What A Founder At Auxo Partners Wishes They Had Known Before Entering The Startup Industry
Connor, Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Auxo Partners, wished they had a "roadmap for how to navigate" the numerous aspects of business beyond finance, such as sales, legal, and marketing, before entering the industry; this lack of knowledge is a common experience for first-time founders. The experience inspired Connor to work on developing a program to help others avoid similar pitfalls by providing guidance on various business aspects, from go-to-market strategies to legal and financial requirements.
Entrepreneurship, Finance, Business Management, Legal Structures, Sales and Marketing
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Connor Frischmeyer
Co-Founder & Managing Partner
Auxo Partners
University of Iowa 2016
N/A
Finance
Finance (Banking, Fintech, Investing)
Entrepreneurship and Business Owner
None Applicable
Video Highlights
1. Lack of knowledge outside one's expertise is common for first-time founders. Connor lacked knowledge in sales, marketing, legal, and hiring despite his finance background.
2. Navigating various business aspects (legal, financial, marketing, sales, etc.) is crucial. A roadmap or program addressing these areas would be beneficial for aspiring entrepreneurs.
3. Many resources exist (accelerators, consultants, VCs) that can provide guidance on setting up and running a business. Leverage these resources for support and direction
Transcript
What have you learned about this role that you wish someone would have told you before you entered the industry?
There are a million things, because most first-time founders have a background in a particular area of business, or maybe not even in business. They might have come from a medical field or something else.
You might be really good at one specific thing, like finance in my case, but you really don't know anything about anything else. This includes sales, legal to a certain extent, marketing, and all the other important areas, like hiring.
Having a roadmap for how to navigate those things, and even just in the context of setting up a business, what needs to be done and what the IRS cares about, what legal structures need to be in place, would have been really valuable.
I've been talking, and maybe by the time people see this, it will be something we're working on. I've spoken with accelerators, consultants, and VCs about developing a program like that.
People could go and see, from a go-to-market perspective, what they need to do. From a legal perspective, what needs to be done. From a financial perspective, what types of things they want to have set up.
It's hard to pick any one thing that I wish I'd known, because it's totally just like the classic firehose approach.