Number 1 in Frank Levinson's Top 10 Things You Must Have to Start a Business. Levinson claims that the people you work with and your team are key in making your business successful. He explains the factors that should go into choosing your partner.

Transcript



...and last, the most important thing, even more important than customers is get a great partner. There are a couple of wonderful books out there if you look on Amazon about partners and things like that. It really helps. You guys probably tried to get Jerry to get this talk instead of me. If you had, it would have been even better. He is my partner throughout all these years. He is also an engineer as is our CFO, but he is more of our public side. He is New York talking to the financial community today. We complement each other. Yes, I did our first bookkeeping system, he did the second one. He does mechanical engineering, I can do some other types. So, choose your partner carefully. The partner shouldn't be the same as you. It should be complementary. Make sure they're fanatically ethical. Be loyal to that partner. You're going to have lots of people come and then venture capitalist and your company's going to grow, be loyal to the partner. He is the guy that you went through this whole thing with. Even when times seem rough, he is the one that's likely to be there to protect and depend side-by-side. It really helps in my case. It really helps if he's smarter than you are, or she is. This is a generic key. OK.

That's the talk.

1. Startups that Fail: Netek
2. Top 10 Must Have For a Start-Up
3. Invest in Great People and Great Equipment - Not Furniture!
4. Naming Your Company: Put Up a Sign
5. You Need Little Capital
6. Businesses Must Have Customers
7. Whatever it Takes to Stay in Business
8. You Need a Supportive Family
9. Follow Standards
10. Develop a Culture Where New Ideas Are Expected
11. Real Sales and Customers in Business
12. Choosing your Business Partner
13. Why are Ethics Important?
14. Communicate with Customers
15. Creating Win-Win Relationships With Large Customers
16. Sustenance of Growth Rate
17. Why Go Public?
18. Was Finisar a Technology Looking for a Problem, or a Problem Looking for a Technology?
19. Operational Experience Before Starting a New Venture
20. Hiring Ethical People
21. Innovate Fast and Keep The Team Small and Focused
22. How Does Going Public Change You and Your Company?
23. Envisioning The Future For Optics
24. Changing Finisar Technology and Business Practices
25. Importance of Family In Building a Start-up
26. Managing The Leverage of Customer Input on Product Development

Lecture by Frank Levinson on Entrepreneurship for Stanford University students, on October 31, 2001. Frank Levinson, founder of Finisar, begins his talk with a story about a failed startup of his, Netek. Netek is an example of company that had all of the components that are commonly considered to be necessary - idea, business plan, VC investment, team and space. But even with all of that, Netek couldn't get off the ground, he says.