- make money and become rich;
- a challenge you can't refuse;
- compete and win;
- see and meet a need.
The truth may be that there are as many reasons for starting a new business as there are people trying.
Most businesses start with one common trait: each and every founder of a successful business was stubborn and a leader.
There is, however, one additional trait: perceptiveness. They understood and met the needs of the customer...of the marketplace. Quality and Price always go together if there is to be success.
An study of the beginnings of any business only teach us about that...the beginning. There have been many men who started a business and ran it successfully, only for it to fade and fail upon the death of the founder. Why?
Many stubborn leaders don't want to delegate; it gives up control of quality and process and leaves the leader subject to mistakes and lack of drive by others and is anathema. They don't like it; it smacks of lack of control and giving up of power. They will make it very uncomfortable for anyone who pushes for any sort of delegation. That stress will tend to drive all but the most subservient away...to other businesses or enterprises, leaving no one of leadership quality to continue the business upon the passing of the founder.
The businesses that survive do so because some just as stubborn subordinate refuses to be driven out and values what the business does more than a good relationship with the founder OR the founder comes to see the business not as an extension of themselves, but as having a business life and purpose of its own, and comes to appreciate nurturing it as a separate entity, welcoming others with new and different approaches. If all at the top management level continue to respect and nurture that approach, the business will survive until that attitude fades and dies or the quality of leadership fades and dies. Either will lead to collapse or absorption by another, successful, company.
Why be concerned with such considerations? One major reason is as a potential investor. You can be certain that the attitudes and quality of management, whether of a start-up or an ongoing business, are of paramount reason to a Warren Buffet and others who make their living as investors. Whether buying stock, or investing in ownership/profits of start-ups, success depends on evaluating the motivation and talents of those at the top (or, in the case of a new business...the bottom). As a person looking for a job, the same evaluation would be a benefit, if only to work at getting a job that would last.
An study of the beginnings of any business only teach us about that...the beginning. There have been many men who started a business and ran it successfully, only for it to fade and fail upon the death of the founder. Why?
Many stubborn leaders don't want to delegate; it gives up control of quality and process and leaves the leader subject to mistakes and lack of drive by others and is anathema. They don't like it; it smacks of lack of control and giving up of power. They will make it very uncomfortable for anyone who pushes for any sort of delegation. That stress will tend to drive all but the most subservient away...to other businesses or enterprises, leaving no one of leadership quality to continue the business upon the passing of the founder.
The businesses that survive do so because some just as stubborn subordinate refuses to be driven out and values what the business does more than a good relationship with the founder OR the founder comes to see the business not as an extension of themselves, but as having a business life and purpose of its own, and comes to appreciate nurturing it as a separate entity, welcoming others with new and different approaches. If all at the top management level continue to respect and nurture that approach, the business will survive until that attitude fades and dies or the quality of leadership fades and dies. Either will lead to collapse or absorption by another, successful, company.
Why be concerned with such considerations? One major reason is as a potential investor. You can be certain that the attitudes and quality of management, whether of a start-up or an ongoing business, are of paramount reason to a Warren Buffet and others who make their living as investors. Whether buying stock, or investing in ownership/profits of start-ups, success depends on evaluating the motivation and talents of those at the top (or, in the case of a new business...the bottom). As a person looking for a job, the same evaluation would be a benefit, if only to work at getting a job that would last.
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