Build your support network carefully, and don’t be afraid to lean on others.
Daymond John’s mother booking the ad in the New York Times that ultimately led to FUBU’s financing round is just one example of how critical your support network can be to your start-up’s success.
Humans just don’t do as well on their own. We’re social animals. We live in groups and we work in teams. Ideas go farther when we work on them collectively, involving everyone who loves us, from our family to our friends – and especially our cofounders.
Startups are way too hard to do on your own. It’s a lonely road, full of far more crushing lows than soaring highs. Even the giants of entrepreneurship – names like Zuckerberg, Musk, and Bezos – started their companies with partners. So should you. In fact, who you pick as your cofounder can determine whether or not your idea succeeds.
When picking a cofounder, you should look for someone who complements your skillset. When fashion marketing executive Jen Rubio had the idea for a new kind of luggage in 2015, she didn’t need a cofounder to market the first Away bag. But she wouldn’t have been able to get it manufactured at scale without supply-chain specialist Steph Korey. Together they raised $2.5 million for their startup – before their first line of suitcases even launched!
You probably won’t be surprised to learn that most startups don’t succeed that fast– if they succeed at all. For Eric Ryan and Adam Lowry, founders of Method cleaning products, the payoff came a bit later. It took a year from founding for their products to land on Target shelves. They lived together in the same room, stayed up till all hours working, maxed out all their credit cards, and subsisted largely on instant ramen noodles. They bickered, but they also laughed and trusted each other. It’s this type of relationship that serves as the foundation for a solid business.
You can’t start a successful business with just friendship, though. You need money, too. But before you go to professional investors, look first to your nearest and dearest. Swallow your pride and ask them for money. Answer all their questions about why your idea can’t lose. Do it again and again. By the time you get really good at selling your company, you’ll probably have some money to play with.
What makes this even better? It’s not your money – it’s money that belongs to people you don’t want to let down. You’ll work twice as hard to make their investment worthwhile.
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