Part of entrepreneurship involves the brilliance of a concept. But most of entrepreneurship is a matter of building up your track record- as a business, or as an entrepreneur. Your business and personal track record are what investors look for as proof of competency, it is what partners will look for when seeking confidence in your ability, and it allows you to get more funds- and more sweat equity- for less shares in your company. Entrepreneurship might be innovation at its foundation; yet building on that foundation requires you to demonstrate milestone performance markers- as follows.

1. Complete designs, mockups, flow charts, story boards, videos, or research papers explaining your idea

2. A long list of customers who want to use your product. Even without actual revenue- ‘Letters of Intent’ from customers can secure more investment than you would have otherwise garnered.

3. Awesome resumes. It’s the painful truth- partners, investors, banks, and even vendors will look at your professional resume. It’s the personal track record behind your business track record.

4. Prior business success. If you built and sold a company before- your current venture is valued higher. If you have never built a company before, team with someone who has.

5. Revenue. Even without profit- revenue shows the reality of your company. Web companies can get investment as long as they have revenue- even with a complete absence of profits.

6. Business Plans. I’ve never written an entire business plan; but all things being equal- a 50-page plan demonstrates a certain volume of research and financial projections that contribute to your track record of diligence.

7. Skills. Engineering degrees, business degrees, law degrees- even accounting certifications value you, and your venture, higher.

8. Experience. If you are starting a software company targeting restaurants- work in a restaurant for a few months. That way, you can speak to investors, partners, and even employees ‘from personal experience’.

If your business is growing- all of the above items fade in comparison to real business success. But if you want respect and attention before your business takes off; build your track record.

The photos from the evening event are up!  Go to http://www.midventures.com/sep25 to view the gallery.

The midVentures evening event was a great success!  Over 40 developers, entrepreneurs, and creative minds attended, from 10 startup teams, and the night was complete with hamburgers and brats, free drinks, and some fabulous presentations by some of our startup partners.  For all who came, thanks, and for all who didn’t, we’ll see you at the next event!

I will post pictures from the event as soon as I get them.

I am coming up on the 1-month anniversary of being an iPhone user; immersed in the fast-pace drama of dropped calls, Crash Nitro Kart, and youtube videos that burn through battery life. Brian and I have begun developing iPhone applications in conjunction with several niche app developers; and within the past week I have encountered several men and women who sware by the revolutionary nature of this device. For some of us urban professionals, freelancers, and entrepreneurs; the iPhone is becoming the new television, family, and church.

What are the positives and negatives that I- a hardware amateur- have noticed in my iPhone? Let me count the ways….

Positive: I probably listen to the pandora app on my iphone for an hour a day; whether during my exercising, my coffee trips, or my french study sessions. iPhone gave me mobile Panora.

Negative: Dropped Calls. This problem has abated as of late; but back in the end of August my iPhone caused my business to suffer. I must have said “sorry it’s my iphone” roughly 200 times during august and september.

Positive: iPhone SDK development enables people like me to invent gps / accelerometer / 3D / social / mobile / phone / email / IM applications. I don’t see developer friends rushing to the android platform any time soon.

Negative: Burns through battery life. My iphone will last me 2 days on 1 charge, if I don’t use the phone for those 2 days. If I juggle my phone calls, music, emails, and internet searching at a casual pace- my iPhone lasts about 5-7 hours before requiring a recharge.

Positive: You make friends. Not because people are drawn to the iphone like mosquitos to a bright light- but because it accents whatever conversation you initiate. When i met someone from Muldova, I searched for the muldova map, and they pointed to their hometown. When i met the founders of House music, I quickly did some homework on the subject- sitting in the next chair- and the iphone queries provided me with something to talk about.

Negative: Doing simple things can take a while. If my iphone is in my pocket- and if I simply want to add a calendar event for next week, i need to turn the iphone on- close whatever app was already open- open the browser- flip to my google calendar- click the text input- slowly enter “thursday 5pm meeting with bloxes.com“, confirm (which takes about 5-10 seconds), and review the submission. Adding an event to a calendar requires about 30 seconds of group silence.

Positive: It’s sexy

Negative: You get typecasted as jumping onto the iphone bandwagon by seasoned blackberry users

Positive: It’s actually pretty low-cost. Buying a phone costs $300 (including activation charges, etc) and the monthly fee starts at $100 (including 15% taxes, SMS, etc), which makes it a lower-cost PDA.

Negative: Accidental Behavior. If you don’t turn your iPhone off, it has a habit of doing whatever it feels like while being tossed about in your pocket. For me, that includes calling my contacts- playing youtube movies- performing internet searches- and opening the beer app. Good old beer app.

It is clear; when you follow the crowd, you will only be as successful as the next guy in the crowd. In entrepreneurship; it pays to rebel against the crowd. But it does not pay to rebel for the sake of rebelling. If anything; you should rebel with the emerging trends. Follow the trends- against the crowd.

America’s financial institutions are in turmoil, ivy league MBAs are having trouble finding jobs, and acceptance rates at professional programs are dropping alongside the escalating education prices. Professional positions are consistently outsourced to developing nations, and technology seems to have a 3-year turnover.

With that said, it pays to act against the crowd- and find a career path that does not leave you vulnerable for outsourcing, domestic financial turmoil, or career pigeon-holing. But you need to understand the trends of our time in order effectively rebel against the groupthink.

What are the current trends in the business and technology world? Lower barriers for international entrepreneurship; an importance of technological competence- rapid turnover in the job market, rapidly changing cultural icons, ease of travel, emergence of microfunding, international legal paradigms- the list goes on. I wish I knew the entire list.

There is a difference between joining a trend and identifying a trend. If you can identify which way the wind is changing; capitalize on it.