This was actually a good watch. It teaches entrepreneurs a few important lessons:
1- Don't waste time trying to raise capital unless the money is crucial to your survival.
2- Persistence is almost the single most important quality of successful entrepreneurs.
3- A deal is never truly a deal even if it is on paper. Sometimes the guys across the table will make it so difficult you wish you never signed a deal with them.
4- If a partner cannot make his mind in x days, move forward and when they come back, respectfully turned them down.
5- (Repeating 2) Never ever quit. "Be water" and adapt to the market.
While I agreed it was a good watch, instead I found it taught me what not to do and what to watchout for.
What struck me was how he often talks about the future as the obvious, when in fact, he doesn't know. "Everyone knows that Chinese cars are going to flood the US market". I guess that's what some call entrepreneurial optimism or being a visionary, but to not admit that your vision won't pan out doesn't win me over.
There were a couple scenes of him saying, it's his way, or the highway. Table pounding, everyone's-an-asshole, I make the final decision. In fact, they start off arguing about the logo. That doesn't inspire any sense of leadership, and doesn't make me want to help him achieve his vision.
It struck me also that his company didn't make anything. So when a single deal fell through, they went under as well.
He does have good qualities, like persistence and making arguments for how a deal might benefit the other side, but in the end, it seemed like he'd be a person really hard to work for and with. Life's too short to deal with that, and there are plenty of other entrepreneurs.
I agree. They do not necessarily talk about the making of a company, essentially because there was no company. Only people trying to raise money for it.
1- Don't waste time trying to raise capital unless the money is crucial to your survival.
2- Persistence is almost the single most important quality of successful entrepreneurs.
3- A deal is never truly a deal even if it is on paper. Sometimes the guys across the table will make it so difficult you wish you never signed a deal with them.
4- If a partner cannot make his mind in x days, move forward and when they come back, respectfully turned them down.
5- (Repeating 2) Never ever quit. "Be water" and adapt to the market.