Surviving a Small Business Start-Up with Steve Hoffman.
How to survive a small business start-up, and avoid some of the common mistakes, with entrepreneur Steve Hoffman.
Steve shares his wisdom and insights on how to survive a start-up – how can you avoid some of the common mistakes and have a better chance of achieving success with your small business start-up.
Steve Hoffman (Captain Hoff) is the Captain & CEO of Founders Space, one of the world’s leading startup accelerators. Founders Space was ranked the #1 incubator for overseas startups by Forbes and Entrepreneur Magazines.
Steve is also a venture investor, serial entrepreneur, and author of several award-winning books, including his latest book “Surviving a Startup”.
Steve is also the host of Captain Hoff’s Adventures – a podcast that brings you inside the minds of creators, thinkers, and builders and shares with you their visions, stories, and struggles.
Steve believes life should always be an adventure, and he takes you on a journey around the globe so you can see what creative minds are dreaming up and experiencing as they lead us into the future.
Steve lives in San Francisco Bay area.
How do you survive a small business startup?
Surviving a Small Business Start-Up with Steve Hoffman:
- Electrical Computer Engineering B.A., Cinema Television Masters – what was your plan for your future while in school?
- Please share the brief overview of your early career in the entertainment industry.
- What was the first small business you started?
- What did you learn about the creative process that still applies to small business start-ups today?
- What led you to launching Founders Space?
- When did you know you wanted to be your own boss? Who were early entrepreneurial influences?
- What led you to write “Surviving a Startup” and who is it for?
- What fascinates you about starting a new business?
- Is it the idea or the execution/business model?
- How do you know if you have a great idea?
- How much does timing and luck have to do with it?
- In your opinion, how important is it to accept that there are no guarantees in business, and we must accept a certain amount of uncertainty and high probability of failure?
- “It’s about dealing with dysfunctional teams, hitting dead ends, messing up half the time, losing money and self-confidence, and then moving forward. It’s about what it’s actually like to run a startup.”
- How important is the planning process, and when do I know I have done enough planning?
- Raising capital and bootstrapping.
- Are there any interesting differences between the mindset and approach of entrepreneurs in the US compared to other countries?
- How can we get better as small business owners in the areas of creativity, technology, and learning from other entrepreneurs around the world?
- Why do most startups fail? (90 percent of startups fail)
- What can entrepreneurs do to increase their odds of success?
- Please share some tips on how best to grow and scale a new business?
Episode Host: Henry Lopez is a serial entrepreneur, small business coach, and the host of this episode of The How of Business podcast show – dedicated to helping you start, run and grow your small business.
Resources:
Books mentioned in this episode:
[We receive commissions for purchases made through these links (more info)].
- Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chris Voss, Tahl Raz
Other Podcast Episodes:
You can find other episodes of The How of Business podcast, the best small business podcast, on our Archives page.