Ellen Bark recently co-hosted HelloMaas’ new weekly podcast HelloMasters, alongside Rado Raykov, CEO of Holler.live (Collider Class of 2017).
“If you keep joining accelerator after accelerator, you are like one of those guys that stays in college for the lifestyle” – Rado Raykov
Four people around their forties with solid careers took the decision to become startup founders. You may wonder why after listening to this podcast. From fundraising and hiring for diversity to working insane hours, we demystify and challenge persistent myths about startups in this fast-paced episode of HelloMasters.
Clockwise: Sander Nagtegaal, Willemijn Schneyder, Rado Raykov & Ellen Bark-Lindhout
Listen as Rado Raykov of Holler.Live, Willemijn Schneyder of SwipeGuide, Sander Nagtegaal of Unless, Louise Doorn of HelloMaaS, as the founders of Dutch marketing startups, together with co-host Ellen Bark-Lindhout of Collider.io , challenge the following most persistent start-up myths:
Just build a great product
You need a co-founder to built a successful startup
You need to work 80 hours a week
You need to be a college drop-out
Startup founders are best when they are young.
Startups don’t need diversity
Raising a lot of money is a sign of success.
Pitch competitions, accelerator and corporate challenges are important
Building a team needs to happen in person. So where does that leave remote teams?
As CEO/Founder you’re only happy when you have sold or IPO’ed your company
Topics
[00:00:00] Introduction Ellen, Rado, Willemijn and Sander
[00:03:55] Myth #1: Just build a great product
“VC’s told me I was building Rolls Royces, rather than the Beetles that you actually need” – Sander
“A great team cannot do without a great product” – Willemijn
[00:05:29] Myth #2: You need a co-founder to build a successful startup.
“If you have a solid base, you can build a good house. It depends on the definition of what a co-founder is.” – Rado
[00:07:55] Myth #3: You need to work 80 hours a week or more
“It’s like interval training, sometimes you do sprints and other times we take it slow.” – Willemijn
[00:10:17] Myth #4 & #5: College dropout & Startup founders are best when they are young.
“Hard data: the average age of a startup founder is 42 years old.” – Louise
“I’m 44 and I just don’t get impressed by bad stuff. If I were 21 and got hit in the face, I would cry and run. Now I would still cry but not run.” – Sander
[00:13:43] Myth #6: Startups don’t need diversity
[00:16:59] Myth #7 Raising a lot of money is a sign of success.
“At least step one, you’re pretty good at” – Sander
[00:21:43] Myth #8: Pitch competitions, accelerator and corporate challenges are important
[00:26:52] Myth #9: Building a team needs to happen in person. So where does that leave remote teams?
[00:33:38] Myth #10 As CEO/Founder you’re only happy when you have sold or IPO’ed your company
“ I wonder if the love of the journey is a high indicator for a potential successful exit.” – Ellen