NB: This is a guest article by Jason Demant, co-founder of Unanchor.com.
Jim Hornthal has been in the travel industry for a long time. He often jokes that the first booking he made in online travel was at Kitty Hawk with the Wright Brothers.
He previously founded Preview Travel which was one of the first companies to sell travel online. Preview ended up going public in 1997 and then merged with Travelocity.com to create the 3rd most popular website at the time (only behind EBay and Amazon).
His current company, Triporati, is perhaps akin to a Pandora of destination discovery, helping consumers discover their perfect vacation destination.
I recently had the opportunity to interview Jim and discussed what advice he would give new entrepreneurs.
He jokingly says that no one ever takes his advice, but he keeps on giving it. If you’re thinking of (or already have) started a company, here are eight tips from Jim Hornthal:
1. The question isn’t can you, but should you?
Just because you can do something does not mean you should. Rather than just figuring out if you are using your money wisely, you also need to ask yourself if this the best use of your time and your talent as well.
2. Just because someone isn’t doing it, doesn’t mean you should.
Make sure that if you are going to throw your time, effort, career, and attention of resources into a project, that you think it can be really great (at least in your opinion, as the innovator and entrepreneur).
3. Socialize your idea to as many people as possible.
With Jim's latest company, Triporati, he spoke to "dozens and dozens of people". They went to potential distribution partners, customers, and industry professionals, all before building a prototype.
4. Find people who will be honest with you. Don’t go to friends & family.
Friends and family will never be honest with you. You need to talk with the "hostile elements" of your industry – people who will be brutally honest.
5. Test, test, test – don’t sell.
When you’re out there socializing your idea and seeing what people think, this is not the time to sell. Go in and ask, "why is this the dumbest thing you’ve ever heard?".
6. Use the lean startup model – prototype, iterate and get a lot of customer development & feedback.
Check out SteveBlank.com and read through his articles. Herearesometogetstarted.
7. When you start building your team, always try to be the dumbest person in the room.
There are people out there that are better than you at everything. Don't be stubborn or lazy, go out there and find them.
8. Never stop evolving
Constantly challenge your assumptions; the user interface, distribution channels, brand proposition and so on. Your company may look very different six months or a year from now. When you stop evolving, you start dying.
To hear more from Hornthal, you can listen to the entire 30-minute interview:
You can also download the entire MP3 (right-click and then choose "Save link as..."). Or read the transcript.
NB: This is a guest article by Jason Demant, co-founder of Unanchor.com.