CentreO Blog

A few blogs before we talked about why interning at a startup is a good idea. Today, we’d like to dwell more on what it actually TAKES to work for one. Here are five key qualities for success at a startup (as featured in Entrepreneur.com)

1.   Passion for the product

Building a vision into reality takes passion. Do your homework, study the product and the industry. The founders will definitely be looking for people who are interested in the industry and have some background knowledge. Your passion will also allow you to move forward in the challenging startup environment.

2.   Roll-up-your-sleeves mentality

Startups may seem glamorous and fun on the outside. But on the inside – you must be ready to get your hands dirty.

Are you comfortable juggling five giant boxes on the subway during rush hour in the middle of winter? Or racing to the other part of town for a client meeting after work hours?

The thing is, no job is too small for a startup. The phrase “this is not my job” should never be in your startup vocabulary.

“If someone expects everything handed to them, they might be better off at a larger company with more infrastructure,” says Kathryn Minshew, founder and CEO of career-discovery platformThe Muse. “Smaller businesses need people who will do whatever it takes to make the company successful. And yes, sometimes at 15-person companies, that means the CEO and the social media manager both take turns emptying the kitchen trash.”

3. It’s great to have ideas. It’s even better to show them work.

Got a great idea? Don’t just share it, show it. While you may be bursting at the seams with great ideas, execution and follow-through are key traits to success in the startup world.

At a startup, it is much more valuable to identify your top three ideas and work through a fully-baked plan of attack before sharing it with your team, rather than rattling off half-a-dozen suggestions that aren’t well thought-out

4.   Be proactive, not reactive.

No matter how young or inexperienced you might be, the best part of working at a startup is that everyone has the potential to contribute in a big way. Show that you’ve got what it takes. Don’t be afraid to take on responsibilities and uncover opportunities to move the business forward. Even if you are finished with you work for the day – don’t waste time: work on a new idea, help out a colleague or read up on industry news.

5.   Be a strategist, not a bystander.

Don’t be afraid to participate. Even if you are the most junior member of the team and don’t feel comfortable questioning the status quo – you may look for informal opportunities to share insights with your tea,

When building a concept from scratch, processes and objectives constantly evolve, so look at everything with a critical eye. Unlike your corporate counterparts, your mission is to unlock issues and identify opportunities for change and improvement. Even if you’re the most junior hire at the table and don’t feel comfortable challenging the status quo, look for informal opportunities to share insights with your team.

Last week we mentioned the importance of planning in business. We start off this week with a simple infographic on the key elements of a business plan.

And we remind you that TODAY (March 31st) from 7 PM to 10 PM you can attend a workshop on CREATING A BUSINESS PLAN ON THREE HOURS. The workshop will take place at Partner Cafe + Workspace (29/F Cheuk Nang Plaza, 250 Hennessy Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong, China.

Contact us for more details at sales@centreo.hk

This Monday, March 31^st (7 PM to 10 PM) brings us an amazing opportunity – a one of a kind business course for “quickly and economically drafting your idea and aligning your team” – or simply, creating a working business plan. In only three hours.

No matter what goals we are pursuing, we are constantly met by the need to plan, especially in business. Whether it is a formal plan to present to potential investors, or something you scribble on a napkin in a coffee shop – plans are the building blocks of success. As the famous saying goes: “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”.

Here is the detailed introduction to the workshop by its creator.

As you maybe know I have been really active with e-learning last year. 

One of my course became an instant best seller… “How to Draft a Business Plan?” – More than 9,000 students registered on Udemy or on my own platform Athenasia-academy.com from more than 135 countries.

Because I kind of like you, I decided to deliver this course LIVE in Hong Kong to help you guys to get started with your Business Plan.

Content:

I have made this course for people that want to quickly and economically draft a plan to structure their idea and create alignment inside their team. It’s a light version of my big course “Create a Damn Good Business Plan”

You can use this course to: quickly structure your idea without spending 3 months on plan development, discuss with partners, get a quick plan and know where you are going, you could also use it to apply for a HK visa  (with a few tweeks). But this is not sufficient to go after fundraising and pitch investor. 

We use a visual method with brainstorming templates.

The course is structured in 5 building blocks:

• The Entrepreneur 

• The Analysis

• The Opportunity

• The Plan 

• The Risks 

At the end of this course, you will have a clearer idea on what you want to do with your business. You will also be able to draft a simple DECK presentation to discuss your plan.

This workshop consists in 3 hours workshop during which I explain you how to draft the plan.

I will also give a free access to my online course so that you can download all the templates and pitch deck.

Date and time: March 31st, 7 PM to 9 PM

Venue: Partner Cafe + Workspace (29/F Cheuk Nang Plaza, 250 Hennessy Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong, China)

You can see the online course and review here:

https://www.udemy.com/how-to-draft-a-business-plan

Regards,

Laurent