The first and most important thing in the life of a startup is the character of its founders, said Brian Joseph Flynn, a private investor and serial entrepreneur, in Maribor, Slovenia, on Day 1 of the Podim Conference 2018. Flynn co-founded and/or invested in 23 private companies, of which ten exited, three were shut down, and ten are still in the growth phase. In his view, humble founders are ready to listen (to good advice); on the other hand, they need to be firm in today’s world where quick decisions and agility are indispensable. In addition to agility, technology entrepreneur Neeraj Berry highlighted the crucial ability to consider all potential business risks, and the readiness to never stop learning. To say nothing of the full and complete commitment to a fundamental task, i.e. continual search for solutions that can address the problems of today. Conference speakers also underlined the importance of the organisational culture as something vital to the performance of well-established corporations as well as newly founded companies.

From bootstrapping and valuable time…

Another key skill for startuppers, even if they are only just starting their careers as entrepreneurs, is to have the knowledge and ability to plan your business in the long term, while being cash flow-positive and ready to bootstrap. (In early phases, when financing is scarce, startups often rely on the personal income and savings of their founders, who are therefore forced to cut costs whenever possible.)

“So, build a good (lucrative) business and bootstrap as long as you can!” was Brian Joseph Flynn’s advice for the startups in the audience. According to Flynn, Slovenia’s advantage is not only its beautiful countryside, it is people’s readiness to learn: “All in all, one needs to realise that the most valuable thing is time – not money, time.”

Time is the biggest asset entrepreneurs can have, said Bernard Grum, Head of Programme at ABC Accelerator, last week to the energy startups involved in the Slovenian accelerator programme run by ABC as part of Europe’s biggest energy accelerator InnoEnergy. In Grum’s words: “Forget everything you know. What matters today is that you see how you can organise your future activities so that your time – the time you spend working on your startup – is used efficiently.”

The next speaker at the Podim Conference, Neeraj Berry said: “You are building a business to solve some problem. This is why you need to understand your clients – you are solving their problems.” The cofounder and creator of Sprig, a vertically-integrated online restaurant, Neeraj noted that what often happens to startups is that they lose focus, forgetting the original reason for starting their business in the first place.

…to a clear mission and the right kind of agility

“Large companies are based on a clear mission, even if it takes them ten years to accomplish it,” emphasised Berry. This is why it is essential that each company has a long-term vision – and is ready to learn quickly. “It is your job not to be right, to be fully committed to finding the right answers,” said Neeraj Berry. According to Berry, problems can arise if there are too many people in the organisation who cleave to their old skills and knowhow instead of developing their (other) talents further.

“If you only focus on growth, chances are you will start working for the short term, to perhaps achieve short-term profitability, rather than long-term success,” said Berry, adding: “Product/market fit is not something you ‘achieve’, it’s something you ‘experience’.” And, very importantly, it all starts with a vision, and every startup should have one.

Product/market fit is everything, continued Nuno Gonçalves Pedro of Strive Capital, a venture capital fund based in the Silicon Valley. In his keynote, Pedro highlighted the importance of data and their effective use for rapid development. However, as a solution, agility does not always mean being quick in responding to the market or some issue, it also means responding in the right way. “For instance, if you have a service that generates enough users or even a growing number of users, you have every right to exist. Unfortunately, this is not the case if the interest for your service is dwindling,” said Nuno Gonçalves Pedro straight from the shoulder.

According to Pedro, the most underestimated threat to a company is not realising the things you don’t know. Therefore, every now and then a company should stop and ask themselves whether they have the right team, one that is rising and can continue to rise to the most pressing challenges, said Pedro. He has seen corporations lose their good name after their organisational culture grew weak, as well as startups that made it precisely thanks to the strong culture they were able to build within their teams.