Entrepreneurs tend to be generalists, but our talents and interests are not evenly distributed. We channel our superpowers to power our early startup progress.
Most times, we are unusually good at a few things. We hate to do other things too.
We have to master new skills and do some things we don’t want to do.
And we work around and delegate the stuff we don’t do well.
If we don’t have a cofounder to compliment us, our startup becomes a direct reflection of the founder. And that’s OK.
Our skewed superpowers are required to get the business going.
This week on the Practical Founders Podcast, Patrick Randolph shares his startup story at QueueDr, a patient scheduling software for doctors’ offices and group practices.
As a solo founder and the earliest employee, he did what he does best to fuel the company—fanatic customer engagement and rapid problem-solving.
He wasn’t a coder. He hadn’t run a software company before.
But he designed the entire first product himself after sitting with his potential customers for months learning how they worked.
He figured out how to sell to doctor’s offices, then to larger groups, and eventually to big healthcare organizations.
He eventually accomplished selling QueueDr to a public healthcare software company. Lots of learning and gritting of teeth there.
Patrick knows what he’s good at and what he hates doing. As he describes it:
“If you’re a new founder, I recommend you find a way to work within yourself. Find your angle.
“If you’re an introverted person, don’t try to be an extrovert. Play through that introvert. If you went to Berkeley Law, email every Berkeley Law friend to be your first customer.
“Play within your advantages and tell your story around that.”
Software companies tend to be a direct reflection of their practical founders.
Which means there are an infinite number of ways to create, grow, and succeed in the SaaS startup game.
Patrick is very open about what worked and what didn’t in his fascinating practical founder journey.
Listen to this podcast here
Thanks for sharing your story and your hard-earned learnings, Patrick.
#practicalfounders
