Garnett Valley native George Krautzel is a driven serial entrepreneur who knows how to execute and grow companies to a successful exit. I learned three tremendously valuable lessons from Krautzel in his talk with Startup Grind Philadelphia.
Prior to starting his smart money venture capital fund MissionOG, Krautzel started his career as co-founder of ITtoolbox - an online community for IT executives. Coming full circle from bootstrapping his own start-up to a successful exit, he now runs MissionOG in Philadelphia. He was full of epic advice for entrepreneurs, with our most valuable takeaways below:
Execution Is In Successful Entrepreneurs’ Blood
Krautzel stressed that the key is execution, not what you learn in school. He realized shortly after getting his degree in finance from Villanova: that degree wasn’t going to help him learn to execute. He hopped into a role that let him see what it really meant to execute from within a company at a consulting firm.
When Krautzel started MissionOG, it started as a team of seasoned entrepreneurs who could also execute. When he looks at his 500+ investment opportunities per year, he narrows it down by looking at the entrepreneurs who he thinks will execute on a sound vision. When 9 in 10 startups fail, an investor needs to understand and work around the odds. To beat them, Krautzel likes to see true builders who get their hands dirty in crafting amazing products.
Be a War-Time Entrepreneur, Even In Peacetime
Ben Horwitz coined the term War-Time CEO in his book Hard Thing About Hard Things. Krautzel needs his investment portfolio to be full of wartime CEOs and looks for unwavering persistence. When the 2001 bubble burst, challenges for tech companies switched from "the next best thing," to "how can we make payroll next week." Learning to constantly create value for your end customer allows entrepreneurs to distinguish themselves in the marketplace.
Every day for an entrepreneur can feel like pushing a 10,000 pound boulder up a steep hill. An entrepreneur that can push through tremendous pain has a higher chance of success. Surviving the tech crash let Krautzel see a side of entrepreneurship that many miss out on. When companies “go to war” they need to put their ear to the ground and learn who their customers are, truly innovate, and stay in command of their numbers. Even when companies are doing well, they should stay modest and make sure they don’t lose sight of the foundation that makes them unique.
Discipline is Key
As an entrepreneur it’s so easy to be pulled in a million different directions all at the same time. Disciple is key to success in zeroing in on what the customer needs and relentlessly optimizing your product around their wants and needs. Following the Lean Startup model, the product doesn’t have to be perfect out of the gate, but has to at the very least provide value to customers.
The level of disciple you put forth can vary depending on the period you are at in life. To combat this, it’s important to give yourself a reality check on what is actually driving growth in the company and what is wasting your your time.
Executing correctly, winning the day to day battles in business, and staying discipled is the recipe for success. Doing so, will allow you to build with your customers, as opposed to build something that you hope customers want. It is that type of discipline and execution that separates entrepreneurs and provides a path for companies to prove feasibility, scale, and sustain profitability.