Many think an entrepreneur’s first task is to come up with a killer concept. Yet, it’s been said many times that  ”ideas” can be a dime a dozen, but execution is where most fail. Who executes? The team. As Jim Collins points out in his book, “Good to Great”, first the Who? then the What?

Maybe it’s also because I’m not a technical whiz kid, or a genius financial mind that I keep stressing the team. Or, I’d like to think it could be that I’ve been involved with six startups and figured out what helps in success.

So, as I’m admiring the work of Seattle Mariners’ GM Jack Zduriencik this off season in putting together a more competitive professional baseball team, I’m reminded about my primary job of finding the right people for the the right jobs in my company. Like a baseball team, a startup environment requires everyone to be cohesive and supportive of one another.

Sometimes an entrepreneur needs to take risks on inexperienced people, or on an experienced person who has never been in a startup environment. You build such a team with an unwavering core philosophy about the type of team you want.  And when the team members need guidance, you coach them; when they prove themselves, you give them control. You always keep scalability and performance in mind.

In the end, it’s my job to look at ways to improve my team continuously based upon our performance against the competitive environment out there. If this means possibly bringing in more capital or merging with a complementary team or hiring faster, I will do so, always making sure that each new player within the company are complementary with one another. It’s my responsibility to ensure that the sum of the parts really make a much more compelling whole.

The character and performance of the team will ultimately be my scorecard as the founder of Lift9.

It’s a difficult question to answer because there are so many elements to being an entrepreneur. First, you need to be passionate about something. It has to be in your core. For many immigrants, they are passionate about their children and providing an opportunity for the next generation that they themselves never had. That drives many to amazing accomplishments. For others, the passion is about green energy, mobile technology, global health issues, and so forth.

Entrepreneurs also need a good support network of family and friends because owning your own business is not easy. It’s extremely time-consuming and emotionally draining.

Another very important component is the right personality. An entrepreneur cannot be risk-averse. In the type of businesses I’ve been involved with, I hire many very bright individuals with great business ideas. Some of them want to start their own businesses, and I know they have the intelligence and skills to be successful entrepreneurs. Yet, they lack the personality to actually be entrepreneurs. They are too risk-averse. And that’s fine because they can have fulfilling and financially rewarding careers within the corporate environment.

One time, a friend who is successfully climbing up the partner latter of a prestiguous consultancy asked me about entrepreneurship. I could tell he was thinking about possibly doing something on his own. Then, one night while driving together he started to panic because the gas gauge needle had just started touching the red empty mark. I laughed, and told him that making partner at his firm is a fantastic goal for him.

Since then, I’ve used that example with others who ask me about entrepreneurship. And a few have smiled and admitted they would panic as well. Entrepreneurship is not for everyone. Unfortunately many find out after an unsuccessful venture. Just do the “am I comfortable running on empty test” first.

Athletes talk about it all the time, when everything slows down, their confidence peaks, and they are in complete control. I’ve actually experienced this a few times playing basketball when I just knew that I could get a step on an opponent, shoot, and know that the ball would go in the basket. It is an unmistakable  feeling.

You can be in a zone in other aspects of our lives as well. The experience is about being so focused on accomplishing a certain goal that one builds a comfort level around all related tasks to the point  where they become effortless. As confidence builds, everything just falls into place.  It’s as if you are willing the cosmic energies around you to jump onto your momentum. Now, you are in a zone. Time is irrelevant, and you feel that you are doing exactly what you were born to do.

We’ve all  seen people in a zone as entertainers, as writers, as social networkers, as cannery workers, as negotiators, as computer programmers, among many, many other ways. Being in a zone is a very rewarding experience.

I’ve felt in a zone in business as well, when ideas and the critical paths to success become amazingly clear. Crystal clear. Nothing is forced. Positive results are expected, and your confidence extremely high.

Whether in sport, business or life, however, the zone seems to gradually dissipates over time. The end usually comes when one starts to doubt, when the confidence begins to leak. We as humans usually cannot expect good fortune to be indefinite. We feel guilty if such good fortunate lasts longer than anticipated.

So, do we fall out of our zones because we cannot accept success for an extended period of time? Can we get into our zones and maintain that groove with the right mental attitude? One thing for sure is that no one has reached a zone by being timid, hesitant and doubtful.

I believe that to some extent the right attitude helps keep us in a zone. Currently, I feel like I’m in a bit of a zone with the start of Lift9. Things seem to be falling into place rather quickly. My focus is to maintain that momentum and don’t let doubt or second guessing slow it down. I want to be thorough and pragmatic, but clearly focused on my critical paths to success. I will not lose that mental clarity.

I encourage you to create your zone around your passion, and sustain it with the right attitude.

Ho Chi Minh City traffic

I hold on tightly behind my brother as he deftly maneuvers his scooter through the seemingly chaotic traffic of Ho Chi Minh City.

At first, watching hordes of cars and scooters sharing the streets and avoiding each other without apparent defined rules can be both astonishing and terrifying. But from the back seat of Paul’s scooter, I soon begin to understand certain rules and reasoning behind the commuters’ actions. The traffic, as it turns out, moves along rather well, despite the congestion of the city.

