I’ve been running mastermind groups this year, and this month we started another group. New group, new startups, new entrepreneurs - lots of fun!
This mastermind group has a wide breadth of experience and specialties, which normally makes for some great sessions.
A common misconception is that you should have a lot of similar members in a group. While this can be helpful for some, such as a Real Estate Investors Mastermind Group, for building a business the advantages of having a diverse (well-curated) group seems to work better. Having different viewpoints from outside your area of expertise can really help offer some new interesting perspectives that you might not have thought about otherwise.
I love startups. Seriously, I do.
Eric Reiss, who wrote The Lean Startup (which if you haven’t read it yet, do it), gives a very good definition of a ‘startup’ as
“The concept of entrepreneurship includes anyone who works within my definition of a startup: a human institution designed to create new products and services under conditions of extreme uncertainty.”
Extreme uncertainty. That about sums it up.
I also like this definition in that it means that “entrepreneurs” aren’t confined to small business owners - you can act like an entrepreneur and take this mindset in your large company regardless of industry. He also goes on to explain the concept of “Validated Learning” -
“Startups exist not just to make stuff, make money, or even serve customers. They exist to learn how to build a sustainable business. This learning can be validated scientifically by running frequent experiments that allow entrepreneurs to test each element of their vision.”
Just a big experiment. Which is ok!
But I like this quote in that it forces you to think that the goal of the startup is to learn how to build a sustainable business. This is NOT being married to the original idea or forcing your first product idea to work. Being able to adapt and change as you go about learning how to build your company into something that lasts.
After each meeting we send out notes summarizing the key takeaways from each member’s hot seat sessions.
These notes range from tactical advice (e.g. define your customer avatar and build a LinkedIn Marketing Strategy around this) to points to consider and reflect on a bit more (e.g. think about the incentive structures with your business partners).
These notes will serve as a reminder when we do check-ins - part of the accountability process involved with the mastermind. What actions are you working on? Where do you need additional support or clarification?
There are always trends that come up with business ownership. Yes, business should be easy, and we’re aware of all the common mistakes, but sometimes you just need an outside party helping out and providing a sounding board for your hurdles at the moment.
I always seem to learn something new in these groups. I’m a big fan of Simon Sinek’s Start with Why. Great book. Great concept. With all the things I do (such as why I invest), entrepreneurship is absolutely no different, it’s always a great reminder to step back a bit and think about your “Why.” Taking the time to really zoom out and thinking about why you’re doing something. Between this and thinking through incentives, these are my favorites.
Great stuff, team. Looking forward to 3 months of RAPID GROWTH with this group and everything that we’ll achieve together.
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Hope to have you involved in the next mastermind groups. They undoubtedly add A LOT of value.
Photo by Startup Stock Photos from Pexels