform Kabbage (Atlanta), and Dr Jay Feldman of the Rest have proven that technology can thrive anywhere in the United States. Startups thrive worldwide, as demonstrated by companies like Spotify (Sweden), Gojek in Indonesia (Indonesia), or WeTransfer (the Netherlands).
You will need to distinguish fact from opinion as a Builder. Many entitled people have a tendency to share information they’ve gleaned from the internet as though it were fact. Because so few people have ever run this race, it’s impossible to fact-check them all. It is vital to verify your facts. These are some of the most horrendous, stupid “advice” I received while building my business.
Lie 1: To build a startup, you must be able to code.
How to code? 99.9% of tech venture capitalists don’t know how to code, and there are surprisingly many startup founders. Although I didn’t know much about coding when I started The Budget Fashionista, I was able to make a small blog a viable business and have a successful exit
You don’t have to be able to modify an SQL database to start a business. It is helpful to learn a little code if you are building a tech-enabled business. If you don’t know the language, it’s challenging to function in a community. While you don’t have to rush to take a coding course until low-code or no-code software becomes ubiquitous, it is in your best interests to learn enough to communicate with your programmer. You can think of it like this: When you travel to a country that isn’t English-speaking, you learn some of the language to navigate. As a way of helping you communicate with the startup community, learn at least some code.
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Before panicking and giving up on your startup idea, you should remember that coding is not complex. As tech bros believe, it doesn’t take genius-level knowledge or skill to code. Big tech loves to pretend that coding is impossible for the average Builder. However, the tech bros just want to make it look special to make them feel (and look) unique. Coding is a skill that can be learned through practice and study. We talked about how Entitleds’ technological advancements can level the playing field in Builders. Coding is an example of this: Thanks to the tech bros, there are endless online coding classes, many of which are free!
There are many benefits to learning how to code. Tobias is my husband and a software engineer at a large tech company. He knows how to create websites and apps. He has between four and five people pitching ideas to him every week. Tobias and his developers’ friends don’t need your help but need you. It’s similar to how an architect can build a house with a contractor, but an architect cannot build a home without a contractor. The rock stars of tech can make something of your ideas. This is why it is crucial to understand the computing language used to build your company.
Coding isn’t so necessary, and it’s easy to learn.
If your startup relies heavily on software, it is a good idea to know how to code. If you know that you will be a part of a new role within your company, or if your startup has fundamental tech needs, you don’t need to worry about coding. If you have the capital, you can find developers looking to partner with startups. If they are available, you could hire them to do your heavy coding work or convince them to become co-founders.
Lie 2: You must graduate from an elite university
People who work in startups love to claim that Harvard, MIT, and Stanford are the top universities for founders. These myth-makers fail to mention that many of the most successful startups are funded by these schools, which are also top schools for investors. They take the results of their small networks and create a pattern that reinforces any biases in their networks. Stanford is the only university where I recruit founders. . . Stanford is where I make my best investments. This pattern-matching bias has been discussed before. Pattern matching is an easy and rational way to keep certain people from getting venture capital funding.
Yes, white men are indeed more likely to be able to sell their startups than any other group in the past. Is this because white men have a better track record in building startups, or because there are fewer opportunities for women and minorities to invest? (Hint: It’s both.)
Truth is, most successful CEOs of startups did not attend elite schools.
People without a degree from an elite university are some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world. This includes a lot of wealthy white guys founders (Cognitive Dissonance). Jack Dorsey was co-founder of Twitter and Square. He studied at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. Steve Case, the founder of AOL, attended Williams College in northern Massachusetts. Many of the most famous founders never even finished college. Steve Jobs, the tech king, attended Reed College in Oregon. He then went on to De Anza Community College in Silicon Valley. But he never graduated. Richard Branson, the billionaire, didn’t attend any university. None at all.
Although it might seem that all startups are managed by geeky twenty-five-year-old Entitleds wearing Stanford hoodies and Stanford hoodies, anyone can start a startup. The average founder of a successful startup is 45 years old. Tina Sharkey was just fifty-three when she founded Brandless, a consumer goods company. It raised more than $300 million in venture capital, but it was closed in February 2020. After raising an additional $118 million, the company got another chance in 2021. Beatriz Acevedo is the founder of Latinx media startup mitu. She graduated from the University of California in San Diego. Many founders don’t have access to venture capital. Richelieu Dennis, a Liberian-born entrepreneur, sold Sundial, a beauty brand including SheaMoisture and brands targeted at Black customers, which he co-founded on the streets in Harlem with his mother, to Unilever, for $1.6 billion.
Lie 3: You must follow the “rules”.
