If you have known me for awhile or read anything about me, then you know about my startup hustle and some of the projects that I worked on in the past years.
Obviously there are many lessons I learnt, some of which I wished I learnt them before reality hit me in the face. The other day I watched this TV Series called Startup – Plot summary
Miami – A desperate banker needs to conceal stolen money. A Haitian-American gang lord wants to go legit. A Cuban-American hacker has an idea that will revolutionize the very future of money itself. Forced to work together, they unwittingly create their version of the American dream – organized crime 2.0.
It starts off slow but it is a good watch. Here are scenes I watched the brought back some of the lessons I too learned the hard way – just like they did.
- When building a startup, there is nothing more important that getting the right team. In the movie, they team was setup under strange situation but it actually turned up to work perfectly for them
- To scale or sometimes to get the startup off the ground, you need funding. Funding NEVER comes easy. In the TV series, they had some money that they had started with and then the lost it and had to look for more startup capital which did not come up easily at all.
- Times will get HARD but do not lose focus. In the TV Series, after they had secured an addition 1.5M USD, they were hacked and all the money stolen. They were obviously broken. Izzy lost it, it was Andy who was pushing her and giving her hope until Ronald came in with an idea of an office that got them back on track.
- The devil is in the detail. When Izzy finally got a meeting with an investor who agreed to fully fund the startup, she was offered a contract that cut out the other two guys that she started the business with. Her passion to get GenCoin off the ground got her signing the contract without taking it to her lawyers to proof read it. Later on, she was actually kicked out of the company she started in parents garage. A company the almost lost her life for.
- Never forget the people that stood by you. Izzy was so desperate to get GenCoin off the ground that when she was presented with a contract that cut out Andy and Ronald she signed it. Fast forward, when she was kicked out of her own company, it is the same two people that she came crying to. Imagine, if they were not forgiving?!
Here is a list of other entrepreneurship movies to look out for;
Although you fell in love with Martyn Burke’s Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999), that’s not the one we’re talking about here. Silicon Valley, a TV series released in 2014 that is fast approaching the limelight is a comedy series that showcases the inner workings of life in the Silicon Valley. The show revolves around six young men who co-found a startup company amidst the heavy competition in the Mecca of the Business World. Three seasons of this invigorating series are out while the fourth is set to air in 2017.
This series, starring Adam Brody and Martin Freeman, is set to be released later this year, and just its cast is enough to excite anyone! It’s unique and interesting concept makes it stands out from its contemporaries. In this show, a banker from Brooklyn, a Haitian gang lord and a Cuban hacker put their heads together to raise a potential multi-billion dollar business on ‘digital currency’, that could revolutionise the future of money itself. Can’t wait? Neither can we!
A CNBC original, this show leads you to the greenroom of the business world, where after the curtain fall, the biggest businessmen and women reveal how they took ordinary ideas and turned them into extraordinary businesses. Most of these center around businesses that have crossed the $1 million mark. Aired in 2011, How I made my millions showcases the typical ‘American Dream’ and tries to show that if you have the idea, the resources and the willpower, you can make things happen.
This much-watched series shows that being a successful entrepreneur isn’t all rainbows and butterflies. It broadcasts the raw, challenging and often ugly side of starting your own business. The show revolves real-life businessman Marcus Lemonis, one of the biggest sharks of the business world and his decision to invest money into struggling companies and turn them into highly profitable entities in returns for a percentage of both business and profit. It is a great in-depth lesson for all entrepreneurs, as the first part of the show a tutorial of sorts where they show you what NOT to do as an entrepreneur. The motto of the show emphasises the three P’s – People, Process and Product – the triangular mantra of success for any startup founder and members.
This was one of my favorites
This list was originally posted on YourStory
