Sunny Gupta of Apptio, on the Half-Empty Glass

 I grew up in India. My father was the secretary of education for the Indian government. And my mom’s family was all entrepreneurs. So it was an interesting dichotomy. From the time I was 7 or 8, the world of entrepreneurs seemed more intriguing to me because you could control your own destiny. I have two brothers, and all of us run fairly large companies now.

We also had a lot of kitchen-table debates in my family. My dad used to always say, “The best idea will surface if you debate.” That actually has been an incredible strategy from an entrepreneurial perspective, because one of the biggest challenges is surfacing good ideas from other people. If you don’t have debate, people will suppress them.

So when did you move to the states?

I felt like I needed to go to the U.S. because everybody said, “You can start from nothing and create something.” India was not that way at the time, though it has changed a lot now. My dad couldn’t afford my education in the U.S., so he said, “All I can give you is $2,000 and a plane ticket.”

So I flew here, and because of my SAT scores, I got a partial scholarship at the University of South Carolina. I started working odd jobs to support myself. I cleaned dishes. I worked as a mover. I studied like crazy and got a full scholarship. Then I applied to be the intern for the president of the university. I told them I was like Avis — I’m just going to work harder than anybody else. The president told me later that that was the reason he selected me.

And what were the early years of your career like?

My first job was as a software developer, and then I did some consulting. But I said to myself, “This is going too slow.” It was not even really about the money. It was just too slow. I felt like I was more talented than the pace at which my career was moving.

I really felt that I could do my boss’s boss’s job. Yes, you don’t know what you don’t know, but I just had this strong conviction within me. I also felt the cultures I was working in were too bureaucratic, not transparent, and not customer-focused. That all really bothered me. It was probably the easiest decision of my life to start my own company.

Tell me some things about your management approach today.

We have this phrase that I use a lot: “glass half-empty.” My marketing guys wanted me to change it to “continuous improvement.” But I said to them that “glass half-empty” is not gloomy. It’s all about how, every single day, maybe 85 percent of things are going right, and there are 15 percent that aren’t going right. And if we have an hour, I’d rather focus on the 15 percent that are not going right, because that’s how you become great.

It’s hard for people to get behind that principle because my sense — having managed a lot of people — is that human beings are generally driven by a desire to be recognized every single day. And I absolutely believe recognition is important and you’ve got to recognize people. The culture has to be set right from Day 1 that we are going to recognize you, but our culture also has this maniacal focus on the things that are not working. People can get frustrated because they feel like you may be attacking them or always asking them about the things that are not working.

How do you hire?

One of my favorite questions is asking people about the three to four things they need to work on, or the things they are just not good at. And I will ask what their managers would say they need to work on. I’ll ask that question three to four times from different angles until I am satisfied with the answer.

And what are you listening for?

I’m looking for transparency, and it also goes to the glass-half-empty approach. If they cannot internalize the things that they need to work on, then they’ll probably get frustrated because they need too much patting on the back.

I also ask them about tough times they’ve faced, in their personal life or at work. That tells me a lot. With managers, I always ask, ‘How many people have you fired?’ I’m looking for whether they’ve actually dealt with poor performers. Are they transparent with their employees? Are they going to give them feedback?

What else about your culture? You mentioned earlier the importance of debate.

In our meetings, we tell people to check their ego. We have a regular meeting that we call Blue Sky. It’s an innovation meeting. I was concerned that people wouldn’t say what they think if I was there. But anybody can say anything to my face. We encourage active debate, and you debate things for a set period of time. Then you get a lot of the facts and you make decisions.

We also insist on a one-pager approach for new ideas. If you have somebody come and present, they might want to spend the entire time giving you a PowerPoint. I don’t want that. If you can’t capture your thoughts in one page, something is wrong. We pass it out in the beginning of the meeting, and everybody reads it. That way, we all have the facts. Then we debate, and all ideas are good ideas to start with. Eventually, we make a decision. It reminds me of the debates we used to have at the dinner table as a family.

What would you say to a class full of aspiring entrepreneurs?

