As at 2016 Silicon Valley has become the single most competitive professional environment on the planet. Where 20 or 30 years ago, the masters of the universe went to Wall Street to make their fortunes, today those same unapologetically ambitious people (primarily, but not exclusively, men) make their way to Silicon Valley.

For these 0.0001% of the most competitive humans on the planet, anything they can do to keep out additional competition (other founders, not employees. They want employees.), they will do. It's human nature.

Then, these competitive founders become competitive venture capitalists, and they take the same ways they sized up the competition as operators into the ways that they evaluate founders, giving more credibility to those formidable foes they met in past battles going all the way back to the playground.

This is the arena.

It's not an arena that's easy for anyone. However, given this context you can see how technology entrepreneurship among competing masters of the universe is especially challenging for women and people of color to dive in.

I don't have to tell you this; the social science research and basic statistics do the work for me.

But it also isn't the point. The only question an entrepreneur should ask is, "What do I need to do to win in the arena?"

Here are a few things I believe make it possible to compete effectively when you don't fit the dominant pattern of people who were born with every opportunity and the expectation that they could be the next Bill Gates:

Pick a lane. Don't just start a tech startup to start a tech startup. It's too hard. Rather, go deep on a mission, market or domain that captures your curiosity, and that you can imagine working on for the next 10 years. Get extraordinarily good at what you do. Be so good that people come to you for your expertise.

Put down the playbook. The startup playbook is fed by endless posts by newly minted venture capitalists about what they look for in entrepreneurs, what they think makes a great pitch, how you should talk about your market and what growth hacks work today. The audience for this playbook fits a certain profile of entrepreneur who will be judged on their potential & nothing else, no stereotypes or discrimination. This rarely happens in reality. It's a fact. As an entrepreneur, you figure out how to hack around facts.

Control your own destiny. Use shortcuts and as little capital as you can to start generating revenue. To hack around the facts, I believe the most important question to ask yourself is, "How do I get them to come to me?"
Adi Tatarko at Houzz created the company with her husband before taking a dollar of investment. She saw the opportunity to bring together the supply of professionals and home decorating enthusiasts that makes Houzz special. She and Alon created something people loved. Including investors. They came to her.
When I look at success stories like Houzz, or SurveyMonkey and GitHub, who both bootstrapped their way to revenue before raising money, they all figured out how to show massive growth and revenue without capital. It's possible.

Work smarter, not harder. This is the most non-intuitive observation I will probably make. If you want to compete in the arena, hard work isn't enough. And judging yourself on how hard you work, rather than how smart you work can be fatal.
If you value hard work alone, you'll find yourself taking 10 months to raise the same amount of funds an entrepreneur who fits the pattern just raised in a few weeks with a competitive process. Your job as an entrepreneur in this situation is not to say, "I'm going to just keep going." It's to say, "What can I do to show results or build the thing I am passionate about bringing into this world without needing anyone's money?"

This is your chance to work smarter. You can find shortcuts that allow you to serve your market and show amazing results before you have to raise a dime.
If you work smarter, you'll win.

Get a good mentor or mentors. Why? There are many experiences you will have that they've already passed through, and so will have tips on how to pull through handy. Like going into an exam & you've seen the questions already.

Join Groups

Network Attend and connect with as many events in your desired industry/ location. Pick a lane is akin to - don't spread yourself too thin. Sort out what you believe you want to do, and go learn what you don't know. Who knows where you'll end up, but surely it will be somewhere great because of the hard work you put into your journey.

@OP am still at lost with what you intend to achieve with this post.

sorry op is trying to make something out of today's youth

oginineme:
@OP am still at lost with what you intend to achieve with this post.

OP i want to open a Tecno phone shop plis can advice me

I am an entrepreneur in a way as I produce liquid soaps in nice packs. I am thinking of adding detergents,creams (hair and body) and bar soaps to the list. I am scared of competition though as we have big names producing these things already. What do you think?

With the way the Nigerian economy is going, entrepreneurship is the way forward oo.

I have known for a very long time that entrepreneurship is the way forward. No dulling.

oginineme:
@OP am still at lost with what you intend to achieve with this post.

its probably to educate people like you....entrepreneurship is key in our economy today

Entrepreneurship is the way forward now, byt funds to support it is another problem

I still feel not everyone was meant to be an entrepreneur

Damiandark01:
I still feel not everyone was meant to be an entrepreneur

hmmmm, every one is sups to at least try.

