The key to long-term success in business is a virtue.
Great Deal That Works
When one counterparty receives more than he/she deserves to receive, the other counterparty catches up on it pretty quickly. No matter how good the initial deal is, if, in the long run, your partner perceives that their role is a losing position, the project will eventually, and most likely, shut itself down.
A startup’s high level of competitiveness comes when it walks an extra mile. To outcompete monsters like Google or Facebook, one needs a concentrated volume of creativity and an outpour of hard work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. To work this hard, one needs the motivation, which comes from a realization of potential BIG opportunities. For me, BIG opportunities begin at the moment of dealmaking.
Entrepreneur – Investor
In entrepreneur-investor relations, a too-small stake for the entrepreneur directly corresponds to lack of motivation on the entrepreneur’s end and the potential loss of the startup. A stake-greedy investor can jeopardize the potential success of a business.
Co-Founders
The most successful projects in my experience as an entrepreneur were formed by myself in collaboration with extremely talented and knowledgeable people. We worked a long time on stake allocation split, as well as business structure.
An unfair stake allocation split between co-founders might place a project in a losing position. As the majority of business entities are formed by unique specialists who are each qualified in a specific field, it is important to keep each head of each department at his/her highest level of diligence and creativity. To quote Michael Jordan, “Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships.”
APR
2019