Everyone is thinking about startups. It is easier than ever to start a company. The freedom... The payoff.... But do you really know what it takes to succeed? This presentation draws from on lessons from rowing, one of the toughest sports out there, and applies them to successful startups.

1. WHY SUCCESSFUL STARTUPS ARE LIKE ROWING
How getting up early and sitting
backwards can prepare you for startups
Daniel Stevenson
daniel@fast-traction.com

2. First, let’s get one thing straight
Not all rowing is created equal
Big galley ships are like entrenched
competitors. Adding more people
(rowers) doesn’t make them any faster.
And individual rowers don’t see any results
from rowing harder.
But put the eight fastest rowers into a boat and look out. Now the
average performance is closer to the top performer.
NOTE: See Paul Graham’s excellent essay – HOW TO MAKE WEALTH
– for more on this topic.

3. Recruiting is like team
tryouts
In startups your first 5 or 10
employees are your most critical.
You want to know everyone can pull
their weight.
In rowing, you look for technical
ability, strength and mental fitness.
Culture matters.
You are putting your team (startup)
first. There is no room for a prima-donna
in a boat (startup).

4. IN A STARTUP
EVERYONE
CONTRIBUTES
You can’t hide in the boat.
There are no off-strokes in a
race.

5. AND TECHNIQUE MATTERS
In rowing it’s LEGS  BACK  ARMS
Do it wrong (or too fast) and you STOP the
boat
In startups it’s AUDIENCE 
CUSTOMERS  PRODUCT
Understand customer pains before you
build

6. YOU MAY NOT KNOWWHERE YOU ARE GOING
In rowing you can’t see where you are going, but you are guided
by a visionary (coxswain) and you just work (pull) hard

7. PRACTICE AND PERSEVERANCE PAYS OFF
Rowers will put in hundreds of hours of practice and
conditioning for a single, seven minute race.
There are rarely “quick hits” in the startup world.

8. MAKE EVERY STROKE COUNT
Rowers, like entrepreneurs, get up early to get a jump on
the competition.

9. PULL TOGETHER AND EVERYONE WINS
Hard work, focus and good team dynamics will get you over the finish line first.
And remember, if you don’t have the passion for startups, you are not going to win.
Daniel Stevenson
daniel@fast-traction.com