The Ultimate Guide for the New Entrepreneur in Seattle

So you just decided the time is now. You have an idea, you are ready to get it going, but you are a rookie entrepreneur. Maybe not even an entrepreneur yet, but ready to leave the comfort of BigCo to do your own startup. If it wasn’t enough to learn everything you need to create your product, there is also the whole thing about actually creating a business, which are not only the mechanics, but also the people, the places and the information you probably didn’t even know you’ll need.
 
We at the Seattle 2.0 are not only about helping the existing startup community, but also about helping to make this community grow. So here is your pocket-book (pocket-post?) guide for a few things that you should consider for your new endeavor.

But even before you decide to leave and get a co-working space, you probably should arm yourself with information. The first thing is to make sure you understand the legal implications of starting your business while working full-time in another company. There are many pitfalls and a great book to read is The Entrepreneurs Guide to Business Law. Although is a book about business law, it’s easy read for the entrepreneur-to-be. The second book you should read is The Art of the Start (by Guy Kawasaki). It will certainly spark the entrepreneur in you. Now, be careful and stay clear of Built to Last and Good to Great because those are not entrepreneurship books, despite of what they say. Instead, read Blue Ocean Strategy and find your blue ocean. After you are more versed on business and entrepreneurship you should read Made to Stick, a book about telling stories and by now you’ll know telling people the story of your business and product is what you’ll do most, when hiring, looking for financing, selling to customers or trying a partnership with another company.

Depending who you talk to, they might say you don’t need a lawyer and you can do everything on your own. And you can write the code, create the logo, install the server, do PR, etc. The real point is where your time and money is best invested. There is so much to learn if you are trying to build a business that some segments are better left to professionals. If you have the stomach go ahead and do all your legal stuff by yourself, but I recommend you find a good lawyer to partner with, because he’ll not only do a lot for you, but he can also help validate some of your assumptions (“what you mean my concept is not worth $5 million?”) and do a lot of good introductions. Now your next decision is if you should go with a bigger law firm or with an individual/boutique-firm. Any lawyer can do the basic business legal portion. Are you doing a lot of patents? Go with a law firm or lawyer that has experience (or good price) on that. Are you going to do lots of licensing negotiation? Get a lawyer with experience on that. The best choice is to ask around for referrals and interview at least 3 firms/lawyers. Here are some for you to think about: Davis Wright Tremaine, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, Dorsey & Whitney, Perkins Coie, Stanislaw Ashbaugh, Stoel Rives, Summit Law Group, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

There are many non-profit and for-profit organizations in the Seattle area focused on startups, technology or entrepreneurship. They offer training, events, dinners, discounted services and many other goodies. So go ahead and checkout Northwest Entrepreneur Organization (NWEN), Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA), StartPad.org (also a co-working space) and MIT Enterprise Forum.

Ok, this might be uncomfortable advice, but a big part of a successful startup will be based on your people skills (sorry, you wanted to hear that your intelligence is what would get you over the hump, hum?). Networking is the act of going places (physically) and talking to (real) people. As an entrepreneur, the best place for you to network is a place where there are lots of entrepreneurs. You’ll be surprised at how much people are willing to share and help each other. The best event in Seattle for entrepreneurs is the nPost Networking (by Nathan Kaiser) followed closely by Lunch 2.0 (organized by Josh Maher) and Open Coffee (organized by Andy Sack). The Seattle 2.0 keeps an extensive list of events in town, maintained by the awesome Danielle Morrill.

And since we are talking about people and we live in Seattle, networking 1:1 on coffee shops is like a tradition. You need to find people that have been through similar experiences or have complimentary information to what you know, however, if you are really serious about your career as an entrepreneur and you want to known to the right people, you might want to have coffee with these people if you have a compelling reason to do so (wasting their time will be a net negative to you): Nathan Kaiser from nPost, Andy Sack from Founders Co-Op, Bill Bryant from Draper-Fisher-Jurvetson, Greg Huang from Xconomy, Janis Machala (Paladin Parnters, UW TechTranser), and many others. 

The STS, or own its extended version “Seattle Tech Startups”, is the most active distribution list in the Seattle tech startup scene. It has more than 900 members as of last report, and includes the all interested (and boring) kind of people. From the founder to the hired CEO, from the IT guy to the marketing gal, and a bunch of service providers from all walks of life. It’s absolutely the place to be part of if you are a new entrepreneur in Seattle. But be careful before you start posting. Watch the dynamics of the list for a few weeks to get a gist of what’s ok and what’s is frowned upon. Give a little and take a little is the main tip I can give you. The list is loosely moderated by Chuck Groom.

It couldn’t be easier to learn how to be an entrepreneur than to follow their blogs and twitters. So, go ahead and start following some of the most interesting and influential voices in Seattle.

You might or might not be looking for angel or VC investment right now, or you might want to be knowledgeable if you think you’ll need in the future. If you do all the things above, you’ll have a pretty good idea of how “the system” works, but just for reference, you might want to learn about these organizations as well.

Just get it done!
Reading blog posts and books, meeting people, attending events and all is good, but it won’t make a difference if you don’t quite your job and get started. So go get it and good luck!