1. Your fight plan is your best guess and sometimes plans have to change in the ring.

When we first founded Cofactor we thought that DNA was the future of biotech and medicine, having spent our previous 10 years working on the human genome project and working closely with academics.

Cofactor started with a 78 page business plan on how we were going to sequence DNA and work with academics. Today we are the leaders in RNA and more than 80% of our revenue is from Industry (ie Big Pharma). We could have still operated a business focused on DNA, but as scientists, we saw an opportunity and adapted to the openings provided by the market.
“Divorce the story, marry the truth”- Tony Robbins

2. The difference between winning and losing is often decided by heart and not talent.

Often, business will talk themselves out of directions they want to go. They may be focused on their competition, or others who tried that route and failed. They give up on the idea before it leaves the conference room because someone shoots its down.

Early on when we would encounter a potential rival company with more resources through a press release, a presentation, or even a poster,  I remember our team saying, almost defeated, “well, why even bother”. Then a year would pass and we would be attending that years meeting, seeing the flurry of press releases, and find ourselves wondering what had happened to that team that was so intimidating . More often than not, we would find out that the team had disbanded, changed direction, or never had the follow-through to see their vision come to life. These days, it is not often that I am phased that another group is working on what we are working on. I am betting on our team and I see our size and focus as positives in the context of much larger and slower competitors.

An idea is one thing, executing it and making it a reality is something else entirely and too often those that have the talent don’t necessarily have the drive to overcome the hurdles that lie in front of them.

3. You need to wear fancy shorts and have a theme song.

Image and presentation counts. Asked what is the most important trait for a successful entrepreneur and the most experienced will often tell you sales. Self, company, ideals promotion is key to success.

I think most people limit the scope of sales to a salesperson, or a sales team. In a startup it doesn’t matter what position you are in the company, everyone is a sales person. Sales are not limited to your market. They are a larger part of your company culture.  You are selling to your clients, selling the current team to get behind your vision, selling to potential team members, your bank to provide financing for that equipment, your investor to realize that this is a market with a future, and even your interviewer to tell your story to the world correctly. You are always selling your vision of the company.

Have a vision and a strong knowledge of everything your company is, and present that to the world. As a technical founder, this has been one of the largest areas of growth for me personally as I have moved out from a lab bench to a computer screen, and now onto a stage. The fact that I am uncomfortable is often my key indicator that I am pushing myself in areas and ways that are extending my boundaries. Since being backed by Y Combinator and spending so much time in the Bay area, I learn that the world loves the socially awkward founder… so just go with it. You can only trust yourself in those uncomfortable situations if you have a strong sense of self, of your vision.

4. If you train against a formidable opponent you will be surprised on what can be accomplished.

There is a reason why boxers spar with bigger, tougher boxers. You have to constantly challenge yourself to grow and learn. Struggle is important to success. Cofactor has sparred with harsh advisors who really challenged the ideas and direction we were taking. Requiring me and the founding team to defend our approach. Bar none, my favorite meetings with advisors have been those where I walk out feeling like I got beat up (maybe not at the time)… but every time it has set me on a path to think more critically about a product, direction, or our team. The most useless meetings have been where the person says “everything makes sense, I love what you are doing, just keep at it”. Get up! You will be knocked down, it is part of the sport, just wear lots of Vaseline to prepare for it.

5. No low blows. The audience is watching.

Early on in our sales process and approach we would use a sheet that described every way that we were “amazing” and all the ways that our competitors “sucked”. It didn’t work. That approach got us nowhere, especially in the context of the large accounts. We lost credibility and, to a large extent, nobody was receptive to that kind of ugliness. It was not until we really took the focus off our competition and put it more on our client, that we began to understand what their challenges were. Understanding our client is what made business really start to take off.

Actually, what we found in some of the cases was that a laundry list of unique features did not matter and focusing on a key item of our competitor was the important factor to the client’s decision to work with them. What surprised us was that features we thought were not important were actually the most important focus of our clients.

Understand the client’s decision process and don’t resort to low blows. A champion does not win every fight but has integrity. Sometimes you have to think of your whole career, not just the one fight.