I had the pleasure of speaking for an hour at Jon Aberman’s MBA class in Washington D.C. the other day.  Before the class, I jotted down ten entrepreneur’s lessons from bootstrapping and building companies over the past 20 years.  I’m sure I missed a few (or many), and perhaps I will update this blog at some point in the future with some additional ideas, but here is my list as of last week:

1. Starting a company takes twice as long, costs twice as much, and is twice as hard as you think it will.  So when you think you’ve taken this all into account, THEN double it!
2. There is no such thing as being too cheap – you can do so many things on the fly, by mooching, and by spending every dollar like you are a starving artist.  But you can be too cheap, like scrimping on a server and causing customer problems.
3. Appearances can be had for next to nothing – you can print a great business card, use temporary space, lease conference rooms, use a virtual PBX phone system, etc.
4. Be seriously creative in solving problems, because in the early stage there are few rules outside of honesty and integrity.  Think outside the box – your more established competitors are forced to live inside their box.
5. ASK for help, advice, and wisdom – it costs nothing, and a lot of people have learned an awful lot before you.
6. In a bootstrap, you really learn who your friends are, because you have no money, no brand, and very little to give.  Your true friends will stick with you and help you even when there is no immediate return for them.
7. Startups are bipolar, and so you become so too.  You’ll go from “top of the world” to “oh crap, what am I doing” and back again.  It is normal.  Stick with it!
8. Speed to market is usually NOT the critical dimension.  Execution is most often what makes the real difference.  So focus on quality over speed (but don’t ignore speed!)
9. Learn how to sell, and don't stop.  If you cannot sell, you’d better learn, and then never stop selling.  You can hire a sales team, but get out there with them!
10. Be willing to be wrong, accept it, make changes, and then keep pushing forward.  This is the power of the entrepreneur – to quickly see good and bad decisions and make the needed adjustments on the fly.

So what do you think I am missing?