"We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down." - Kurt Vonnegut
I feel that often times, this must be the case for entrepreneurs because by definition, they are risk takers; risk takers who assume full responsibility for the outcomes of their actions and decisions. They are not always given the luxury of time, assurance or confirmation and must utilize current resources at hand in determining the best strategy available.
During my sophomore year in college, I attended a conference in Chicago that centered around the roles of youth entrepreneurship in future societies. One of the keynote speakers was Ryan Allis, co-founder and CEO of iContact Corp. There was something he mentioned during his presentation that really caught my attention. "Do it first. Then ask for permission..." he advised. This confirm my value of time in entrepreneurship because in relativity, one of our most scarce assets is time; something you can not take back - that is, without time travel [record: February 6th, 2011]. Assuming that humans live, on average, 70 years, within that given time frame is all we have for making the most out of our lives. And in this fact, it's enough to propose the dangers of constantly second doubting because before you know it, you've lost all the time doubting rather than doing. It is sometimes better to just 'do' rather than get stuck in what Ryan Allis described as "analysis paralysis." It can be very time consuming when one becomes too meticulous in making a product 'perfect' but consequently keeps the product from ever being exposed.
In a recent conversation I had online with my friend who is also working on some entrepreneurial ventures, we discussed topics relating to just
Tim! I apologize for not getting back to you until now! I've been extremely busy and I failed to keep up with your message in a timely manner. But I'm here now. I read through everything carefully and my greatest advice is that you truly need to evangelize your vision to the people you are asking for help - significantly easier said than done.
However, I'm sure you are already working hard to do so but the unfortunate culture is that most people look for something in return or simply don't understand your perspective until they've experienced it themselves like how a cancer patient feels or how a parent feels having lost a child - in this case, having a disability. To add to the challenge it's a 501c3. It's extremely difficult to persuade people to help when first starting out but it can be done. Utilize and take advantage of everything you have, make relationships with good people and show them how their help can benefit them.
Hiring out is an option but dangerous because people want to make money. Finding good, moral people in this economy is rare. Plus there must be some credible foundation in which you know will work on. You may need to test a bridge out first by rolling a few rocks across it before commanding everyone to run across at once. Same thing with the venture - find those people who will build a beta test site for you; the skeleton form and just get it out there to let people try it. Don't worry about getting everything perfect, just get it out there. Nike's "Just Do It" slogan is right.
At this stage, it sounds like you are simply looking for people. Show them what you have so far and ask them to work with you. This is crucial rhetoric: you must ask them to work 'with' you, not 'for' you. Also, demonstrating what you have done and have thus far will significantly increase the possibility that they will help. Possibly search for a partnership(s). Searching for people in your CS department is a good start. Remember, strip everything to the bare essentials in beta and get it out. Everything great has started small. Facebook simply was created to be a cool site for Harvard with $200-$1000 for servers and a highly motivated team. Once you get something rolling, it becomes easier for you to convince people to help; possibly to the point where you require people to apply to help for you. But the point is, you have to just get something out. Sell your vision to someone, build the skeleton, and test.
As entrepreneurs, we'll never know if something will work until we allow the public to decide so spending thousands of dollars on something you don't know whether or not will work is dangerous so you must first test. The reason why I I know this is because I've seen multiple ventures get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars and even millions to start a seemingly promising idea but at the end of the day, not persuasive enough to the public and ultimately wasting a fortune. One example is "CollegeOnly.com" started by a Princeton graduate for college students to connect. Sounds cool right, plus the kid must be really smart having graduated from Princeton. To Peter Thiel (early investor of facebook) it seemed promising. So he invested $1.2Million in the venture in 2009. Today, it's 2011, the site has launched last year 2010 but has disastrously failed because it has not convinced the public. Even after trying market through creating their own web show, marketing through facebook, spreading nationwide, they ultimately failed. It doesn't matter how much medicine you give to a dead body, a dead body is a dead body. Likewise, a bad product is a bad product.
So the key is to get something together and throw it out there. If fail, that only means you've learned a way not to fail again just as Thomas Edison learned 1000 ways not to fail in order to find that one world-changing success. In short, evangelize to good friend(s) with CS knowledge, build bare essential and get it out. Best to find people in physical proximity so you can shape the vision best by being with them the entire ride.
I wish you the best of luck my friend. Hope all is well. Don't hesitate to email or message me anytime bro.
However, I'm sure you are already working hard to do so but the unfortunate culture is that most people look for something in return or simply don't understand your perspective until they've experienced it themselves like how a cancer patient feels or how a parent feels having lost a child - in this case, having a disability. To add to the challenge it's a 501c3. It's extremely difficult to persuade people to help when first starting out but it can be done. Utilize and take advantage of everything you have, make relationships with good people and show them how their help can benefit them.
Hiring out is an option but dangerous because people want to make money. Finding good, moral people in this economy is rare. Plus there must be some credible foundation in which you know will work on. You may need to test a bridge out first by rolling a few rocks across it before commanding everyone to run across at once. Same thing with the venture - find those people who will build a beta test site for you; the skeleton form and just get it out there to let people try it. Don't worry about getting everything perfect, just get it out there. Nike's "Just Do It" slogan is right.
At this stage, it sounds like you are simply looking for people. Show them what you have so far and ask them to work with you. This is crucial rhetoric: you must ask them to work 'with' you, not 'for' you. Also, demonstrating what you have done and have thus far will significantly increase the possibility that they will help. Possibly search for a partnership(s). Searching for people in your CS department is a good start. Remember, strip everything to the bare essentials in beta and get it out. Everything great has started small. Facebook simply was created to be a cool site for Harvard with $200-$1000 for servers and a highly motivated team. Once you get something rolling, it becomes easier for you to convince people to help; possibly to the point where you require people to apply to help for you. But the point is, you have to just get something out. Sell your vision to someone, build the skeleton, and test.
As entrepreneurs, we'll never know if something will work until we allow the public to decide so spending thousands of dollars on something you don't know whether or not will work is dangerous so you must first test. The reason why I I know this is because I've seen multiple ventures get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars and even millions to start a seemingly promising idea but at the end of the day, not persuasive enough to the public and ultimately wasting a fortune. One example is "CollegeOnly.com" started by a Princeton graduate for college students to connect. Sounds cool right, plus the kid must be really smart having graduated from Princeton. To Peter Thiel (early investor of facebook) it seemed promising. So he invested $1.2Million in the venture in 2009. Today, it's 2011, the site has launched last year 2010 but has disastrously failed because it has not convinced the public. Even after trying market through creating their own web show, marketing through facebook, spreading nationwide, they ultimately failed. It doesn't matter how much medicine you give to a dead body, a dead body is a dead body. Likewise, a bad product is a bad product.
So the key is to get something together and throw it out there. If fail, that only means you've learned a way not to fail again just as Thomas Edison learned 1000 ways not to fail in order to find that one world-changing success. In short, evangelize to good friend(s) with CS knowledge, build bare essential and get it out. Best to find people in physical proximity so you can shape the vision best by being with them the entire ride.
I wish you the best of luck my friend. Hope all is well. Don't hesitate to email or message me anytime bro.
