When I recently gave a speech at WHU, a prestigious university, a writer for a magazine for high school students asked me whether I advise people to go to university before they become entrepreneurs? Good question.

Bill Gates did not finish university. Nor did Zuckerberg and not Steve Jobs. Then there is this 13 year old kid with the millions from that iPhone app…

Of course the list above contains a fallacy: There are probably more great entrepreneurs with a degree. They are just not so noteworthy as they are common. Just because Keith Richards never received formal guitar training, would you prefer to learn it by yourself or from a master?

On the other hand: the previous sentence also contains a fallacy:  At most universities you won‘t find masters of entrepreneurship.

As I don’t advise anything to anyone, the only way to solve this is to tell one’s experience: I got a degree as Wirtschaftsingenieur, a combination of (mechanical!) engineering and business administration. I went to University of Kaiserslautern (boring) and did a prolonged exchange with Queen‘s University, Kingston Ontario (exciting). My best professor at Queen‘s called business administration „just applied common sense“. And he was right: I don‘t think I learned much in business school.

However, I did develop the ability to tune into any given subject at a high speed: I learned how to learn. .While I never worked in mechanical engineering, I can communicate on a granular level with developers or user interface designers. I worked in travel, in media, ran an online pharmacy, did consulting. So I consider my studies as a positive contribution to my life.

A marketable degree also offers downside protection to aspiring entrepreneurs: The startup circus is similar to the hit businesses in music. Many people compete to become stars. Most never make it into the charts. And even if you hear about that famous startup that was sold for a lot of money, in the end you might be disappointed that the founders did not make much.

While you can gain a lot of experience running a business in the 3- 5 years it can take you to get a degree, the degree may give you better value for money in the long run. I ran a business on the side during university and that eased the decision to stick to my studies.

For most of my entrepreneurial life, I was proud of being able to handle a multitude of things at the same time. And I did get a lot done. Over the past years, my multitasking has become more pronounced instead of less. Phone calls, Telcos, Blackberry, Twitter, Facebook, Skype, handling people, investors, press: All at the same time.

However, this came at a cost: During the past  years I realized that friends became increasingly annoyed that I was always 10 minutes late. My kids got used to addressing me three times in order to get my attention. In the rare events when I was winding down, it took me half a day or so to relax.

Today, I‘m making a conscious effort to really focus on the one thing I am doing. As I‘ve spent more than 30 years learning to do several things at the same time, I am now slowly unlearning that behavior.

The initial results of single-tasking are amazing:

People give me positive feedback about my presence.

I am able to concentrate better on the things I love doing.

My written communication has become more powerful.

It still requires effort, but here are a couple of the things I changed:

Working out
The gym used to be the most boring place for me. My time on the cardio equipment was spent thinking about business. I tried music to get me through the time needed. Today, I focus intensely on my movements, my breathing, my pulse. As a result, the intensity of my work outs increased dramatically.

No more push messages
I pull them emails when I need them. And I try to do them in larger chunks. This was probably the hardest thing to change after an 8 year infatuation with blackberry. I find it even harter to reduce twitter and facebook. But the quality of my real life has increased as I decrease my virtual life.

Books and music
I discovered that I can‘t even enjoy music at the same time as  reading. Yes I can do it, but I do neither enjoy the book or not the music. It puzzles me how people can do that. So now when I pick some music I really dive in to it. Close my eyes. Or the other way around with the ears…

No late calls
I have started to refuse taking calls after 7 pm. In the past I had investors who wanted to discuss strategy when they had time, around 11 pm. This resulted in me being preoccupied while spending time with the family. I just don‘t do that any more.

Quiet one on one meetings
Less meetings with people in my team. But longer ones. When I talk to people I try not to cover only the most urgent points, but touch on the overarching goals of their area and their ability to achieve those.

Taking time to think
My train commute between Hamburg and Berlin with its poor connectivity has taught me the beauty of spending uninterrupted time to think. I now am actively creating time to sit down, even if I‘m not on the train.

One thing has not changed though: My attention span is still very short. So if I‘m typing away in a meeting that means I‘m not focusing on that meeting, but on something else. Entirely. In general that is an indication that I feel my input is not required in that meeting and I resolve to be not in that meeting the next time.

Angel investors have the most sexy name in the industry. They provide startups with money when nobody else does.
Some aren’t actually angels,
but that is another story…

Many people ask me if I would like to invest in their startup.
Time for some reflections on what to look for in angel investors.

