How To Get Started — by Dan Lynn

By Dan Lynn

The big question I had when starting the business was where to get started. How do you prioritize and focus? Do you build the infrastructure so that you can do the work? Do you hire people who can do the work? Do you focus on raising money so you can do the things above? Or, do you focus on getting customers? If you could do just one thing, what would it be?

Well, I didn't really know. Obviously, it may be different depending on the type of company you are starting (technology versus service), whether you already have funding, etc, etc. However, we were starting from scratch. So, we didn't have anything. And our business was a Web Services business. So, where to start?

I interviewed over 20 senior business managers. Many with significant entrepreneurial experience. The bad news is that there were a lot of different answers. The good news is that those who had built their own businesses all agreed - focus on getting your first customer. Even if you can't actually execute on the work you should try to get a prospective customer to agree under contract that, once you are prepared to deliver, they will use your company.

The bottom line is that the hardest thing to do is get customers - period. Customers drive everything else. With customers, you will more easily get funding and be able to build the operations. Customers will drive more customers. Marketing 101 - "Get the biggest and best and brag." Great customers will also drive great prospective employees through the door.

At the end of the day, there are 3 things that can happen to your business. First, you can get revenue and fail at executing. If you do that, you will be out of business. Second, you can fail on the revenue side but be great at executing. If you do that, you will be out of business. Lastly, you can drive revenue in the door and execute with excellence. If you do that, you will survive and grow. It all starts with driving revenue in the door. So, get out of the conference room and go get your first customer.