Lunch with Jeffrey Lyons the CEO of Ideabreaker
Posted on August 13, 2008
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I escaped my duties today to have lunch with Jeffrey Lyons the CEO of Ideabreaker. I met Jeff through VenCorps and we decided that it would be good to connect since I was coming to New Orleans, where he happens to live. I wanted to hear more about his startup and he wanted talk about the entrepreneurial journey.
I don’t want to get too much into the status of where Jeff is with his startup since that’s not for me to disclose, so we’ll just say that Jeff is where I was about 9-11 months ago. Putting myself back into those shoes made me so HAPPY to be passed that phase and reminded me of how tough and difficult of a place it is. My heart really went out to him.
I think the real challenges of entrepreneurship come to light for startup entrepreneurs when they realize that they are not going to be able to easily get funding. Having an idea, developing a business plan and a basic product has a .0001% chance (I’m making a point with that figure) of getting you funding. Anyway, I think that Jeff had come to realize he needs to get farther along before he’ll see any funding.
My first advice to any first time startup entrepreneur is consider getting funding your absolute last resort instead of your first and only option. Simply don’t plan on getting money…find other ways to get things done and you’ll save yourself some serious headaches.
Anyway, I ended up passing on to Jeff all the things that I wish I had known back than, the options he has which I didn’t know about when I was in his shoes and some of the random things I’ve come to realize.
Probably the top three takeaways were:
- How to get creative with convertible debt options for development
- Go out and sell. Getting feedback from potential clients on an idea is one thing – going out to sell your product will raise a whole new set of concerns. Go out and sell your product now so you know what those new concerns are in order to address them early.
- The road to getting your startup off the ground doesn’t end until YOU decide it’s not worth it anymore. As long as you believe in what you’re doing – you’ll keep going.
Although at one point I felt the weight of the world coming back to my shoulders from flashbacks and because that’s pretty much what being in his shoes feels like – I’m extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to share with Jeff what I have learned. I really hope that what we discussed today will help him move his concept to the next phase quicker and with less difficulties.
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