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Business advice from a technology entrepreneur


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If you were to ask any of my friends to describe me, “serial entrepreneur” likely pops into their heads. I’ve spent the majority of my career creating startup technology companies, selling three of those companies in the past seven years. When it comes to starting a business, I’ve made my fair share of mistakes, but with those mistakes come lessons to be learned. Here are some of the tips I've learned along the way on.

  1. Get a mentor – You likely feel overwhelmed right now, and that’s natural. After all, you’re not the first person in the world to start their own company. Finding a mentor who you admire is a great way to start your business. Mentors aren’t always free, but they can open doors to important contacts that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to connect with. Take their experiences with a grain of salt and learn from their mistakes while also evaluating how they became successful.

  2. Evaluate the company you keep – Most entrepreneurs feel as if they can do everything better than anyone else, but that’s not true. Realize your own unique ability, stay in your lane, and trust people who can do the rest better than you. By surrounding yourself with the right people, you learn your limits and can excel at your unique abilities.

  3. Join a group of like-minded individuals – Interacting with fellow entrepreneurs is a great way to gain inspiration for your own business. There are local and national groups that you can join to further your networking, and many of these offer peer coaching. I was a member of the Entrepreneurs Organization (EO), which is a national forum to help business owners grow their businesses.

  4. Don’t just accept change, expect it – Startups are constantly changing, so being open to change is crucial. Adding one new employee to a small business can be a 10% increase in your workforce! If I could offer advice in this department, it’s to be ready to adapt quickly and turn on a dime when necessary. You want your business to grow and change, so getting comfortable is pointless!

  5. Expect the unexpected – Entrepreneurs are visionaries and overly optimistic at heart. We believe so much in our business that we expect people to come running at us with money as soon as we launch our companies! Of course, it doesn’t always happen that way. Be prepared for the difficulty that is getting new customers and sales. Create a “worst case” plan, as well as build up as much capital as possible. It’s also not a bad idea to start looking for outside funding early on.

Most entrepreneurs are very passionate about the products and services they provide, but that will only get you so far. You need the right business tools and processes to keep your company operational. One of the businesses that I sold was First Tech Direct (FTD), a Microsoft Dynamics ERP & CRM service provider. I sold FTD back in 2012 to Columbus A/S. Why am I telling you this? It’s the reason I started Gravity Software® (Gravity). I saw this big void in the middle market for accounting systems that remained untapped and found a lot of businesses stuck in this void without a solution. Having been a CPA in a former life at PWC, I know accounting well. There were deals that we left on the table at FTD because the expensive enterprise apps like Dynamics GP were just too much to own, too hard to use, and had too many features that a growing small to medium sized business could ever use. I kept all of this in mind when creating Gravity.

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Gravity’s cloud-based financial system is built from the ground up on the Microsoft Power Platform (aka Dynamics 365 CRM), an open platform that houses all of the key components to operate your business in one user-friendly database. Gravity allows you to easily gain real-time insights into your businesses so you can make better-informed decisions. With features like advanced inventory control, multi-company (multi-entity) consolidated financial reporting, and personalized dashboards (to name a few), Gravity works with your business, not against it. Once you’ve outgrown your entry level accounting software, you’ll find relief in Gravity.

For all the entrepreneurs out there, pay it forward and share some business advice. If you like what I wrote, connect with me on LinkedIn. If you’re looking for a new cloud-based accounting system, schedule an online demo of Gravity Software today!

Gravity Software

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