To get your start-up off the ground you need to meet a lot of people who could potentially help you. Partners, beta customers, investors, etc. are among the targets of people you should contact and meet. Many have great ideas and are helpful in the advice or referrals they give. There are also the people that have what you want, such as investment money or a partnership contract, and even lead you to believe that they’re willing to provide you what you need. Unfortunately, some of these people also come with strings attached and won’t “move forward” without you having to doing an infinite amount of work to satisfy them. I call them ‘homework givers’, and they are of the breed of people that take wind out of your sails.

Indeed there are legitimate reasons your contact should ask to provide initial research, or perhaps a key relationship in place before helping you further. But if you know you’ve done the necessary work to get your concept off the ground and walk out of a meeting feeling completely overwhelmed and behind the eightball, then you have just met with a ‘homework giver’.

Working with Talus, we met a gentleman several times who is very successful and had some great advice. However, he seemed to always give us information that either completely changed what we had going, or had ideas that would take some serious time, i.e. months, to complete. This led to doubting what we were doing, and with a feeling that we were way off track, which is the last thing we needed while pushing through all the crap necessary to get the darn business off the ground.

Don’t get derailed. Don’t even get sidetracked. Be cautious of the ‘homework givers’ and stay your course!