420: Accelerating Your Startup with Steven Hoffman

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How do you turn your brilliant startup idea into a successful business?

Steven Hoffman

Steven Hoffman (Captain Hoff) is the Chairman and CEO of Founders Space, a global innovation hub for entrepreneurs, corporations, and investors, with over 50 partners in 22 countries. He is also a venture investor, founder of three venture-backed and two bootstrapped startups, and author of several award-winning books, including Make Elephants Fly, Surviving a Startup, and The Five Forces.

In addition, Steven Hoffman served on the Board of Governors of the New Media Council, was the founder and Chairman of the Producers Guild Silicon Valley Chapter and was a founding member of the Academy of Television’s Interactive Media Group.

While in Hollywood, Hoffman worked as a TV development executive at Fries Entertainment, which produced over a hundred TV shows, acquired by MGM. He went on to pioneer interactive television with his venture-funded startup Spiderdance, which produced interactive TV shows with NBC, MTV, Turner, Warner Brothers, History Channel, Game Show Network, and others.

In Silicon Valley, Hoffman founded several startups, in the areas of games and entertainment, and worked as Mobile Studio Head for Infospace, with such hit mobile games as Tetris, Wheel of Fortune, Tomb Raider, Thief, Hitman, Skee-Ball, and X-Files.

Hoffman then went on to launch Founders Space, with the mission to educate and accelerate entrepreneurs. Founders Space has become one of the top startup accelerators in the world. Hoffman has trained hundreds of startup founders and corporate executives in the art of innovation and provided consulting to many of the world’s largest corporations, including Qualcomm, Huawei, Bosch, Intel, Disney, Warner Brothers, NBC, Gulf Oil, Siemens, and Viacom.

In this episode we explore the startup world – what entrepreneurs need to know when launching a startup, how to avoid deadly mistakes, build your team, and essential startup tips on how to accelerate your success.

What We Discuss with Steven Hoffman (Captain Hoff) in This Episode

Inside the startup world
Avoiding the common entrepreneurial pitfalls
The “brilliant idea” myth
Turning your startup idea into a viable solution that people want
Finding the right people to execute on your idea
How YouTube, Google and Groupon had to pivot to succeed
How to gain traction in the marketplace
When and how to attract investor money for your startup
Why getting too much investor money too early is bad for business
How startup accelerators and incubation hubs work
Building your leadership team
Leadership skills as a startup CEO

Podcast Highlights

2:40 – Steven’s path to startup success

5:00 – Fundamental tips to starting a company

6:47 – Turning your idea into a viable solution

12:25 – Real world examples

16:00 – How to gain traction in the marketplace

21:40 – When and how to attract investor money

27:00 – Founder’s Space innovation hub

29:25 – Leading as a startup CEO

35:50 – Startup support resources

37:05 – Leaders take action

Favorite Quote

“Great entrepreneurs are demand hunters. They go into the real world and search for pent-up pockets of demand that are big enough to drive explosive growth.” ~ Captain Hoff

Episode Resources

Founders Space: https://FoundersSpace.com
Surviving A Startup: https://SurvivingAStartup.com
The Five Forces: https://TheFiveForces.com
Make Elephants Fly: https://MakeElephantsFly.com
Podcasts: https://www.FoundersSpace.com/podcasts

Connect with Steven Hoffman (Captain Hoff)

Founders Space: https://FoundersSpace.com
Captain Hoff: https://CaptainHoff.com
Facebook: https://Facebook.com/groups/FoundersSpace
LinkedIn: https://LinkedIn.com/in/FoundersSpace
Instagram: https://Instagram.com/FoundersSpace
Twitter: https://Twitter.com/FoundersSpace

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How do you turn your brilliant startup idea into a successful business?