A leader of a diverse group in coding once told me that Builders need to learn how to use the “system” and adhere to the rules to succeed in the startup world. This conversation was interesting because it wasn’t clear that following rules is the way to success for Builders. If this were true, wouldn’t it make the world’s leaders look more like the people running it? While following the rules may have kept us safe sometimes, it hasn’t made us rich.
Truth is, successful entrepreneurs don’t care about following “rules”.
Builders make their own rules. Many diverse founders get told to “work for someone in that space” before they can start their own company. They are told they need to pay their dues and that they just need more experience. Research shows that work experience doesn’t necessarily make you a success. While working for someone else may increase your network, it does not guarantee that you will be able to build a successful business.
The truth is that the Entitled white boys in tech don’t follow this rule. Sergey Brin and Larry Page, founders of Google, did not say, “Oh, let us go to Microsoft before we build one of the most powerful companies on the planet!” Mark Zuckerberg did not think that, “Once my Harvard degree is over, I’m going work for IBM to start Facebook.”
For example, Maria Contreras Sweet, former head of the Small Business Administration under President Obama, broke the rules about how banks are funded. America Bank was founded by Maria Contreras-Sweet, the daughter of meatpackers. She enlisted her family and friends, many of them working-class, to invest funds from their retirement accounts. This helped build the bank into one of the most successful commercial banks in Latinx.
Big ideas lead to big companies. Small ideas can’t make a difference in the world. If you want to work for someone else, it is crucial to understand the system and follow the rules.
Lie 4: A particular type of startup must be built
Voldemort, the Venture Capitalist, and his Death Eaters (fellow VCs) told me that Black beauty wasn’t a startup when I used technology for the brand. He believed that only Google could be considered a startup. Today, internet-based beauty brands such as Glossier and IPSY and BROWN GIRL JAN are well-known and have been successful.
Truth is, you can start anything.
Startups can take on any form. Khaki pants for men That’s right, it’s a startup called Bonobos. Eyeglasses? Warby Parker. Generic household products Brandless. Top K-pop teen singing group factory? Bright Music.
Are you sceptical that every idea could be a startup idea? Here is a list of the non-techy ideas which are well-funded startups.
- Cotton swabs — LastSwab
- Bonobos – Khaki pants for men — Bonobos
- LOLA: Tampons and maxi pads
- Warby Parker Eyeglasses
- Hair weaves — Mayvenn
- Venture capital — Genius Guild
- Generic household products — Brandless
- Preschool — Wonderschool
- House paint — Clare
- Amazon – Virtual “big box retail.”
- Luggage — Away
- Insurance — Lemonade
- Gusto – Human resources
- Grocery shopping — Instacart
- Dental floss — Cocofloss
- Essential children’s clothing — Primary
- Makeup — Glossier
Khaki pants. Cotton swabs Hair weaves. Dental floss. Yes, it is possible to start anything.
Lie 5: Protect your idea against thieves
Whenever I give an address, at least one person will ask me, “How can I prevent my idea from being stolen?” Our staff bets on the time it will take for someone to ask this question.
Are you afraid that someone will steal your idea? Here’s how to keep your idea safe from thieves.
Write down your idea on a piece of paper. You should not give the idea or the piece of paper to anyone. This includes your pet dog, your family members, and anyone who might be able to help you fund the idea. Place the paper with your idea in a safe you only know the combination.
Voila! Your idea is protected 1,000%. Although you cannot build it, obtain funding or get customers, it is safe and secure. You are a winner!
The truth is: You can protect your idea by building it.
Your idea can only be protected if you build it. Keeping your idea in a vault or in your head is useless. Although there is an inherent risk in building a business, you must be willing to take risks. It is your responsibility to protect yourself and the genius idea you have. Realize that someone has built a similar version to your idea. Make it better.
Many will advise you to obtain a trademark or patent for your idea. A trademark or patent is unnecessary if you don’t have a cure for the disease or an innovative technology you can create yourself. Patents and trademarks are only good if you have to sue. And lawsuits can be expensive. According to the American Intellectual Property Law Association, litigating a patent cost between $1.6 million and $3 million. A patent lawsuit can also reduce the chances of potential investors wanting you to work with them because they fear being sued.
Every year, as an investor, I get hundreds of pitches. It’s often difficult for me to understand why one company’s Orange Thingy is so different from the others. I get irritated when a founder asks me for an NDA to sign for something that isn’t high-tech. Instead of paying lawyers to create redundant documents, they should spend that money building the business.
Now that you have your head straight, it is time to start building.
You have accepted your fears. Now you are ready to create your own toolbox. This will give you the tools and foundation to celebrate the ups and downs of building a business. This is what you have got.
