@GeeknRolla: Rummble founder reveals his start-up rules of engagement

Serial entrepreneur CEO Andrew J Scott has launched a handful of online businesses, survived to tell the tale and returned as founder and CEO of location-based mobile app Rummble.

Scott was on hand to offer delegates at GeeknRolla on Tuesday some of his hard-earned advice for running start-ups… See the video below at time market 2.36.

1. Don’t choose a crap name: One of Scott’s earlier start-ups was called Playtxt – not a bad concept, but its name was remarkably similar to a UK brand of women’s underwear and, in the States, a brand of tampons.

2. Find a co-founder who is good or don’t get one. “Trust your gut instincts about people.”

3. Location: Scott recommends thinking hard about where your business is based. He also suggests entrepreneurs consider at least visiting Silicon Valley.


4. Hire (and fire) the right people. “Everytime I fire someone I wish I had done it a month earlier,” he says.

5. Delegate: “If someone can do something 70 percent as well as you can, delegate to them.”

6. Have a one-line pitch: “It has to be about the value of what you do,” according to Scott, who mentions the pitch for the movie Alien – “Jaws in space” – as a classic, simple three-word pitch.

7. Beware of the bubble: “Not everyone is on Twitter and it’s worth remembering that. Don’t spend all your time in the echo chamber/Twittersphere.”

8. Stop building and measure things that matter: Simple usages stats aren’t always the most important metric.

9. Time flies: “When you’re building something it takes three times as long as you think and when you’re raising money it takes twice as long as you think. And you do not want to run out of money – it’s happened to me twice.”

10. Practice pitching: “If you cannot practice really pitching to someone on your team or in your family, how are you going to do it when you’re asking for half a million quid?”

Lastly, Scott says it pays to help out others in the start-up community – you’ll get help in return – and to take some time out and relax once in a while.

VIDEO AT 2.36