The entrepreneur stuff is pretty core to my heart. My first piece of advice would be to just do it. Not everybody’s cut out for it. It’s 10 times harder than you think it will be. Most of the days are going to be bad days. You have to self-generate a lot of the enthusiasm and the optimism you need to be a successful entrepreneur.

And the key principle that I’ve learned again and again is that humility and relationships are really important. Never burn a relationship. One relationship always comes in handy for the next one, and for the next one after that. The whole life of an entrepreneur is about steppingstones.

 

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A Great Manager Should Expect a Peaceful Vacation

I worked in an architectural firm in New Haven for about two and a half years. The lessons I learned working there far exceeded anything I could have learned in business school from an entrepreneurship perspective.

The owners not only focused on the current projects, but also constantly looked ahead for other opportunities. I learned about the relentless pursuit of business from them. They were very focused. When we got a little too rambunctious on the floor where all the draftsmen were, they’d say, calm down, let’s keep going.

What were some other early management lessons for you?

Like many people who move from doing to managing, I probably stayed more involved at a granular level than what’s optimal. When you do that, you spend less time managing. Whenever you don’t know what to do, you revert back to what you know, which is, “Let me do it because I can get this done.” The challenge that created was that I wouldn’t necessarily develop people as quickly as I probably should have, because I would often say it’s easier for me to do it, and then they’d watch. But that’s not the same as giving someone the guidelines and saying, “You do it,” and though it may not be exactly the way I would have done it, I can give guidance.

I probably did not do that as well as I could have early on. If you develop people, it means fewer phone calls and fewer interruptions when you’re on vacation. If you haven’t developed them, then you’re tethered to the organization. Some people love to know they’re needed constantly, and that people have to call them. Unfortunately it’s common, but it’s not the best for the organization. I found that when I’m on vacation and getting calls and constant e-mails, then I must not be doing as good a job as I should to make sure that the group can perform without me.

What kind of culture did you want when you started your own firm?

I wanted this company to be operated in a way that doesn’t have the faults or shortcomings that people might have seen at their prior employer. Any large organization has certain issues. I wanted to make sure that we’d do whatever we could to mitigate those. The biggest issues are people not necessarily being valued for their performance and instead being caught up in the bureaucratic hierarchy, where they were either going to survive or thrive or do poorly because of the area they worked in, or their careers could be enhanced or held back by their relationships or lack of relationships.

I want this to be a complete meritocracy. That’s something you have to make sure you constantly let people know. You’ve got to judge people on their merits. You have a variety of personalities, and it never fails that anyone, including me, might prefer to spend time with one person instead of another. But if people are professional, productive and an asset to the firm, my personal preferences shouldn’t have anything to do with it. I try to make sure I emphasize that regularly.

One big challenge for C.E.O.’s is to make sure they get out of the bubble that naturally gets created around them, because people only want to bring them good news. How do you counter that?

Probably the most honest and direct and frequent feedback I get is from my wife, who is a senior fixed-income salesperson here and a partner in the firm. Sometimes my colleagues may not want to come directly to me to find out what I think, or they’ll want to get a message to me, and they will go to her. I don’t always agree with her assessment of me or a situation, but it’s good to hear the input in an unfiltered way from someone else, rather than people just telling me everything I want to hear.

How do you hire?

The first thing I look for are the nonverbal components of one’s overall presence and presentation. Would I buy from this person? Would I want to do business with that individual? Do they look me in the eye? Do they have a certain energy level? Do they seem confident? Those are the kinds of things that really matter most.

I care less about your résumé in terms of the places you worked or where you went to school. What I do care about is how your résumé can give me insights into why you went from one position to another. I’m listening for how someone weaves together the changes in their career, and why they left one job for another. We all make mistakes. We all have setbacks. I’m listening to why someone left.

If I see multiple positions where there wasn’t necessarily progression, that’s always a point of concern for me. I listen closely if someone had a position that is a major change from the rest of their career — if there’s an outlier role. It’s not the worst thing to say, “I was laid off, and I needed a job and so I pursued this position, I gave it a shot, but I eventually went back to my area of specialization.” That’s perfectly fine.

But when people try to present the story of their career so that every move was a step up, everything was perfect and everything is wonderful, then I have to question whether they are realists. Are they going to be someone I’d feel comfortable working with? Or are they going to be constantly putting a spin on everything that happens?