 1. The most important thing you want from angels.

When people talk about angels, they often talk about subjects like
value ad, network, perspective, input and so on.
But in reality, you could get that from mentors as well.
When you pitch angels, of course you tell them how
much you value having them on board,
but in the end, don‘t kid me and don‘t kid yourself:
You want the money to start building your business.
And you don’t want to court them forever, because
your time is better spent in building your business.

So you need money. 

2. The second most important thing.

Every business that I have been involved in has been a roller coaster.
Fantastic ups, threatening downs.
Key people leaving, competitors walking in,
numbers not growing as quickly as you want them to.

You want an Angel to be relaxed.
Someone who has given you their 30k from
their savings account is not relaxed.

The third thing you want

You don’t want much of their time.
Some of the best angels I have are really hard to reach,
will listen only for a limited period of time but help tremendously.
The worst angels are people with time on their hands.
Giving lots of unsolicited suggestions.
At worst: looking for a job in your company.

You want their experience.
You want them to be experienced either as angels or as entrepreneurs.
So they know when not to bother.
More importantly, they should know when and how
to give you the essential messages you would otherwise not listen to.
So they can look at the business with the outside view and give you the two or three hints that you need to go into the right direction.
So they pull some weight with you when they see something coming that you don‘t.
That they do have something to say in the rare cases when you need advice. I have received some great input from the experienced guys.

A word of caution.

Not all angels are angels. Some people are actually sharks.
You will see that in their business terms.

The people who blog or twitter constantly about themselves in the world:
For me, they have not done much. The really good angels I met are often
very restrictive with what they say in public.

The people who boast beforehand about how much they would do for us?
never heard again from them afterwards.

Give back

I like to keep all my angels for the long term:
I have always found that it pays well to keep them informed,
albeit I still don‘t do this enough.

Try not to surprise them; if there is some rough terrain ahead,
I shout early as they are along for the ride.
It is also a good idea to help them make money.

As you may have gathered,
I don‘t consider myself a great angel investor.
In fact I invest very rarely and cautiously.
I do have to earn a living and hence
I‘m not relaxed enough to trust other people with my money.

I am a master of the to do list.
I’ m quite good at getting stuff done.
Both in business and in private life.

I do even better with my long term goals:
Write them down, forget about them and
a couple of years later they are achieved.

I don’t mean this ironically.
It is a fact of my life and most people would envy
me for my ability to get stuff done.

A few of my friends are even better
at this game than me.
Entrepreneurs who are even more determined than me.
They achieve bigger goals, faster than me and
and then move on to the next one.

But recently I picked up on some strange signals that make me
want to get out of this game.I realised that while I felt
some contentment about achieving a lot,
my happiness did not increase with getting more accomplished.
One trigger was a simple statement,
picked up on twitter:

You are not your to do list.

Later, over Christmas,
I read a book with the rather blunt title “fuck it”.
It’s  more refined message is, in my words:

We attach so much meaning to so many things in life,
that we become too attached. And we miss life on the way.

Aterwards I discovered the fantastic blog
of Leo Barbauta, http://zenhabits.net/.
(My favourite  post)

Leo writes about a lot of the  things that
I’ve been doing for quite some time now.
Getting fit, consume less.
Our home is actually quite minimalist
and I work a lot to keep my life simple.

- Er, repeat that: I work a lot to keep my life simple.

Phew. There I said it. There must be a better way to do this.
I don’t want to work a lot to keep my life simple.

Do less. Want less. Breathe.

I have read this great book by Matt Ridley, but did not really know how to shorten it appropriately to derive the essence for a blog post.
So much for the better that I discovered this Video on TED.
I have rarely seen a more inspiring and fascinating view on human development, prosperity and how it all goes together. Enjoy.

Over time I have turned into a fan of Fred Wilson from Union Square Ventures, relatively famous for investing in Twitter or Foursquare. I like VCs who know what they are talking about. Watch this video, it contains more wisdom on product design than many talks by product guys. Wilson’s 10 principles are:

1. Speed

2. Instant utility

3. Personality

4. Less is more

5. Programmable

6. Personal

7. Restful (meaning anything should have a URL)

8. Discoverable (i.e. SEO)

9. Clean (one could see this as a duplication of 4)

10. Playful

It is also worth listing to the Q & A in the end: The product has to be the marketing vehicle for the product itself.

The 10 Golden Principles of Successful Web Apps from Carsonified on Vimeo.

There are four excellent companies who dominate how we search, how we shop, how we communicate, and which gadgets we use: Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook.

