We have all read the articles on huge amounts of money being raised by hot, new social media software companies. Two twenty-somethings with a great idea, a Stanford pedigree and a freshly minted business plan from the Y Combinator raise $15 million dollars and move into the 18th floor of the Embarcadero Center in San Francisco. Well, that is not the way it works…  at least not in healthcare. In my experience, it involves endless meetings, lots of inane questions, and traditional Venture Capital always seem to end up at the same place:

• How long is your sales cycle? Did you really say six to twelve months?

• You mean your staff actually goes on site to train and support the client? How can that scale?

• Did you really say that you have to integrate with hospital systems and you can't just download an app or subscribe to a cloud service? That sounds way too complicated.

Now don't get me wrong, I have worked with Venture Capitalist for more than 30 years and I know some great ones, Dick Kramlich at NEA, Randy Komisar and John Doer at Kleiner Perkins, to name a few. But the Venture Capitalist landscape has changed. Funds are raising hundreds of millions of dollars, with deal size getting bigger and bigger. Valuations have grown as rapidly as planning horizons have shrunk. Deal velocity is up and patience is down.

We recently closed a Preferred Round with strategic investors, one a major vendor and the other a top-rated healthcare provider. Why would we do this? I think the number one reason is that "they get it". Not just as a financial transaction but as a shared vision for transforming healthcare. We must act and we must have strong partners that can look over the horizon.

I spend a lot of time on coaching, mentoring and teaching entrepreneurship and innovation to young people. For the last 10 years I have been on the executive board of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Florida, Warrington College of Business Administration. I love my involvement. I am also very involved with our local Sarasota County Economic Development and most recently with GrowFL. I love technology and love that when technology is combined with new ways of thinking the results can be transformational. I have seen this repeated many times over the last 30 years.

Many organizations have asked me to share any lessons learned and I am always glad to do so. Not to say that I think that I am smarter, brighter or more insightful than other, but I thought you might be interested. So here goes:

1. Building new companies is hard work… really hard work. The stories you read about Facebook or Instagram are not what you should expect. You should expect long hours, low pay, and sleep, money and time deprivation.

2. You and your team should embrace, not fear, change. Just about everything you thought will change. The average time between change is compressed. Get used to it. Learn to enjoy it.

3. Your personal life should be in order. If you don't have a strong relationship with your spouse or significant other, it will be at risk. Make sure your moral compass is well calibrated.

4. There is a reason that revenue is at the top of the income statement. Focusing on engineering, although important, won't get you any closer to payroll. Always have a clear model of your company works and the source of your growth. Do you need to acquire more customers and at what price?  Or, do you need to increase the value of each of your existing customers?

5. Focus on cash. It is probably more important than your mother. Keep in mind, cash is different than sales and revenue. Sales can go up, revenue can go up and you can still run out of cash.

6. Be generous. Be generous with your time, your ideas and even your money. I am always surprised when you help someone with no expectation in return. I am frequently amazed how these moments of generosity provide unanticipated results.

7. Get out of the office. A single trip to a customer will provide more insight than an expensive research project. When talking and meeting with customers learn to ask questions and then listen carefully… not only to what is being said but what is not being said.  

8. Hire well. Take time to recruit, hire, coach, train and mentor well. Most of us can do better.

9. Test early and test frequently. Sometimes a leap of faith becomes institutionalized before it is proven. This holds equally true for sales and marketing initiative and operational processes. Why are we doing the things we are doing?

10. Eat your own dog food. Ok… I really don't need to explain this one, do I?

I hope you find something helpful here. We need more juiced-up entrepreneurs, more risk takers, more never-say-no'ers, more crazy, foolish start-up junkies if we are going to pull this economy and this country out of the economic doldrums. If you are passionate, driven, obstinate and tireless, entrepreneurship might be right for you. Or, at least visit our job-opening page and let Voalte get your juices boiling.

If you write it, will they read it?  If you sell it, will they buy it?  If you _____it, will they _____it?   Fill in your own blanks.   Subconsciously, these  "if" questions are the ones that are asked by anyone initializing any new undertaking or maybe just satisfying a curiosity.

Many people have asked me how Voalte got started.   Hmm… Are they contemplating a similar undertaking or are they just curious?  Who and why is someone asking me this question?  Well, for starters, I attend many technology-related events such as local developer meet-ups, barcamps (those not related to alcohol serving establishments) and conferences and at every possible opportunity I proudly and passionately speak about my company and what we are doing.  I am so passionate and enthusiastic, I always get asked the question, "how did Voalte get started?"  Technologically speaking, I can relate to my audience very well.  Techies tend to think alike and resonate very well when speaking technology, but when it comes to the flip side -  the business or entrepreneurial side - then the resonance levels dip drastically.  Why?  

It seems like most of the techies I meet all seem to have some great new idea for an application or service that they think might rock the world like a Google or Facebook.  Ok, Ok.  I have this idea now tell me again how Voalte went from idea to version 1.0?  If I develop this, will they… you know the rest.

Once upon a time in June 2008, I was attending Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco.  This was just after Apple had released the iPhone software developer’s kit (SDK) to allow native applications on the iPhone.  Everyone and their mother was at the conference trying to learn how to create the next BIG app for the iPhone.  By the way, it was the first time Apple's developer conference had ever sold out!  It was a techie gold rush.

One night while socializing with other iPhone developers, we literally bumped into a young entrepreneur named Trey Lauderdale (who unfortunately was not able to buy a conference ticket in time).  He very generously offered to buy us a drink in exchange for our time to listen to his idea,  I recall it being such a simple idea, the kind that makes you ask yourself, "why didn't I think of that?"  His idea -- sending critical hospital alarms, such as nurse call, code blue or patient monitoring alarms to the iPhone.  Right off the bat I got it.  The iPhone would be the perfect mobile platform for use in the healthcare industry.

After the conference ended, Trey and I kept in touch.  It helped that he was living in Miami and I was living in Fort Lauderdale at the time.  A month had passed and Trey asked me to create a "real" simple demo application that he could present to some hospital CIOs.  I spent about two weekends creating the most basic iPhone app that when launched would pop-up a nurse call and a code blue alarm.  With that demo in hand, Trey approached several CIOs and was told right then and there, "if you build it, we will buy it."  From that first simple little app and positive reassurance from potential future customers, we had our green light.  It was all systems go.  The rest is history.  

I'd like to pass on some advice to new and upcoming entrepreneurs who think they have the next great idea.  First and foremost - keep your idea simple - simple to comprehend, that is.  Do not lose yourself or your audience in the stratosphere with an idea that is not understood or too complicated. Remember to resonate.  Because once you get going, your idea will take on a life of its own and, believe me, it will get more intense and complicated.  More so than you can ever imagine.  Second, sell your idea before you build it.  I know this is the hardest part of the equation for an engineer to understand - trust me - if you don't sell your potential customers now then they will not buy it when it is built.  Thirdly, do not try to do this all by yourself.  Impossible.  Get some partners in crime that compliment your skills and have the same energy and passion that you do.  Lastly, as Rob Campbell, our fearless CEO, constantly reminds us; this is not a sprint but a marathon.  We are doing so much more than just building an app.  We are saving lives, improving healthcare communication, building a culture and helping to change the world.