I also don’t want anyone who’s constantly going to tell me what I want to hear, or what they think I want to hear. I find there are times when, if I make my view known too early, then I’ve just shaped the whole direction of the conversation. So when I’m interviewing someone, I will ask them how they feel about certain issues and points, and how they feel about certain organizations.

Before I describe how Williams Capital operates, I want to hear about their ideal environment. I want to hear how they interact with their colleagues rather than me saying, well, here’s the way Williams Capital is, because then I’ll just hear something similar back from them.

 

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The Top 10 Consumer Complaints

The new list of the top consumer complaints is out and once again problems with auto sales and repairs are No. 1. Home improvement and construction along with credit and debt disputes continue to be high on this year's list.

Susan Grant, director of consumer protection at the Consumer Federation of America (CFA), said the list shows "the persistence of complaints related to economic hardship" from foreclosure problems to landlords skimping on the heat as well as "the boundless creativity of scammers to find new ways to fleece consumers."

The top 10 list of consumer complaints for 2012 is based on a survey by CFA and the North American Consumer Protection Investigators of forty state and local consumer protection agencies across the country.

Complaints related to autos are all across the board and include: misrepresenting the true mileage of a used car, selling used vehicles with undisclosed mechanical problems, deceptive sales practices and unlicensed used car dealers.

"It's really no surprise that auto transactions continue to lead the list of complaints. Not only have cars become more complex and expensive, but many dealers still can't get it right when it comes to treating their customers fairly and with respect," said Jack Gillis, CFA's director of public affairs and author of "The Car Book 2013."

The report suggests various ways you can protect yourself. They include:

Get a second opinion about any significant car repair. You'll probably need to pay for the mechanic's time, but it could save you money and a lot of hassles in the long run. Get a written estimate so you won't be surprised by the charge for the diagnosis.Before buying a used car, check its history so you'll know what you're bargaining for. Most states participate in the National Motor Vehicle Administration, which lets you get information about the title, confirm whether the mileage that shows on the odometer is accurate, and whether the car was previously declared a total wreck.Don't buy any used vehicle until you have it inspected by an independent mechanic you trust to look for hidden mechanical or safety problems.

Here are the rest of the nation's Top 10 Consumer Complaints for 2012:

2. Home Improvement/Construction: The most common problems reported were shoddy work and failure to start or complete the job on time.

3. Credit/Debt: Complaints ranged from billing and fee disputes to bogus credit repair and mortgage-related fraud. The agencies reported various illegal or abusive debt collection tactics, including harassing phone calls and attempting to collect a debt that was not owed.

4. Utilities: Service problems or billing disputes with phone, cable, satellite, Internet, electric and gas service were frequently cited.

5. Retail Sales: False advertising and other deceptive practices, defective merchandise, problems with rebates, coupons, gift cards and gift certificates and failure to deliver were listed.

6. Services: Complaints included misrepresentations, shoddy work, failure to have required licenses and failure to perform.

7. Home Solicitations: Misrepresentations or failure to deliver in door-to-door, telemarketing or mail solicitations and do-not-call violations were among the complaints.

8. Landlord/Tenant: Unhealthy or unsafe conditions, failure to make repairs or provide promised amenities, deposit and rent disputes as well as illegal eviction tactics were included.

9. Internet Sales: Misrepresentations or other deceptive practices and failure to deliver online purchases were among the complaints.

10. Household Goods: Complaints included misrepresentations, failure to deliver and faulty repairs in connection with furniture or appliances.

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4 Kinds of Fraud That Could Destroy Your Business

1. Payroll fraud.
Last year, we took on a local construction firm as a new client. Their payroll account had never been reconciled to their time-keeping system, so we made that one of our top priorities. According to company records, two workers and their manager were working massive hours and getting paid a ton of overtime that amounted to more than $80,000 in additional annual pay. Their timesheets revealed they were working on construction projects that were more than 50 miles away from one another simultaneously.

Hmmmm. It took about three seconds to figure that out and fire the employees, but the money was gone.

