I met with a dynamic startup founder yesterday. She has been working to build a 3-way marketplace. Two of the parties love her product, but the third is reluctant to engage.

She has been struggling for a year and a half to get the third party to participate on the platform, but it’s been difficult. I told her to stop trying so hard. If one of the parties in your market place doesn’t love what you’re offering, you’ll never convince them otherwise.

She didn’t want to hear this because she’s invested so much time and money into solving this problem, but it’s a critical lesson for any startup founder. I think she got the message and will look for other opportunities. If she does, I know she will succeed because she is so determined.

If you’re an early stage startup with 5 revenue streams, I probably won’t invest because what it tells me is that none of your revenue streams is strong enough to build a billion-dollar business. Most great startups begin with one primary revenue stream that is powerful enough to take the company to IPO. Think of Facebook with advertising or Airbnb with rentals or Amazon with online shopping. They all have one dominant revenue stream. If you need multiple revenue streams to succeed, your  business is probably broken.

Your product needs to offer a fundamentally different core value to the customer than anything else on the market. Otherwise you’re just following–not leading. Leaders dominate. Followers fade away.

​Always invest in the best of breed. It’s a winner-take-all world. The top startups in each market dominate. If a startup is aiming to be 3rd, 4th or 5th in their market, they are DOA (dead on arrival). Smart capital,  customers, and economies of scale always favor the market leader. Everyone else will struggle to survive.

Take a different path than everyone else, even if it takes longer and the journey is more difficult. That’s the only way to discover something new.

Always have fun and make new friends wherever you go! If you can’t enjoy the ride, there’s no point going.

In every city I travel to, I always make time to have some fun. For example, last week when I visited Wuhan, I reached out to my network and asked them to introduce me to some random locals–people I didn’t know. Read More...

Every startup must have a culture. Culture isn’t about having a Ping Pong table, free food or hip furniture.

It’s about having a belief that everyone shares–a belief that guides your company. What do you believe your business is all about? What’s your mission–beyond making money? Why does your company mean something to people?

That’s culture. Now go create it!