The key is to focus more on running the business than funding the business. One of the things we see over and over again in the investment banking business is that folks who focus on the deal, sometimes neglect the business. This is why we occasionally see companies miss their numbers in the first quarter after an IPO--everyone in the company was thinking about the stock price--instead of sales and profitability.
In startup companies, one of the challenges we've seen is that the executive "team" is really just notional. Too often, the team consists of a group of people of varying capabilities and virtually no commitment. They stand ready to jump in just as soon as the company is funded with millions of dollars and they are offered high paying salaries.
That isn't the pattern with the highly successful businesses we've seen. They have teams of committed people who live on the edge of personal bankruptcy out of passion for the project.Entrepreneurial success is often achieved by those who have the greatest ability to execute with the fewest resources. Those that can make do with less, often end up having more. This occurs simply because many startups pass through periods with little or no cash in the bank--those that survive by stretching resources create the opportunity to raise money and stay in the game.
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