From the entrepreneur’s corner (14): Do the right things, be happy, and don’t stay angry and stupid!

Before 2000, I worked for/with a few great guys, but then I didn’t want to go and work for anybody, anymore. That was a time when I had a chance to meet and know entrepreneurs from different countries/cultures, and it helped a lot. In fact, I loved this.

Thereafter, I’ve been an angel for some time, but that was sort of a side activity. I didn’t want to be an angel as a full time job, so I’ve been at the crossroads of ops management, fund management and advisory for a while.

Here’s 06, 07, when everything was so crazy in terms of M&A deals. And then, suddenly, I left i-banking on a Friday, after a 10+ years of M&A career (had a few M&A deals closed even before 2000, when this was pioneering…) Must admit, the work ethic that you learn in i-banking is hard to match (in consulting is something similar.)

That’s the time when I’ve found my way back into entrepreneurial startups and doing it my way. “Entrepreneur” is now a mainstream word; in the past we rarely used it. Today it’s ubiquitous. If you took a class of entrepreneurship at the grad school, you’re not an entrepreneur.

The startups: for the large majority, all the money they make now is petty. Really few startups are taking off and solve a global, unmet demand. A lot of the media’s attention is on the successful Cos, but nobody hears of the crowd and the smaller stories. From my angle, is having the founders doing the right thing and being happy. I’m really betting on people, and am pretty comfortable with my instincts on valuing/assessing them.

When I meet an entrepreneur, I’ll spend some 20+ mins wanting to know you. The little things are really important. Next, if you open your laptop to show me your pitch deck, and cannot explain your company by looking in my eyes, it’s over. I’m trying to figure out what’s driving you. Even after closing, I want to spend time with these people and help them as much as possible.

I’ll always try to find people that are polite, interesting, and honest. And here comes the story with the entrepreneur that really impressed me: we were having this preliminary discussion, and I mentioned at a point that I feel a headache; and here’s this guy that suddenly gets a glass of water and some pills out of his pocket (later found he had migraines from time to time), hands me two pills, then takes the empty glass and washes it. I said in my mind, at that time, “this is the guy who learnt things the right way, and understands his role in the world.” … Not everybody comes this way. We both had a nice business journey the next few years. (Mark Mullen had a similar experience, and strongly recommend listening his inspirational podcast on wallstreetoasis.com)

To conclude, being an entrepreneur is more about doing it your way (as in the song) and happiness, and never be angry and stupid. As Marcus Aurelius once thought “what stands in the way becomes the way,” and be sure every day you’ll have the chance to meet or observe lots of idiots — so be cool about that.

My today’s preferred: Milkshake, an easy iOS app that creates fun websites designed for Instagram’s mobile browser.