How Real Unicorn Startups Are Actually Built

There are two completely different ways to build a Unicorn: Bootstrap First, Raise Money Later (the 1Mby1M way), or Speculatively Blitzscale. Your probability of success with the first method is much higher.

Let’s look at an example.

How Freelancers Become Successful Solo Entrepreneurs

Are you a freelancer on Upwork or Fiverr? In the age of AI, you can build a million dollar business by thinking like an entrepreneur. Solo entrepreneurs are becoming the rage now. You have a leg up over them.

You are already on your own, outside of the corporate system.

You have mastered the art of hunting for business.

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Success in Entrepreneurship Is Personal

The 1Mby1M Mantra has always been: Excess is not a Requirement for Success in Entrepreneurship. YOU get to define what success means for you. It’s personal. It’s your prerogative.

Do not live other people’s lives.

Validate Your Startup Idea Before Writing Any Code

Techie founders generally operate in their comfort zones: they like to write code. They often start developing software before they validate with customers. As such, they often build solutions looking for problems.

Do NOT write code before you immerse yourself in customers and develop a deep understanding of what pain you are solving.

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Be Careful Who You Take Startup Advice From

Everybody is a startup mentor these days. On LinkedIn, startup advice is cheap and abundant.

It can also be very BAD.

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Why Founders Should Avoid Equity Deals Before Validation

Giving up equity early on is one of the worst decisions an entrepreneur makes. Say, you give up 15% for $200k in pre-seed accelerator funding. What happens next?

You haven’t validated anything yet.

You don’t know whether your business has the capacity to go from 0 to $100M in 5-7 years.

That’s what VCs are looking for: Blitzscaling.

Most businesses cannot blitzscale.

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Autonomy Is the Ultimate Entrepreneurial Luxury

Autonomy is an underrated luxury. Somehow, investors have convinced entrepreneurs that working 80 hour weeks to make money for them is PRESTIGIOUS. More so than personal wealth creation. More so than family, relationships, health and wellbeing.

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