Chris DeVore and Matt Ehrlichman: “intro to entrepreneurship”

Startups are hard—identifying opportunity, developing a business plan, understanding legal issues, marketing your product. Luckily, you can learn a lot about navigating the startup world from entrepreneurs who’ve been there, done that, and lived to tell the tale.

Resource Nights, presented by the Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship, feature experts from the local entrepreneur community sharing their knowledge on various aspects of starting a business.

This week’s class, “Introduction to Entrepreneurship,” featured Chris DeVore of Techstars and Founder’s Co-op and Matt Ehrlichman of Porch.

Read some of our favorite advice and insights below, watch the entire class video here, and check back weekly for more Resource Nights coverage.

 

Chris DeVoreWho becomes an entrepreneur? These are the characteristics and “people patterns” that Chris DeVore believes typify true entrepreneurs.

  • Insatiable need to create
    “Entrepreneurs have an idea of a future they want to create, and they’ll do whatever it takes to make that idea take shape.”
  • Choose autonomy and control over status and money
    “The last thing in the world you should do if you want to make a lot of money is be an entrepreneur.”
  • Do not need a lot of external validation
    “Entrepreneurs don’t crave approval from the world in order to be functional in their work.”
  • Lofty standards for themselves and for others
    “Entrepreneurs hold themselves to a very high standard and are never satisfied with their work.”
  • High tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity
    “Entrepreneurs have to be ok with not knowing the answer for a long period of time.”
  • Impatient
    “Entrepreneurs tend to push harder, faster, and further than anyone else.”
  • Relentless
    “Good entrepreneurs don’t give up. They don’t take no for an answer.”

 

matt-ehrlichman-familyWhere do you begin? What factors go into deciding what your startup is going to be? Here are Matt Ehrlichman’s thoughts on identifying an opportunity for your startup.

  • Don’t worry about the idea
    “The idea is the least important thing. Identifying an opportunity, a market, a problem to solve—those are important.
  • Choose your market carefully
    “Pick a market where you’re not going to be constrained.”
  • Attack the pain
    “The safest and most consistent way to build a company is to identify real pain points and address real problems.”
  • Go with your passion
    “Find something that you are deeply passionate about. There are so many highs and lows in building a company. If you’re not deeply connected to what you’re trying to do, you’re going to burn out. You need that ‘why’ to sustain you when things get difficult.”
  • Play to your strengths
    “Find something that you are uniquely great at, so that you have a competitive advantage over everyone else in the world.”
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