Why would someone want to buy my company?
There’s a new school of thought in startup financing based upon a book called Ultimate Exits by Dr. Tom McKaskill. You can download the Ultimate Exits e-book and it’s accompanying workbook for free from Dr. McKasKill’s website. (He’s also got a ton of really great e-books on Amazon.)
If you don’t know where you are going, it’s hard to know when you’ve gotten there.
Eric Dobson starts us out with a simple, yet profound statement, “If you don’t know where you’re going it’s hard to know when you’ve gotten there.” What’s more, he focuses in on his role as an angel investor.
“I always thought there was a big leap for making enough money on your own and it turned out it wasn’t really as hard as I thought. [We all] have a fear-based reaction to what’s going on [when striking out on our own]. The number one thing is the idea of risk. Hundreds of people have said to me that going out on their own is too risky.” — David Meerman Scott in our interview (part 1 and part 2).
David Meerman Scott recalls, “I jumped into my own thing 14 years ago after being fired from a corporate job for having too many radical ideas. Today, I deliver speeches, write books, and serve on advisory boards for startups.” It doesn’t take a deep thinker to realize that sure does sound like a better gig.
In our first episode we interviewed John Lee Dumas who shared with us what he’s learned about entrepreneurial mentorship, leading with value, and listening to your customers. What’s remarkable about what John has accomplished in such short time in the staggering amount of profit he’s generated doing it.
Albert Einstein said, “Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.”
John Dumas, who we interviewed in our first episode, took up this cause right away with his business, focusing on leading with value first and monetizing second.
In our first episode John Lee Dumas gave our listeners a ton of great advice about how to work with a mentor and how to lead with value. John has put all of this advice to incredible impact, listening to his audience, and producing services and content to meet their needs. What’s more, he’s been fully transparent about the process and how much money he’s made doing it.
John’s podcast and its offshoot businesses leverage his listener base to create revenue and profit. John tells us that his listeners were asking him “how to create products and services.”
His answer is simple: “Listen to your audience and [they] will tell you the services and products they need.”
We picked up this tip while interviewing John Lee Dumas, who told us all about how his mentor relationship helped him get over his biggest fears and to just get started leading with value and listening to his audience on the way to impressive profits.
99% of investors have been in your shoes. Never forget that. They put in incredible time, effort and focus to become successful and now have the ability to help startups. If they don’t see themselves in you, the chances of them backing your company go down immensely.