Spiritual Ancestors of Credit Card VC
I stumbled across Founders at Work, and was immediately entranced. Guy Kawasaki had the same reaction, and quoted some of the best bits, including this: All the best things I did at Apple came from (a) not having money, and (b) not having done it before, ever. That’s from Woz, who founded Apple with Steve Jobs.
(I always feel a special kinship with Woz, because like me and Bob Redford, we attended CU Boulder, but did not graduate.)
Reading through the list that Guy has, it’s amazing how many of the quotes have to do with NOT spending money.
Focus, determination, drive, passion — those are the things most often talked about when it comes to success in entrepreneurial ventures. Money makes the world go ’round, but it is not the key element of success.
In my second go around as a Credit Card-Self-Venture-Capitalist.
While I find that book to be relatively weak in terms of insight or new content (it’s really just a collection of interviews best read in the bathroom) , I have to agree with this point. Spend (and take) as little money as possible, especially in the early stage. I remember lamenting over a $300 laser printer in my first business. We finally broke down and bought it after months of debate. Once you take “real” money, it’s too easy to lose this sense of thriftiness.