The Agile Startup: Quick and Dirty Lessons Every Entrepreneur Should Know

Three Requirements for Success

We always hear about the unequaled abilities of superstar entrepreneurs. Stories like these are juicy—the public and scoop-seeking reporters alike love them. This skewed media coverage makes it tempting to think some people succeed because they’re blessed with special abilities. Talk to enough successful founders, however, and a different picture emerges. Their personalities are all over the map. Some are in-your-face outgoing, for example, and others are shy and reserved.

There are a handful of attributes that contribute to a founder’s success, and they’re what you would expect—vision, leadership, design skills, risk tolerance, and interpersonal skills, to name a few. While these traits may be necessary, they’re not sufficient. At the end of the day, getting a company off the ground comes down to three indispensable attributes: passion, sales, and follow-through. If you’re not passionate about your new venture, you won’t be willing to walk through walls to make it work. Entrepreneurs are always selling—to prospective customers, partners, employees, suppliers, and investors. Finally, it’s all about the execution and follow-through. It’s about executing the plan and pushing through the boring, menial tasks to create something amazing. If you excel in these three areas, the rest will fall into line.

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