Doing business in Vietnam works in similar ways. The rules and expectations are different than in the US. People seem to be coming at you from all directions, but then a pattern starts to develop.

Vietnam is a developing country. Its people have a relatively high education level.  The country also has a disproportionally high number of young people under the age of 30 compared to developed countries. The government is very stable. Compared to its Southeast Asian neighbors, I’ve also noticed that the Vietnamese culture has more elements of the Chinese work ethic like those in the Far East countries.

In addition, Vietnam is a handsome country, with a long, beautiful coastline. Vietnamese food is fabulous, gaining popularity throughout the world. With a population of around 82 million, Vietnam could someday become an economic pillar in Southeast Asia.

For now, though, Vietnam remains a developing economy, and the labor extremely cheap. Get a haircut, and you can have one person cutting your hair, while two others will manicure your finger nails. I played golf, and frustrated with a bunker shot, I raked my own mess. My caddy (and you have to have a caddy) thanked me profusely, embarrassed that she didn’t move fast enough to take the rake away from me. People are everywhere to serve you. It can be humbling, yet charming.

For the right type of business idea, Vietnam represents tremendous opportunities. Some entrepreneurs have already built technical development teams here to service the West’s appetite for off-shoring those components. International marketing and research firms have established operations here to help foreign brands move into the Vietnamese market. To support new innovations, venture funds are now being established here with both foreign and local money.

Nonetheless, many more foreign ventures will fail here than succeed. It is not easy to manuever through the local business and cultural environment. The risk remains extremely high. Like Paul steering us through the traffic, any company that has a fighting chance of success here needs the guidance and support of someone(s) who already understands the business climate and culture in Vietnam.

Last visit to Vietnam, enjoyed beaches & watching local fishermen

For me, work and personal life mostly overlap.

I don’t work 9 to 5. Sometimes, I’m golfing in the morning and working at night. Other times, I’m at happy hour with colleagues by 4 pm, then head home to answer work emails. I’m not so atypical, as many people enjoy the same flexible work environment.

My industry of high-tech and marketing attracts many young, urban types. So, I’ve had some of my most fun moments socializing after hours with my co-workers. Oh, the stories we can tell.

Some people like to separate their social friends from their work friends. For me, I want to form social relationships with people in my company because it makes working with them more enjoyable.

Given how much effort and time I spend at my livelihood, I want to make sure I am passionate about my job.  Life is really too short to settle for anything less. And if you are passionate about your work, how can you not let it be a part of your personal life as well? Important components of your life should be integrated. We should be living one life.

So, whether I’m being very competitive playing PES on Xbox in the office or excited to be working on a pivot table at home prior to going to bed, I’m living my passions.

I guess I’m lucky as a serial entrepreneur that I have had the opportunity to structure my jobs. When starting Lift9, I asked myself what are things that get me really excited? Certainly, the field of marketing, and more specifically the area of social media data, really, really excite me. However, having lived in four different countries, I also wanted to start a company with an international twist.

Now, I’m very excited to be traveling to Asia this weekend as part of my job. When I’m there, my life will become more fulfilling whether I’m working or not. Live your passion.

Some do it from comps (comparable companies) and then discount for the many risks as a start-up. Some look at projected financials or maybe market share. Some calculate the amount of unpaid labor that may be required by founders and try to value the company that way. Some try a combination of all the above, or some other way.

Let’s face it, there is no proven, scientific way to value a start-up company. If you are starting a new company and need seed money, you can come up with all sorts of justifications for a valuation. In the end, however, the value is whatever point that  investors are willing to give you money.

For start-ups, many of the investors are family and friends so it’s usually what the entrepreneur claims the value to be. Otherwise, investors will invest in the person — the entrepreneur. A great business plan can be never be successful if inappropriately executed by a mediocre team. An experienced entrepreneur can polish a mediocre plan into a good one, and actually execute upon it.

So, in the end, the value of a start-up is the experience and capability of the entrepreneur and his/her team.

I’ve been humbled by the interest in my new venture. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the business plan doesn’t require much cash.

My focus in talking with interested investors have been to be completely honest about the potential risks — and there are many for all start-ups. I also have been clear that the valuation is subjective and solely based upon my  experience. Some advisers insinuated that maybe I was not being aggressive enough given the amount of interest. Well, another lesson I’ve learned from previous ventures is that “greed” can surely set you up for failure.

Teamwork is vital for start-up companies

When starting a new venture, everything begins with picking the right team. That is something heavily on my mind right now as I am about to launch a new company.

In “Good to Great”, the book clearly found empirical evidence showing that the team is more important than the vision or idea. The reasoning is that a great team working together will fine tune the idea into a winning vision.

I could not agree more. I’ve learned a lot about putting teams together,  having been involved in five previous startups. First, the entrepreneur must understand his or her own strengths and weaknesses. It sounds easy but experience has taught me that honest self-evaluation is not always a strength of entrepreneurs.

Once the leader’s skills are honestly assessed, the team members should augment and complement those attributes. Imagine a basketball team of just centers. Well, I’ve seen a start-up team of just programmers without any business or management experience.

