At the risk of potentially starting off this series with my biggest lesson to date making all subsequent Entrepreneurship postings anticlimactic, and also that you'll think my biggest lesson is lame ;^), my first insight is DO, and THEN receive.
Ok, so on one level this seems obvious right? Do some action and receive some result. But that is not what I mean. What I do mean is that, in my experience, in order to receive some title/position/ranking/VC attention you must already operate at that level. This is the smart business way of avoiding the fulfillment of the "Peter Principal" (i.e., continuing to promote an individual until they reach the level at which they are not competent, at which point they are no longer promoted; this leads to everyone being promoted to their highest level of incompetence).
Notice the subtle distinction between "do, and then receive" versus "fake it 'til you make it". With the former, you are legitimately putting in the time and effort to build competence at a particular thing versus the latter where you basically pretend as though you are something you're not.
Before I got into the business world and entrepreneurship, I thought that companies/VCs took a risk by giving you a promotion/money and THEN you proved your value (in that position/role), but such has not been the case for me, and I suspect that in the 21st century this is becoming SOP, especially after countless corporate scandals and the dot bomb!
So what does this mean for you and me? On the entrepreneurship side, I'm sorry to say that this translates to build your product/service offering FIRST, gain customers/revenue, and THEN [maybe] receive backing from a VC. I know, ironic isn't it? But you can't argue that it reduces risk! ;^)
On the business side, it means that if you wanna be VP at a given organization then you must research what the roles and responsibilities of that position are and then do them AS WELL AS your currently assigned tasks. Eventually, with a little luck/providence and perseverance, you may just receive what you want. Receiving what you want leads me to my second insight in fact... so stay tuned!
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