This time of life is all about learning. Three thoughts:
1. Incorporate early
Start-ups don’t seem to nearly incorporate themselves early enough. After hearing two lawyers speak on campus there is one clear takeaway – incorporate as soon as possible. Get those shares out at 0.0000001 per share and figure out the basics. It’s hard to try say a company is worth nothing the day before a Term Sheet is signed.
2. How to read people’s minds
I heard a great piece of advice from a VC Partner. There are two things that he has always used to read people’s minds:
– Understand their incentives
– Learn to read body language
The combination of the two throughout a conversation will quickly highlight what someone is truly thinking. A fascinating piece of wisdom.
3. Don’t over optimise with a short-term view
We studied a case this week where someone over optimised a single point in time and screwed the other guy. Turns out this came back to bite the guy in the ass as he disenfranchised others within his company and ruined his reputation. He is now stuck at a mediocre company with no-one wanting to work with him.
