I have the opportunity to talk with a lot of venture capitalists, innovative people and entrepreneurs. What strikes me the most, is the large difference between the two mindsets the people – the idea-makers and the capitalists! Each of these groups, have their own focus and goal of the engagement – which actually is another story to blog about 😉
In a resent discussion, it stroked me how odd some of the innovation entrepreneurs act. Their focus is to be very rich, in a short amount of time, and with probably no work. I am compelled to quote one of me very best friends;
There are no easy money – only focus and hard work!
Entrepreneurs often have a bunch of ideas, and very few of them can actually go into a business model with a séance of success. But the ones that do this – are REALLY good. So how can you as a VC help your fellow entrepreneurs? Well a Danish guy actually invented his own strategy and I would like to share that idea, as I really see the point in this.
“When dealing with these innovation people, I always have a request to get them focused on our common (the business) idea and to get on track with this. So I often start by tying the front man of the new innovation to the company on a 2-5 year business plan. I then transfer USD 500.000 to his account, making him suddenly rich; which actually get the man on track – and only focus on this one idea I share the vision about. All his other ideas disappears and the need to get rich also disappears.”
Not many VC take this risk, by I would give the investor credit for some good understanding of the innovative entrepreneurs mindset and actions.
Take that for an idea 😉
rasmus foged blog 