While it is easy for you and me to say that this could never happen to us, the additional salaries given to these three guys amounted to an increase of only four percent of the total payroll cost -- a figure that when unchecked could easily slip through the cracks. Most companies don't keep clean enough records to notice such an amount, especially when they fund a six-figure weekly payroll.

The best way to prevent payroll fraud is to reconcile all balance sheet accounts and payroll records monthly or, at the very least, quarterly. Look for any discrepancies and investigate them until you have a clear answer.

2. "Double check" fraud.
I know of a restaurant whose former bookkeeper stole $550,000 over five years. She did this by writing two checks each time she paid a bill, one to the vendor and one to herself. For example, if she had to pay $500 to ACME Insurance Company, she would simultaneously write another check to herself for $100 that she coded in the accounting system as "ACME."

It is very hard for business owners to catch this type of activity. Even if they are looking at the financial statements frequently and the bills look a little high, they can generally seem reasonable. But this can add up quickly. In this case, more than half a million dollars was stolen by writing 20 to 30 "double checks" per month for nominal amounts spread across multiple expense accounts.

This fraud was only detected when the bookkeeper fell ill and another bookkeeper took her place. Very quickly, the new person noticed that the bank account had not been properly reconciled in months. After doing so, it was clear that there were multiple payments in the same month to the same vendor.

As a business owner, it is difficult to find good accounting help, but it is important to have more than just one person signing checks and reconciling the bank account. Also, it is important to have an outsider come and look at the books and reconciliations at least annually, and at random times.

3. Over-ordering fraud.
Another one of our clients had a 12-year part-time office manager who would routinely order and receive all the office supplies. She was paid $10 per hour and given just enough work to get her up to the point (but not over) where she still remained ineligible to receive health benefits. She was a single mother, had a child at home, and became disgruntled.

For at least the last three years of her employment, she began over-ordering office supplies. She would return supplies the company did not need in exchange for a gift card, which she then used to buy something small and take the remainder in cash. It is unclear how much was stolen, but our estimates were that in one year it was over $19,000.

The easiest way for this business to have avoided this type of fraud is to do the right thing from the start. Good employees pay for themselves on average tenfold, and bad employees can ruin companies. In this case, the manager was short-sided in wanting to save $250 per month in health insurance premiums. The result was an unhealthy work environment and a scenario where this lady felt that it was “fair” for her to steal.

4. "Friendship" fraud.
A brilliant engineer friend of mine once hired his best friend's daughter to be his bookkeeper. He had known her as a kid. She was smart, hard-working and, because she was a single mother, she needed a sound income. As it turns out, she also felt mistreated by her father, felt her previous boss was out to get her, had problems at home, and needed this job to get out of debt. My friend is a great guy and a very trusting person. Within a year, the bookkeeper was the only one writing, signing and authorizing checks. She was running payroll and the only contact for the IRS.

In late 2011, he was astonished to learn that all of his bank accounts were frozen and levied by the IRS. Though he had paid and filed all of his personal income taxes on time, his bookkeeper was stealing the money that was supposed to go to payroll taxes. As the only IRS point-of-contact for the business, she strung this out over a three-year period and stole $439,000. Three days later, the company was forced to shut down, 15 employees lost their jobs, and the shareholders (including her father) lost all of their money.

The moral of the story is to never hire anyone solely based upon friendship, family, obligation, or feelings of sympathy. Build a culture of accountability, measure results, and make sure everyone knows that you are looking at their performance. Then, hire based on talent, and pay for that talent to perform at a high level of accountability and integrity.

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The Number-One Reason Entrepreneurs Fail

Early in his career, Daniel C. Steenerson accompanied another insurance broker on a sales call, but found himself excluded from the transaction because he lacked a certain financial services credential. That experience prompted him to take the required exams, but he initially failed every one.

“The feeling of failure was terribly uncomfortable,” says Steenerson, a leading authority today in the disability insurance field and president and CEO of Disability Insurance Services. This feeling of discomfort is the hallmark of what Steenerson considers one of the biggest hurdles to experiencing success as an entrepreneur: the all imposing “middle mile.”

“Using a marathon as a metaphor, there are two really exciting times during the development of a business: the starting line and the finish line,” he says. “At the starting line, you’re eager and focused on your goals. Near the finish line, you are exhausted but elated, and it’s easy to stay motivated.”