The first three of these companies also are among the top 5 of the Fortune Magazine’s 50 most admired companies in 2010 . (Facebook is not in this list and this fact does not so much discredit Facebook as discredit the Fortune list).

But why write about this obvious fact of the Fab Four?

All these companies are product driven. This of course applies to Apple. The product is the hero, not the service around it, or the pricing. At Google, an engineer is much more important than a sales person. Just look at the amazing Zurich facility of Google and compare this to any sales office. If you listen to Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, he will mostly talk about the product and new features that help Facebooks users to use the site in yet another way. Amazon has lead in meticulous A/B testing of it’s website, to make sure it stays ahead.

The other point I want to talk about is the sheer share of mind of these companies.

“Which startup is hot at the moment?” this question by a friend made me think recently. No offence to my fellow startup entrepreneurs, but it seems to me that at the moment where even a small redesign by Facebook will automatically be more talked about than the most exciting new business idea.

Even the slightest new announcement from Apple, Facebook or Google, – the aptly worded “buzz” as latest example – commands more press interest than a new car model or even the most fantastic new startup. Bloomenergy.com is at least here in Europe virtually unheard of. This share of mind is even more scary than the user numbers, as it makes life harder for new entrants.

The good news: Five years from now, the Fab Four will not be the same companies. Someone will get it wrong, someone else will get it right.

Five years ago, I would have included Ebay in that list, today no more. There is a nice account of how companies historically fail to stay at the top in the Black Swan by Nicholas Taleb. At writing of that book in 2006 , only 74 of the S&P 500 companies of earlier times had survived. But I am willing to bet that even in 5 years from now, at least three out of the four dominating companies will be from the West Coast. Probably the fourth as well, you never know with these Black Swans…

I know you all expect something here about VCs, entrepreneurship, Green stuff etc.

However, I was so amazed by flightradar24.com, that I had to share it. Wait a minute until the picture refreshes. Wow.

I

I admit to be totally biased as I am naturally a big fan of the power of reviews. However, I need to highlight this little feature in the new Qype personal page called ‘Insider Tips’. It does not show me the reviews of my friends, but it shows me places that are liked by people who like similar stuff I do. I really have no idea how they do it – too remote for that – but the results are truly amazing for me. Every time I reload this, I see places I always thought might be cool, but have not checked out yet.

Two rather philosophical thoughts come to my mind.

• One is the one I mentioned in the headline: It is not who you know. It is what people like who behave like you also like. Amazon has done this in an amazing quality. “People who bought this also bought…” I am very proud that Qype is proving to be able to do this as well. By the way this also contradicts the tradional power of your social graph.
• The second thought: What we thought initially when we launched Qype in 2006, that the person who shares her views gets something back, is now being executed on in a material way.

Check it out.

I spend quite some time these days coaching friends, former colleagues or fellow entrepreneurs about “what should I do next“. There are some interesting parallels in these discussions. Strikingly, the self-imposed limitations of what people feel they can do constrain people’s choices in an amazing way. And this is true for any income group. Despite the fact that single mom with a low wage job has fewer choices than the millionaire several times over.

I found over time that many people can not simply tell you what they love best. But when you ask people why they are unhappy in their job, it is rarely because they don’t love what they do, but  more often because they feel they can not do things the way they want, or because the someone as a boss who does not value them and their achievements.

In this context, stumbling upon this very inspirational blog post from Cal Newport, author of a study guide, (thanks, Dave Ambrose for the link) has structured my thinking on career achievement amazingly.

Newport quotes work from Edward Deci who found that

“To be happy, your work must fulfill three universal psychological needs: autonomy,competence, and relatedness.

• Autonomy refers to control over how you fill your time. As Deci puts it, if you have a high degree of autonomy, then “you endorse [your] actions at the highest level of reflection.”
• Competence refers to mastering unambiguously useful things. As the psychologist Robert White opines, in the wonderfully formal speak of the 1950s academic, humans have a “propensity to have an effect on the environment as well as to attain valued outcomes within it.”
• Relatedness refers to a feeling of connection to others. As Deci pithily summarizes: “to love and care, and to be loved and cared for.”

So for students, Newport argues that they should find something the really like and then become excellent at it. This will nearly always enable people to find a work environment where they can achieve a great sense of autonomy, competence and relatedness. Newport:

Your love of a subject will grow with your level of competence and autonomy

This also explains why many CEOs are unhappy in their jobs. Even if they are competent, the often suffer from a lack of autonomy. And if you encounter an entrepreneur who is unhappy, you can check with him whether his level of autonomy is where it should be.