…is acknowledging what they are worst at. They think they’re good (or good enough) at everything.

But consider that every company needs to get results in four areas.  This means the company needs skills such as:

• Designing a product customers want
• Producing that product for less than customers will pay
• Finding and selling to those customers for less money than they will pay for the product (minus what it costs to produce the product)
• Hiring, motivating, training, monitoring and (if the company grows) reassigning employees
• Using financial and other reports to influence decisions about where to allocate resources, which products to keep and which to dump, etc
• Reading trends
• Making projections
• Analyzing and improving decisions based on trends and projections

Even a company that’s not growing and changing very much needs most of those skills. How likely is it they all reside in one person?

Why would anyone even want to be good at all of that? And how could a rational person believe he or she is? OK never mind that last question, we’re talking about entrepreneurs, not rational people.

Of course, when you start a company you have to do everything. With no money you don’t have the option of hiring and you don’t have the option of letting stuff go un-done so you do it all. The problem is that you don’t look to  see what you’re really good at and off load the other stuff as soon as you can. It’s like a really good wide receiver starting a football team and staying as quarterback as long as possible.

“Has anyone given you the law of the offices? No? It is this: nobody does anything if he can get anybody else to do it. … As soon as you can, get some one whom you can rely on, train him in the work, sit down, cock up your heels and think out some way for the Standard Oil to make some money.”

Takeaway:

• In my experience, the skill most likely to be lacking is understanding marketing and thus reducing the cost of sales.
• In my experience, the skill most likely to be strongest is designing a product that customers value.

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