Between the starting line and the finish line is where you do the hard work and burn the most energy. It’s also where you encounter steep inclines, fatigue and setbacks, such as cash flow shortages, hiring issues and burnout. During this middle mile, there's a huge temptation to quit, which Steenerson believes is one of the reasons roughly 60 percent of businesses fail in the first five years.

Here’s how to make sure you make it through the middle mile and cross the finish line to wild success.

Avoid getting stuck at the starting line. A surefire way to failure as a business owner is to be all talk and no action, says Craig Gussin of Auerbach & Gussin Insurance and Financial Services. “So many business owners fail because they get stuck at the start line and fail to follow through.”

You can dream and plan and set goals for yourself all day long, but if you do nothing tangible to see those goals through, you'll simply spin your wheels.

Embrace discomfort. “Some business owners fail because the terrain is too treacherous, they become winded, or they simply don’t have the fortitude to continue,” says Steenerson, who eventually passed his CLU exams after rising two hours early every morning before work and then hitting the books again every night.

“To gain something, you have to be willing to give up something,” he says. “Foregoing sleep to study was difficult, but it was the only way to meet my goals and grow. Nobody likes to be uncomfortable, and it’s a natural inclination to avoid discomfort, but it’s necessary to be successful. This can mean working late to ensure deadlines are met or making lifestyle changes in order to be able to invest in a new venture. Either way, sacrificing comfort now can mean success later.”

Stay on course. Entrepreneurs who falter can get overwhelmed by the daily demands of business and the rigors of that middle mile. When they become physically and mentally tired, they can become complacent and settle for good enough.

“Head in the right direction by focusing on excellent service and high-quality products,” Gussin says.

While giving your all, keep putting one foot in front of the other, no matter how rocky the course, and you will reach your goals.

Simplify whenever possible. Like marathoners, successful small-business owners determine how to achieve maximum results with the least amount of effort, Steenerson says.

”Working hard is important, but deploying your resources in the most effective way possible is even more critical,” he says. “Simplifying processes makes it much easier to accomplish more in less time. It also makes it quicker and easier to share your knowledge and bring team members up to speed when necessary.”

Never stop visualizing the finish line. Keeping your eye on the prize can help ensure you reach your goals. “Remind yourself why you started your journey and allow your destination to inspire you,” Steenerson says. “Many business owners fail because they simply lost sight of the finish line coming up around the corner.”

And as you trudge through the middle of the course, believe that your efforts will eventually pay off.

“Small businesses rarely progress at an even, regular pace,” Steenerson says. “You can work very hard for three years seeing only gradual progress and then suddenly experience a big surge in revenues or profits. Although the surge appears to happen in a moment, it is a cumulative result of many small steps.”Now that you know some of the common hurdles entrepreneurs face on their ways to success, you can survive the middle mile and reach your small-business goals to the sound of cheering.

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The 5 Fastest Ways to Go Out of Business

Many entrepreneurs dream of starting their own business for a very long time. They plan and save their money for years and finally make it happen. Then, all too quickly, their small business goes under, and they are left wondering where it all went wrong.Here are the most common mistakes that will quickly put you out of business and how to avoid each of them.1. Not managing your cash. Every company goes out of business for exactly the same reason: They run out of cash. Most entrepreneurs mistakenly think that building a business is about growing sales or profit. It's really about monitoring and ultimately increasing the cash retained by your company.

How to avoid this mistake: Learn to read your cash flow statement monthly and find out the sources and uses of cash in your business. At a minimum, review a reconciled bank statement to see if your company has more or less cash at the end of each month.

2. Breaking promises or lying to customers, vendors or employees. Many startup business owners make promises they can't keep. Mistakes will happen, but for some reason, entrepreneurs can repeatedly commit to product features, delivery or service levels that are unrealistic or unprofitable.

How to avoid this mistake: Go to great lengths to always tell the truth regardless of how painful it may be at the time. Being open with all the people you work with will build loyalty and trust.

