A friend of mine once argued that there are no success principles. He cited many examples of successful people who have no formal education let alone knowing any success principles.
So, I tried to explain to him using the example of a man who enter a dark room looking to switch on the bulb but don’t know the exact position of the switch. Then he accidently press the switch with his body while walking around in the darkness. Wolla! The bulb lights up.
Though, he is not aware of the position of the switch (Principle), he still lights the bulb (Success). But the reality is, the switch does exist and it is not dependent on your awareness of its existence, the only thing that matter is that you press the switch. But you are likely to light the bulb if you are aware of both its position and existence. Your knowledge of the location of the switch will determine how fast you will be successful.
The same analogy is true for attaining success in running a startup. You have to be aware of the principles and traits of successful startup founders, you have to learn how they did it. I have realized that many successful startup stories follow the same trend though they might have differences in the specifics of their stories but they all have something in common. This is why I have compiled some of the characteristics that I have seen common among successful startup founders by reading their books, tweets, articles and quotes and listening to their stories.
Here are some principles successful startup founders follow
1. Persistence: Not taking rejection personally. It takes time for people to buy your idea. The big question is: are you going to be there when they do? You can only be there if you persist enough to stay through the tough days. The difference between a successful startup and one that fail is usually in the persistence of the founders and the founding team. Tony Hsieh told the story of how Zappos almost went out of business due to lack of funding from investors. Despite the fact that the business does millions of dollar in gross merchandise even in its early days. But his persistence actually paid off when Sequoia and other high profile investors decided to invest in the business.
One way to stay persistent is to have a clear vision of what you want your company to be in the future, because it is the vision that will drive you even when you are about to give up. Another way is to have mentors, not necessarily those you see on a regular basis, they can also be people who are far away from you (thanks to technology). And also by surrounding yourself with positive thinking individuals.
2. Action and result oriented: Successful startup founders are great executors. They are determined to achieve result without wanting to be ‘cool’ by taking massive action. They have the ‘Whatever it takes’ attitude and they go the extra mile.
3. Data driven: They back their assumptions with data no matter how small. Successful startup founders know that in running a business, emotion plays a secondary role. They know it when they are screwing up and they are candid with themselves they let others criticize their work which is why most of them surround themselves with friends and employees who give them candid advice.
4. People oriented: They are generally good with handling people. If you know this, human is the greatest and most difficult asset to manage. Successful startup founders are good at motivating people around them.
5. Good communication skills: they can communicate ideas so that other people can be motivated to turn the ideas into reality. Most companies started as little ideas in the head of the founder. The founder did a great job by communicating their ideas to potential employees or cofounders. Great startup founders know how to ‘paint the dream’ of where they want the company to be and they constantly keep their employees in check to make sure they are aligned with the company’s long term vision. In his book, Delivering happiness, Tony Hseish who was the co-founder of Zappos, talked about how the company’s great culture was created and how the company WOW their customers. It all started from his own imagination of wanting to make people happy. But Tony was able to inspire the rest of the company to take up the dream of creating a company that WOW their customers. Which is what they now do today.
6. Good salesmen: The ability to convince someone to work with you on your project is a sales character that most people overlook. Steve Jobs, Bill Gate, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jason Njoku, Mark Essien, Tayo Oviosu are all great salesmen. If you don’t believe me, check them when they feature on a TV or Radio event. They will always talk about how awesome their product is.
7. Total commitment: Chimezie Emewulu of Seamfix narrated how he hawked honey in his NYSC uniform to keep his business running. And he is not the only one to have done what people will term ‘crazy’. Successful startup founders believe in the dream and they are ready to go the extra mile.
The big question is: Are you ready to go the extra mile?

Written by Tope Alao of www.offkrent.com