Rising StartUps - A new podcast series about Startups, for Startups, byStartups on ..... (you guessed it) Starting Up

I live & love startups. Like the small of a new car, every new startup has their own unique appeal. A (hopefully) needed possible answer to a real-world problem, or a new market not yet identified. Each founder like a wide-eyed child with their vision of the future, and their startup a part of changing their part of the world.

And every new founder, whether first time out, 'up-at-bat' again, rookie, or experienced professional, is going to have some challenges; actually, lots of them. More than they can yet imagine.

When I broke free from a corporate career in 2004, there wasn't even a startup eco-system in Australia. Now, we have one that is burgeoning, but the stories that I hear are from overseas imports or from long-time-ago successes, most of whom that are way past the early days of their first hires, the challenges of early-stage funding, finding great mentors, and trusted advice, of connecting with co-founders, and mistakes, and bootstrapping and........, ok, you ge the picture.

So way past, that the stories might not yet (and might never) be of much help to the many people who are about to, thinking about, or have just started. (Though they are often inspirational, which is why I continue to go to select meetups to hear them.)

But mostly, I wanted to hear the stories of my peers; their challenges and successes, their gains and pains, their learnings and yearnings. But these stories didn't seem to exist. 

Which is why I started 'Rising STARTupS'.

At Tim Reid's suggestion (yes, Small  Business - Big Marketing -thanks Tim), and inspired by Nathan Chan of Foundr, I decided to try my hand at interviewing. After all, how hard could it be for some-one whose done a few startups already?

And what I found out is, that apart from having 'a good head for radio' (and a reasonable voice for it), it was a natural fit for my style of conversation. 

Before cutting the first of them, we agonised long and hard about the questions, trying to determine just what could draw out the greatest of responses. And I wanted to use a consistant format & questions, so that you, the audience, can compare the answers of each person, and take from each, just what you need.

We've already taped 14- (and have a another 36 planned for this year) which we will be publishing next week.

The first four so far (each with links to twitter) are:-

• Justin & Andre of Vinomofo 
• Troy & Martin of Care Monkey
• Barry Nguyen of SolarX Car Company
• Julie-Anne Black of Be Brilliant Now

And I have to say, they are each unique, all brilliant, packed full of tips, gems & advice; timely, relevant, and helpful.
As well as the 25 min interviews with each founder, we've added a special topic, relevant to the content of each interview, and a review of some of the key points. As well, there will be links to some bonus downloads, cheatsheets, upcoming events and other startup news and views.

So subscribe (above) to this blog and we'll give you advance notice of the podcasts as soon as they are ready to go to air.

And one special request - if you like the interview series, tell your friends (whether by social or word). 

And if you have ideas about how we can improve, or know of a great Rising STARtup whose story is just begging to be told, tell us (there should be links on the right for both).

Winning isnt really winning- it's failing to fail.

When most people think of winning, they think of the skill of the sportsman, or team, in competition against their peers.
That level of skill is often physically matched, so the difference is shown in the mental preparation, or determination, a willingness to beat the other team, by doing those '1%-ers' required to gain an edge.
So often the success, or failure is measured in centimeters, or milliseconds, or some other very small margin of difference between the combatants.
However, in the startup game, it's something else entirely.

Here, your competition isn't really your competition. Your ability to do things 1% better may not be ever be recognised, valued or even make a difference. A coder who is 1% better than his peers, may not be as politically savvy, or as good at extolling his virtues. I'm not suggesting that the aggregate results of doing things better isn't required -it's just that it not the difference between failure and success in our world.
For example, from my experience in startups so far, a brilliant idea, a 'perfect pitch', a well-oiled team, a valid proof of concept, early market traction, or even that successful elusive 'series A' funding round, are no guarantees to ultimate market success.
Here, its something much less well defined; its more akin to the solo yatchsmen that circumnavigate the globe; they keep trying, again & again, despite weather, equipment failure, adversity, fatigue, capsizing etc., until they acheive their goal. You often hear hear of them succeeding after many attempts.

This type of winning could be more aptly described as 'failing to fail', and is much closer to what you & I do perhaps every day.
Leni Mayo (of 99 Designs fame) described it best when he recently floated the concept to me that that the normal entrepreneur (I avoid the word average here) has attempted 8 startups before they get something to fly. (He also joked to me that he lucked out on his 2nd.)
Unfortunately, too many give up before that stage.

So if the game isn't you against the world, what is it really? I believe that the real game is 'you against yourself'.

• How big is your vision?
• What lengths are you prepared to go to, in order to make it a reality? 
• How many stones are you prepared to turn over? 
• How uncomfortable are you willing to get? 
• How much more are prepared to stretch, to strive, to reach? 
• How hard will you push yourself? 
• What pain are you willing to endure in the pursuit of your vision?
• How many times will you get up after you get knocked-down?

Did you notice that none of these mention or even consider competition? No, the real game is 'you'.  If you doubt me still, let me ask you three final questions.

If not 'this', then what? 
If not 'now', then when? 
If not 'you', then who? 
So stay in the game, keep striving, keep reaching, keep failing, and most importantly, keep getting back up, until you fail at failing.  
Then everyone can call you an 'overnight success'.