3. Implementing poor computer infrastructure security. Small businesses are targets of cyber criminals since they traditionally have less resources to protect their company. According to Monica Hamilton at McAfee, more than 75 percent of data breaches target small businesses, and it's estimated that 60 percent of these companies go out of business within six months of an attack.

How to avoid this mistake: Make an investment in protecting your company by using security solutions like antivirus software on all company computers, as well as on the devices employees bring with them to use at work. BYOD, or "bring your own device," is increasingly common in small companies, where employees use their own personal devices for work purposes. This can leave your business wide open to attackers. Use services like Sitelock to protect your company website from cyber attacks.

4. Setting no human resource policies. A small business can easily get stung by not implementing HR policies as the company grows. Employees and managers can all too easily run afoul of employee laws that prevent discrimination, sexual harassment and many other offenses from happening in the workplace. You need to protect yourself, and your employees. 

How to avoid this mistake: Create a handbook and policies soon after hiring the first employee. There are many cloud based solutions that can almost do it for you. As the company grows, seek shared outside professional HR help to shape your policies.

5. Not focusing on what the customer wants. A company can't sell whatever it wants and survive; it has to sell what the customer wants or needs. As the market shifts and competitors appear, there's a good chance this will change over time.

How to avoid this mistake: You need to be ready to adapt to a changing market. Continue to focus your products and services on your customer, and target those people who can pay for what you're selling. Always ask current and new prospects what they need and will pay for.

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What Older Business Owners Can Teach Young Startups

Not long ago, neurologist Oliver Sacks, musing about turning 80 in The New York Times, said getting older "is not a shrinking but an enlargement of mental life and perspective." Unfortunately, this is not how society generally views those in their twilight years. Eastern cultures revere their elders. Our Western culture, however, is more inclined toward ageism. We tend to view those who are older as yesterday's people, and we are more predisposed to shoulder them off the stage. The regrettable thing is that these individuals have the most to offer in their last act—their intellect is unwrinkled.

The "enlargement of mental life" encompasses many aspects. For one, those who have been on the long path in business have learned to foresee and walk around stumbling blocks. They know the shortcuts that come from experience. Above all, they understand the true meaning of ego-transcendence—that feeling that we are now beyond concern with the self and able to perceive reality with greater objectivity and less egocentric bias. The list of age advantages is long—these business veterans have a lot to offer if we are willing to reach out and take it. This is especially important for young entrepreneurs who can benefit immensely from rubbing shoulders with older entrepreneurs.

There is a misconception that most startups are formed by young entrepreneurs in their 20s and 30s. A study by the Kauffman Foundation, a research think tank on entrepreneurship, found that the highest rate of startups formed in the past decade was in the 55- to 64-year-old group. What's more, the Kauffman Firm Survey, a longitudinal study of around 5,000 startups formed in 2004, shows firms that survived the financial crisis of 2008 had principal owners who were much more likely to be older than age 45. Over 60 percent of the companies who survived were led by entrepreneurs in the 45-and-up age group. The study reports that previous industry or startup experience had less impact on the company's survival than did the owner's age.

Age does have its privileges. Some smart law firms, for example, know the value of having an elderly, retired judge in their mix—an individual who is a repository of knowledge and wisdom acquired on the bench. They know that harvesting this resource will accelerate the development of younger lawyers. What can young entrepreneurs, those who are at the beginning of their journey, learn from those who are at their journey's end? Here are five lessons from the field:

Long-term planning pays. Those who have been in business for a long time know that "hurry and repent later" is not the way to go—whether in marriage or business. Sometimes entrepreneurs fall in love with their idea and rush to start a company, without having taken the time to do any long-range planning for the survival of the company. They are influenced by the glamour of those larger-than-life serial entrepreneurs who flipped companies and made millions of dollars. The reality is that these are the exceptions rather than the norm. Young entrepreneurs can learn a lot from successful older entrepreneurs who built businesses to last. Apart from thoughtful planning, these stalwart veterans have combined hard work with the fortitude it takes to take a company through its various stages—they didn't set out with the mindset of having an "overnight success." Building something of value requires patience—the patience to nurture a business and watch it grow. 