I certainly want teammembers smarter than me, especially in areas of my weakness. In general, having smart people around is obviously a good thing regardless. However, chemistry is more important than individual intelligence or capabilities. An aligned, supportive team will always outperform a superstar who is not willing to work with others.

So, you think you have an amazing business idea and plan? I will guarantee one thing. Your plan will change and evolve as you test it in the market. However, the people  you pick on your team will most likely be the same core people taking you through the execution of the plan.

Here are some questions to ask when assembling the team:

• Honest evaluation of each person’s skills, not just in areas of their professional domain expertise, but in people, management and sales skills.
• Is each person a team player? Do they provide positive energy or drain energy from the group?
• How would each person react to stressful situations?
• Are the individual value systems aligned?
• Are your expectations aligned with each teammembers’ expectations? Double check.
• If you have doubt, don’t include that person. Don’t talk yourself into it.

He explained that your process skills (emotional intelligence skills you have about managing projects, visualizing success, persuading other people of your point of view, dealing with multiple priorities, etc.) is much more valuable than your content knowledge ( Domain knowledge.  People you know or skills you’ve developed. Playing the piano or writing copy about furniture sales. A rolodex of movers in a given industry, or your ability to compute stress ratios in your head).

Seth said one of the reasons that super-talented people become entrepreneurs is that they can put their process expertise to work in a world that often undervalues it.  He makes a compelling argument.  A good read.

Here’s a link to his post.

Meet T.A. McCann, the CEO of GIST.  Recently, T.A. and Gist have been featured across the media as the company beta launched its web-based service that connects your inbox to the web.  MeetKendall called GIST “Linkedin on Steroids“. 

Basically, GIST scours the internet for information about your contacts and their companies and brings it back in a manageable format.  With GIST, you can sort by importance of contacts or most recent news.  Cool idea.  Robert Scoble, tweeted, “This is awesome!  One of the coolest things I’ve seen lately.” Click on the photo above to see their discussion on Kyte.TV.  Also, here is the FastCompany.TV interview as well. 

GIST is backed by Paul Allen’s Vulcan Ventures.  So, how did T.A. get involved?  He had been a consultant with Vulcan Capital since 2006.  Prior to that, he was also Entrepreneur In Residence (EIM) at Polaris Partners from 2004-2006.  He was a founder at Helpshare, an intelligent knowledge sharing solution for web sites and corporations, and Jump2Go Interactive, an interactive solution that helped Radio and broadcast industry to connect more deeply with customers and advertisers.

Interestingly, HelpShare was an idea pitched to Linkedin prior to its launch of Linkedin Answers, a somewhat similiar concept.  That’s probably another story.

Anyway, T.A. is obviously well-known and well-respected in the Seattle startup community.  He is a tall, lanky man with relentless energy.  Listen carefully because he talks fast. But his insights are attention-grabbing and provocative. He is passionate about online communities and his business.  

We’ve worked together on a few one-off projects.  I know he is a dedicated family man and an avid outdoorsman.  I remember how excited he was at having a sail boat on Second Life.  I guess we’re all geeks.

Now, if you had loaded T.A. as a contact in GIST, some of these insights on him as the CEO and the man would be delivered to your computer automatically.  How about that? Yeah, aggregating available internet data and making all of it relevant seems pretty powerful.  Imagine when they start including personal social media data as well.

Meet Josiah Johnson, a man about town y’all!  Josiah is one of those cool persons that everyone wants to befriend.  He knows, so it seems, e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e.  At least, he knows anyone who went to Western Washington University and now lives in the greater Seattle area.

Josiah is the consummate networker, which has made him an effective salesperson in the service sector.  I was once his boss, but it was actually him who recruited me to be the VP of Sales at Endeavor Consulting where we first worked together.  Later, we came up with an automation web analytics concept called “ZeroDash1” that eventually sold to Ascentium.

Now, he has recently left Ascentium to start his own technical consulting and staffing agency with a few of his old colleagues.  He and his partners have the title “Boss” at Job Mob, but all specialize in different areas.  Of course, Josiah will be on the front-end of sales, working his broad and deep network.

Job Mob wants to leverage Web 2.0, Online Community and Social Networking-based platforms to discover and solicit pools of technical talent.  Very kewl… after all, he worked at ZeroDash1, a web analytics and optimization company.

So, how about the timing of starting a new company in the midst of the current economic downturn?  “Well, one, there is never a good time to jump off a cliff,” he says.  “Two, I feel there is still a shortage of technical talent in the Pacific Northwest.    The advantage of starting a company such as ours, with very little overhead and a pretty achievable profitability mark, is that when the market upswings you are in a prime position with a good reputation and the right contacts.”

I will miss working with Josiah, and certainly wish him well.  After all, he was the one who strongly suggested I redo my wardrobe during a “dress for success” intervention.  No matter what clothes you put on me, I will never be as kewl as Josiah — that’s for sure.

Please comment if you have your own stories about the man, Josiah.  Or just give him input.  

Josiah Johnson, BOSS at Job Mob