A program to help entrepreneurs build trust, working relationships and form viable teams to start companies.

Timeless Intention

I intend to help people do great things together.

Beliefs

Belief: We need each other more than we realize.

I believe startups, to do great things, need more than one founder.

I believe great startup ideas flow from collaborations.

I believe starups are difficult emotional experiences and we need a team to provide moral support to each other.

Belief: We need help forming better teams.

I believe we try (and fail) to build teams by pitching our ideas.

I believe pitching is a terrible way to communicate our ideas to each other.

I believe the only way to really understand ideas is to work on the ideas.

Belief: Once we leave school and jobs, it becomes very difficult to find co-founders.

I believe most co-founders have pre-existing personal relationships.

I believe we leave it mostly up to fate to bring these co-founders together (room together in college, work together at a company).

I believe the key to real co-founders is trust and relationships, not skills.

Belief: Helping each other we'll find out who we trust.

I believe the only way to know if we're good possible co-founders is to work together.

I believe we are often reluctant to help each other.

I believe we are often too tied to the current form of our ideas.

My People

My people are doers and builders struggling alone.

My people are the creative people who are burning to start something. They may not realize it, but they need to connect with others who are like them. My people are entrepreneurs who are frustrated.

Invention

TenZeroLab is a clear follow up to simple networking co-founding type events, real "Founder Dating". A program that creates ways for people to help each other while providing a clear understanding of the personal and time commitments involved. The program brings together skilled, passionate, and motivated individuals who are interested in starting companies.

Specifics

A search engine and website for matching potential co-founders and companies
Regular Boston "Founder Match" events to connect people socially
A co-working space where people move their projects forward.
Two week skill "swaps" - Two passionate startup individuals, tied to their own idea, trade help on the other's startup idea for two weeks
Startup hack afternoons - Select a project to move forward, people who help for the afternoon are now candidates for their project to be the subject of a hack afternoon.
A time bank for service providers to help startups.

How My People Will Feel

My people are entrepreneurs who feel united in making a new company.

Story

I spent many years trying to convince friends and co-workers to take the startup leap with me. I thought it was a failure on my part to sell an idea, share the sheer joy in the process of creating something wholly new, or really explain the appeal of being master of your own destiny. What I came to realize is that there is something that sets startup entrepreneurs apart and it’s not a quality that’s easily imparted. It doesn’t make startup entrepreneurs any better or worse, OK maybe a little bit crazier, but it’s a drive that is not present in everyone.

Ultimately, I was unable to convince my circle of friends and co-workers and ended up starting out on my own. To say this was a difficult journey is an understatement. My first startup experience was radically altered when I met the individual who was to eventually become the co-founder of my first company.

Initially, this veteran of the startup process acted primarily as a mentor. This initial help led to many positive developments in my startup. The idea that I had been deeply focused on, that I was convinced was “the next big thing”, was completely altered by coming into contact with his vision. Together our varied experiences molded a completely new idea. Over several months, he continued to act as a mentor and sounding board, aiding me on the startup process and the core of the company. After months of working together informally, he joined me as a co-founder, transforming what had been my startup into our startup.

Michael kowalchik story

From Anything Goes Wiki

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