Top 10 Rules for Startup Success

[Rick Darge]

Interesting..

Red can check off everyone of these..

http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/12/05/loic-le-meurs-ten-rules-for-startup-success/

[Shawn Nelson]

Wow, that is Red in a nutshell!

[Craig W. Bickerstaff]

I've always been a fan of Guy Kawasaki's the art of start myself.

[Mark L. Pederson]

Wow, that is Red in a nutshell!

Jim is a VERY smart guy with amazing instinct.

We are all very lucky he got pissed off at camera manufacturers and took ACTION.

Lots of smart folks with great ideas out there go through their whole lives without taking action.

It is just so much better to to action and fail as opposed to wasting dreams. I have failed many times at many things - it's really not so bad - you keep learning -

[Yannick Hagman]

Nice list, even if you could shorten it up a bit.

[PaulClements]

... I have failed many times at many things - it's really not so bad - you keep learning -
I know both feelings Mark, and you're completely right. If you try then eventually you'll find something that fits - It's also a lot more fun trying something different and failing than doing the same 9 to 5 for year after year. Even with the sleepless nights and wondering how you'll pay the bills!

Paul

[Ivan G]

Everything sounds good but 5 :biggrin:

[Radoslav Karapetkov]

Seems like RED follows all of these rules. :)

[Mark L. Pederson]

I know both feelings Mark, and you're completely right. If you try then eventually you'll find something that fits - It's also a lot more fun trying something different and failing than doing the same 9 to 5 for year after year. Even with the sleepless nights and wondering how you'll pay the bills!

Paul

I have two ex-wives - third one's a charm.

What is 9 to 5?

[GlennChan]

Technically didn't Red break the first rule?


1. Don’t wait for a revolutionary idea. It will never happen. Just focus on a simple, exciting, empty space and execute as fast as possible

At the time... 4K resolution at $17,500 seemed like a scam. And Red hadn't even though about recording 4K on-board (which I'd consider to be a revolutionary idea that they waited for).

2- That piece of advice is also somewhat vague or contradictory depending on what you understand "revolutionary" to be. If you are targeting an "empty" space... does that not suggest your product is or will be revolutionary?

[BASSAM MSSALATIE]

:ranting2: RED TEAM :ranting2:

[Jonathan L. Bowen]

I know both feelings Mark, and you're completely right. If you try then eventually you'll find something that fits - It's also a lot more fun trying something different and failing than doing the same 9 to 5 for year after year. Even with the sleepless nights and wondering how you'll pay the bills!

Paul

That's definitely true. You have to take risks if you want to be different from everyone else. If you just want the comfort of a weekly or bi-weekly paycheck and a job that ends as soon as you punch out, there is something to be said for that, for many people, but that's not what a lot of us enjoy. If someone thinks 8 hours of work is already too much for one day, the film industry is definitely not for you, nor is starting up a business in general! I pretty much try to get 2 hours per day anyway where I can just watch TV shows (on DVD) or movies, but if that's all I get that's alright. Some days, we can take it easy and barely have to work (my business partner and I), but other days we could put in 14 hours. The good part is we don't have to get up at the same time as everyone else. I want no part of being on the roads at the same time as other people. I rarely show up to the office before 11 a.m. actually, but I also rarely leave before 8 either.

Sleepless nights are all part of the deal. There is a lot of stress to any startup business, but as Theodore Roosevelt said, "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

[Steve Sherrick]

Jonathan, what do you do about 7am call times? As much as I also enjoy rolling in to the studio at 10 or 11am, reality is a lot of times we start just as early as everyone else and also go later than most on occasion. But the good thing is I really enjoy what I do, so the hours are kind of irrelevant.

If you keep giving inspirational speeches, we may have to elect you president in 2008. :-)