ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the skills required to manage the entrepreneurial lifecycle. Specifically, it addresses: adaptability, finding and managing people, managing cash effectively, focuses on customers, selling, creating and managing alliances, creativity and innovation, humility, optimism, and inspiration. Evidence from successful startups shows that finding and managing good staff is a recurrent issue in achieving a thriving business. As Steve Blank records, great startups are teams and the key characteristics of the team are based on the identification of the critical success factors for each specific industry, i.e., those factors that, done right, almost guarantee superior performance. It is often said that “cash is king” or “the lifeblood of any business enterprise is cashflow.” Cash creates options. A startup needs cash to pay employees, buy inventory, pay for services, promote and market the business, attract investment, pay loans, repair and replace tools and equipment, and so forth. A successful startup is a customer-driven organization.
