5 Characteristics of Successful StartupTechpreneurs

Startuptechpreneurs are amazing people. Sometimes you wonder what they are made of. You might ask if their DNA is made up of hard work perfectly linked to a chromosome of luck. They just seem to succeed in everything that they do (and rake in a lot of money).

No they are not sent by alien civilizations and they also fail in some of their endeavors. They just seem to have a little of every talent needed, have 101% gusto to do what they do, and have a laser-guided focus to achieve their goals.

In the early days of their companies, be it in a garage or from their dorm rooms, these successful startup founders wore a lot of hats. They are like the Energizer bunny doing the jobs of the chief operating officer, doing product design, recruiting people, and even managing PR. It is crazy how they managed to do all the duties and through their unique talents, they achieved success.

Here are some of those characteristics that help them go on with their venture, succeed with it, and make it grow:

Leadership

This is the most crucial characteristic of a successful startuptechpreneur. Leadership means they served as the spark to a bright idea and transformed the dream to a reality. The leader is the starting point. He or she finds the best people to be part of his team, lays down the foundations, think of the overall strategy, and even finds the office space.

The founder of a startup is the kind of guy who invites other people to start something different and start a new company. The founder is the activator who thinks out of the box. He pursued the idea and turned it to something useful for other people.

Jason Jacobs who is behind RunKeeper is a good example of this. He was sweating it out in a marathon back in 2007 when he thought that people needed something simpler than the Nike+. To achieve his goals of providing an open platform for health metrics, he recruited other people to join him and started a new company.

Flexibility

Bright ideas are just bright ideas. When you start to churn something they do not necessarily produce something great. Founders of startups know this and easily adapt to the circumstances. If you want to get to the top, you must know how to blend with the startup culture and be creative to get the funding you need.

Your ideas are your dreams but this dream should be pliable enough so you can help shape solutions to the problems of consumers.

Kevin Systrom is the co-founder of Burbn which is the predecessor of Instagram. The app which has millions of downloads today did not start the way we know it. It was first designed to be a geo-location app where people can checkin and a platform where they can upload their photos to share with friends. The first idea though did not take off well. Systrom and his team had to pinpoint the strongest trait of their app. They found out that it was the photo uploading aspect that was hitting it off so what they did is get rid of all other features and moved on. Kaboom! Look at Instagram now.

Discipline

It is great that you know how to adapt to the flow of things, but success also requires discipline. Imagine an overwhelming need to attend to the gazillion things that need your attention. As a startup founder, you must learn how to structure your work so everyone knows his or her roles and

responsibilities while you focus on yours.

Discipline will help you find out what the problem is. It helps you keep your team working like a well-oiled machine. Discipline also determines how you spend time with work and still have enough time for family and friends.

Eric Reis who is the guy behind, teaches people how to find a sustainable business by equipping them with the right attitude, philosophy, and the discipline necessary to succeed.

Strategist

All successful startups always has a great strategist behind them. It is like having a magnet that attracts all the metal flakes from the sand. That is how they work. From all the noise, they can strategically get the relevant and useful things for them.

A good strategist can come up with a name of the company that will be easily remembered by people. They can come up with products that are unique. They have that magic to push their product to the market and let consumers see the real value it can bring into their lives. Aside from these, a strategic founder can pick the ideal business partners, understand the competition, see the weaknesses and amend them before they become a problem.

Who can be a better example of this but the late Steve Jobs. The founder of Apple might be the best strategist of our generation. Steve Jobs understood that people look for something more than computing, and people want to be entertained, want to be creative, and want to be liberated. The genius launched products like the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad. He produced hit gadgets one after another that catapulted Apple to become the most valuable company today.

Focus

Successful startup founders may have a hundred items on their to-do list everyday but they know which ones must be prioritized. Focus is like the sniper alter ego of your discipline that scopes the targets and make failure as not part of the options.

Some people might start something great but give up after a few months. You will see them starting on another great idea the next time you see them and then another the next time you bump into them.

Great techpreneurs know what things to drop on their to-do list. They drop down any distraction and only focus on the essential things that will spell success. The other less important items should be delegated to the other members of the team since trying to do everything is counter productive.

Khalil is a dynamic, creative, intelligent, hard-working entrepreneur and a firm believer in the power of technology to impact and improve livelihood in developing countries. His vision, dedication, and principles set him apart from his peers, – Mustapha Usman CEO of Africa Infotech Consulting