Startup Tips Day 15: David Weekly from PBwiki

Day #15 in the CenterNetworks Startup Tips Month come from David Weekly from PBwiki.

David's Tips

Tip #1 - Do the simplest thing possible.

You're probably pretty smart so you've probably built out a very elaborate scheme / architecture / process for achieving world peace while becoming fabulously wealthy. Drop it. This big-picture kind of stuff is pure intellectual masturbation. Instead, ask yourself, almost as a joke, what the absolute simplest possible version of the idea would be - challenge yourself to something you can do in a day. You may be surprised (positively or negatively!) by the results.

Tip #2 - Write it down.

Again, you're smart, so you have all of these lists and big picture things in your head, and it all makes perfect sense. Or at least, you've convinced yourself that it does. But it's really amazing what putting things down on paper does - it forces wishy-washy things to be concrete, even if you're just writing for yourself. Write down your dreams, your hopes, your schemes. The act of writing them down is an incredibly powerful first step to making them real. Don't pooh-pooh it.

Tip #3 - Overcommunicate.

Yet again, you're smart, so everything makes sense to you. There's no need to waste time or pleasantries with business to be done; I'm sure people knew exactly what you meant. Well, not really. Many of the world's problems stem from a lack of understanding of other people, which is mostly due to undercommunication. Make sure you make crystal clear what you're thinking, all the time, to as many people as possible. Foster overcommunication in your coworkers. Note: This doesn't mean calling your ex-girlfriend twenty times a day.

Tip #4 - Learn to fall well.

Something startlingly common across physical activities is managing failure. Simply put, learning for fall well. In jiujitsu, ballet, gymnastics, ice skating, karate...even with flying helicopters, you need to learn how to gracefully fail. Don't plan on failing, but know that there's almost no way you can have a successful life without an awful lot of failure. Roll with it when it comes. When I started my company, I read up on a lot of other successful companies and found out that most of them had gotten off to pretty rocky starts.

So when I had a series of very serious challenges very early on (and ended up taking no salary for over three years) I saw that this was not some sign of my lack of luck or poor personal competence, it was a natural part of the road to success. So prepare for the worst but hope for the best and don't be afraid to screw up - because you *will* screw up. Get over it.

Tip #5 - Just do it.

You probably have at least a dozen very good reasons why right now is not the right time to start a company. You didn't just fancy them; they are real and they are scary. But in another light, it's almost a sure bet that right now is the best possible time for you to go ahead and take the leap. The future holds unknowns - children, moves, deaths, departures, increases in costs, mortgages, and debt. The present, for all its pros and cons, is at least well defined. Your lowest risk is probably right now. Don't wait, you will gain nothing in waiting. You are not too young and you do not need the "magic" idea / team to get started. Willpower, risk, and smarts will get you where you want to be.

People matter.

You're smart, you've probably read Ayn Rand, and you think competence alone will drive you. You might look down on those "networking" types who need other people in order to get jobs / deals they don't deserve. You're right and you're wrong - people will amplify whatever innate competence you have. The best is to be highly competent and very good with people. Even if you're introverted and shy, carve out time with people. Have dinner with friends, then have a dinner party where everyone brings a guest. When you talk with people, listen to them and care about them. There is absolutely no investment you can make that has returns close to what you get out of investing in and caring about people. It is satisfying and rewarding on every level.

David Weekly, 28, is a Boston native and the founder of PBwiki, the world's largest permissioned wiki host. He's a Stanford Computer Science President Scholar, has spoken at the United Nations in Geneva, taught computing in Ghana, flies helicopters, and hosts big all-night hacker parties at his house in Hillsborough. As of November, he is an uncle of a beautiful baby girl.