Startup secrets to start, scale, exit, and repeat – Colin Campbell | Serial entrepreneur

Are you interested in discovering the strategies to successfully launch your startup? We’re joined by serial entrepreneur and author Colin C. Campbell on today’s episode of The Small Business Show. Colin’s latest book, “Start. Scale. Exit. Repeat.: Serial Entrepreneurs’ Secrets Revealed!” is a reader’s guide toward entrepreneurial success. Colin’s book recently hit #1 on Amazon’s New Releases for ‘Starting a Business.’

Following college graduation, Campbell began working on his family’s Canadian farm. From there, he and his brother started an internet business that quickly became Canada’s fastest-growing corporation. However, after a merger with a cable firm that resulted in Campbell’s company shares exceeding $8 billion, the dot com crash occurred in March of 2000.

Key Takeaways:

1. Campbell asserts that there is a formula when starting a business, and his recent novel outlines those equations. 

2. In his book, Campbell explores the process entrepreneurs must go through to pinpoint their ideas. For example, he advises aspiring entrepreneurs, “The best way to launch a business is to get a job in the industry you love and look for the bottleneck to either avoid or solve for the industry.”

3. Ideas are worthless to Campbell, but it’s the action that matters. These include registering your domain name and checking the database of trademarks. 

4. Additionally, he highlights that a significant portion of his book is devoted to the “start,” concluding with the four sticky-note business plan, which consists of:

1. What is your story/ purpose/ why/ stage gate?
2. Who are the people you need to get to the first stage gate?
3. How much money do you need to get to the first stage gate? Campbell notes, “82% of startups fail because they don’t have enough money to continue.” 
4. Write down your KPIs, key performance indicators. 

Overall, Campbell’s novel is a conversational collection of anecdotes from 50 other serial entrepreneurs and himself. The audiobook is currently available for purchase on Apple and other platforms.

“Startup failures are the stars of our past that guide us through our new ventures.” – Colin Campbell