Hybrid01:
I am an entrepreneur in a way as I produce liquid soaps in nice packs. I am thinking of adding detergents,creams (hair and body) and bar soaps to the list. I am scared of competition though as we have big names producing these things already. What do you think?

its okay to be scared but it would be worse if you dont try

True....some people are too skillful to sit back in and office and give commands...they need to be on the field!

Damiandark01:
I still feel not everyone was meant to be an entrepreneur

Africanman123:
With the way the Nigerian economy is going, entrepreneurship is the way forward oo.

thats true but its not as easy at it seems sha, when capital should disappear in the first month its not going to be funny

when you have ideas but not too much capital things can be harder than you think

tymajek:
True....some people are too skillful to sit back in and office and give commands...they need to be on the field!

just to use that expert eye to make a difference

Great words

You get my point shey?

kendrick2:

just to use that expert eye to make a difference

Well noted. That mentor aspect!? Most of our established people aint ready to share!?

TrollinStone:
As at 2016 Silicon Valley has become the single most competitive professional environment on the planet. Where 20 or 30 years ago, the masters of the universe went to Wall Street to make their fortunes, today those same unapologetically ambitious people (primarily, but not exclusively, men) make their way to Silicon Valley.

For these 0.0001% of the most competitive humans on the planet, anything they can do to keep out additional competition (other founders, not employees. They want employees.), they will do. It's human nature.

Then, these competitive founders become competitive venture capitalists, and they take the same ways they sized up the competition as operators into the ways that they evaluate founders, giving more credibility to those formidable foes they met in past battles going all the way back to the playground.

This is the arena.

It's not an arena that's easy for anyone. However, given this context you can see how technology entrepreneurship among competing masters of the universe is especially challenging for women and people of color to dive in.

I don't have to tell you this; the social science research and basic statistics do the work for me.

But it also isn't the point. The only question an entrepreneur should ask is, "What do I need to do to win in the arena?"

Here are a few things I believe make it possible to compete effectively when you don't fit the dominant pattern of people who were born with every opportunity and the expectation that they could be the next Bill Gates:

Pick a lane. Don't just start a tech startup to start a tech startup. It's too hard. Rather, go deep on a mission, market or domain that captures your curiosity, and that you can imagine working on for the next 10 years. Get extraordinarily good at what you do. Be so good that people come to you for your expertise.

Put down the playbook. The startup playbook is fed by endless posts by newly minted venture capitalists about what they look for in entrepreneurs, what they think makes a great pitch, how you should talk about your market and what growth hacks work today. The audience for this playbook fits a certain profile of entrepreneur who will be judged on their potential & nothing else, no stereotypes or discrimination. This rarely happens in reality. It's a fact. As an entrepreneur, you figure out how to hack around facts.

Control your own destiny. Use shortcuts and as little capital as you can to start generating revenue. To hack around the facts, I believe the most important question to ask yourself is, "How do I get them to come to me?"
Adi Tatarko at Houzz created the company with her husband before taking a dollar of investment. She saw the opportunity to bring together the supply of professionals and home decorating enthusiasts that makes Houzz special. She and Alon created something people loved. Including investors. They came to her.
When I look at success stories like Houzz, or SurveyMonkey and GitHub, who both bootstrapped their way to revenue before raising money, they all figured out how to show massive growth and revenue without capital. It's possible.

Work smarter, not harder. This is the most non-intuitive observation I will probably make. If you want to compete in the arena, hard work isn't enough. And judging yourself on how hard you work, rather than how smart you work can be fatal.
If you value hard work alone, you'll find yourself taking 10 months to raise the same amount of funds an entrepreneur who fits the pattern just raised in a few weeks with a competitive process. Your job as an entrepreneur in this situation is not to say, "I'm going to just keep going." It's to say, "What can I do to show results or build the thing I am passionate about bringing into this world without needing anyone's money?"

This is your chance to work smarter. You can find shortcuts that allow you to serve your market and show amazing results before you have to raise a dime.
If you work smarter, you'll win.

Get a good mentor or mentors. Why? There are many experiences you will have that they've already passed through, and so will have tips on how to pull through handy. Like going into an exam & you've seen the questions already.

Join Groups

Network Attend and connect with as many events in your desired industry/ location. Pick a lane is akin to - don't spread yourself too thin. Sort out what you believe you want to do, and go learn what you don't know. Who knows where you'll end up, but surely it will be somewhere great because of the hard work you put into your journey.

I also want to start a business, capital is the major issue

I like the point where it says work smarter not harder

Yeah....i dig that part too.

Harry17:
I like the point where it says work smarter not harder

Pick a lane.......i love that!

Most Nigerians are jack of all trades. They want to know everything sha