Sales and marketing are animals of a different stripe. Sales and marketing are two distinct business disciplines. Simply put, marketing is about identifying target market segments, researching what customers want and how much they will pay for it, and creating awareness of your product and services that fill that demand. Sales is about converting leads and prospects into actual contracts or shipments. It's about creating customers and keeping those customers. Many entrepreneurs wear both hats and lump the two activities into one. They don't realize until perhaps a few years later that they needed to have paid equal attention to both disciplines. Marketing and sales demand a different skill set. A new entrepreneur may be good in one but fail in the other. A seasoned entrepreneur can bolster your potential weakness in this area.

What's more, the alluring concept that "if you build it, they will come" may be good for baseball, but doesn't hold true in business. It's not uncommon for a solo entrepreneur, for example, to start an online business by creating a website that clearly explains the company's products and services, write compelling blog articles and even take up expensive advertising in some publications, and completely miss the importance of SEO in driving traffic. It's an important lesson in marketing that business owners who are not well-versed in technology may miss.

Less is definitely more. A regret often mentioned by entrepreneurs is that they set out in too many directions, bringing too much complexity into their budding companies. Having surplus energy is a mark of youth. As a young entrepreneur, your drive to accomplish is on steroids, and this can get you to have too many pots on the stove. Know what you're good at, what sells and what can endure, and leave the rest on the back burner. Older entrepreneurs know that you can burn your fingers in business if you don't keep your priorities straight. Diversifying in too many areas can be a recipe for failure.

In Profit From The Core: A Return To Growth In Turbulent Times, the authors' 10-year study of more than 2,000 companies shows that most growth strategies fail to deliver value—or even destroy it—primarily because they wrongly diversify from the core business. How many times have we seen a successful small business decide to expand rapidly in different directions, only to crash and burn? 

Take time to listen. This advice comes from Paul Bennett, chief creative officer at IDEO, in an article titled "8 Successful Entrepreneurs Give Their Younger Selves Lessons They Wish They'd Known Then." As Bennett puts it, "Slowing oneself down, engaging rather than endlessly debating and really taking the time to hear and learn is the greatest luxury of becoming older.” With age comes an appreciation of the value of silence and contemplation.

There's more to life than making money. You often hear older entrepreneurs regretting the fact that they didn't spend enough time with their family. Getting a company off the ground and ensuring its success is hard work that doesn't leave much surplus time. What often tends to be sacrificed is spending quality time with those who matter most, our loved ones. You may be a distracted presence at a child's event—or even miss the event altogether; you may stop nurturing your friendships or put off having a quiet walk with an elderly family member; you may be on a family vacation in body but not in spirit—while your family is trying to make memories at the beach, you are trying to make phone calls. All of these times are non-recoverable. If this describes you, learn from those who have been on that trail and make changes now to right the balance between life and money. There is an Italian proverb that says it all: "Our last garment is made without pockets."

Feel the need for some wisdom from seasoned entrepreneurs in your business? Here's how you can seek them out:

Assemble a group of people you can turn to for advice. Call them your personal advisory board. Don't just include other young entrepreneurs or experts in your field. Consider adding a retired or semi-retired executive in the mix, someone who may know nothing about your particular business but who has the business acumen garnered from having been in business for many years. They will shepherd you along the way—whether it's on business survival tactics from the school of hard knocks, creation of the right business model, or the ins and outs of people development. It's one of the smartest things you can do to shorten the learning curve and avoid costly mistakes.

A resource for budding entrepreneurs to learn operational efficiency, for example, is from military veterans. Military education has equipped these veterans with a multitude of skills that are gold for running a small business. These include the importance of planning, teamwork, resourcefulness, self-discipline, risk taking, decisiveness, unmatched loyalty and tenacity, to name a few.

You can gain a lot by having a military veteran in your team, someone who can add a calming perspective in dealing with challenges and obstacles that are inherent in the growth of a small business. "Every entrepreneur has experienced the feeling of things spinning out of control. The awful fear that failure is just around the corner," says Derek Blumke, a principal at Hire Purpose, an organization that matches talented veterans with companies that can use their skills. "A veteran is likely to see things much differently and exude confidence when those around him are riddled with doubt."

Above all, young business leaders can learn a lot from ex-military men and women about what it takes to be a leader.

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