{"id":18247,"date":"2013-06-04T09:41:05","date_gmt":"2013-06-04T14:41:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crowdspring.wpengine.com\/?p=18247"},"modified":"2022-09-21T12:11:13","modified_gmt":"2022-09-21T17:11:13","slug":"small-business-startup-advice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crowdspring.com\/blog\/small-business-startup-advice\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Avoid Bad Advice That Can Kill Your Small Business Or Startup"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"advice\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In a recent post<\/a>, Ev Williams (co-founder of Twitter, Blogger and Medium), suggested that all startup advice is\u00a0 wrong (presumably, including his own post on this subject). Ev pointed out that what works for one entrepreneur\/company doesn’t necessarily work for others:<\/p>\n

Companies are not built in a lab. We are unable to run Monte Carlo simulations. And there are way too many variables and too much randomness for anyone to claim that if you add ingredient X or do A then B then C it will work.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Despite his belief that all startup advice is wrong, Ev suggested that you should read startup advice anyway, because you’ll discover new ideas and find inspiration:<\/p>\n

Reading about success doesn\u2019t\u00a0make<\/em>\u00a0you successful, but it does tend to make you\u00a0want<\/em>\u00a0to be successful. That\u2019s important. We benefit from positive models that show us what\u2019s possible and make us want to think bigger, work harder, and keep trying\u2014especially when the going gets tough.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’ve been thinking a great deal about this issue. I mentor other entrepreneurs informally and also through TechStars (Chicago) and Founder Institute. Sometimes, when giving feedback to entrepreneurs, I sense a great deal of frustration – often because most entrepreneurs receive feedback from dozens of different people, often offering conflicting advice.<\/p>\n

There is no shortage of startup advice. A quick search on Quora<\/a>, for example, reveals lots of good questions and answers on the topic. A search on Google shows there are over 54 million results containing the terms startup and advice (a smaller number, about 287,000, containing the phrase “startup advice”).<\/p>\n

It’s refreshing for young entrepreneurs to receive advice, especially from successful people they admire. But how do you filter out the noise, focus on good advice, and ignore advice that can kill your business?<\/p>\n

Dharmesh Shah, Founder and CTO at HubSpot and Blogger at OnStartups.com wrote in a recent post<\/a> on this topic:<\/p>\n

Never automatically discount a message simply because you discount the messenger. And never automatically accept a message simply because you admire or respect the messenger.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dharmesh is right – we should evaluate the quality of the advice, not the person offering the advice. But that doesn’t resolve the dilemma most young entrepreneurs face – how do you reconcile conflicting advice from people they admire.<\/p>\n

Here are four questions that can help you separate good advice from bad advice<\/a>:<\/p>\n

1. Does the advice include actionable steps?<\/strong> Many people are quick to advise, but few provide actionable steps to help you execute. When given the opportunity, ask the person offering advice for more details – this will test whether they truly understand what they are talking about (based on experience) or merely read it in an article somewhere.<\/p>\n

When I offer advice in the crowdSPRING Blog, such as in my recent article on How Your Small Business or Startup Can Hire A Good Lawyer<\/a>, I always try to include actionable steps and examples.<\/p>\n

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