Crimson CatalystEngaging strategic partners. Connecting IU resources. Advancing Indiana’s economy.

Brandon Boynton is a current student at IUPUI and serial entrepreneur. This post is one in a series about the lessons he’s learned as a startup founder.

By Brandon Boynton, CEO, Vemity

3. Don’t be blinded by your passion.

When you spend eight to 12 hours a day, six to seven days a week, entirely focused on your company, it’s very easy to see it as your holy grail and a groundbreaking product. If you’re anything like me, you start to ignore the potential hurdles in your business plan and instead focus on the best-case scenario.

For example, I spent a lot of time refactoring code to ensure we could handle an explosion of customers instead of considering how we would handle managing customers that didn’t have preexisting data. Essentially, I was so confident in my initial idea that I failed to see the many flaws that existed. It wasn’t until I had a mentor familiar with my industry, who was able to rip holes in my business model, that I could be convinced to reevaluate my plans.

As an entrepreneur, when you come up with an executable idea with a lot of potential, you want it to work out so badly that you begin to look past the red flags. It is very important to avoid this blindness and identify any shortcomings or potential hurdles within your business model.

There will be hurdles that you will encounter, no doubt about it. What is important is that you identify these obstacles early on and plan for them. Worst-case scenario: If you identify a flaw that can’t be overcome, it’s better to pivot early on than later in the life of the startup.

Next: Pivot.

Lesson 2: Always make others feel important.

Brandon Boynton is a current student at IUPUI and serial entrepreneur. This post is one in a series about the lessons he’s learned as a startup founder.

By Brandon Boynton, CEO, Vemity

2. Always make others feel important.

When dealing with other people, whether employees, partners, friends, acquaintances or what have you, treat them with respect and listen. When you are passionate about your product and your business, it’s very easy to commandeer a conversation. You work tirelessly on your business, and you want to share it with the world — but unfortunately for you, most people aren’t nearly as interested as you want them to be.

Listen to others. Offer your elevator pitch, tell them what you do and then shut up. If they are genuinely interested, they might ask questions, and that’s fantastic. But make sure you ask questions about them, too. Find out what they are passionate about. Ask them about their work. Ask them questions and make them feel important.

Trying to impress others is a poor way to network. By making others feel important and respected, they will subsequently be much more willing to work with you, buy your product or mentor you.

Next: Passion.

Lesson 1: Your age doesn’t matter as much as you think it does.

Brandon Boynton is current student at IUPUI and serial entrepreneur. This post is one in a series about the lessons he’s learned as startup founder.

By Brandon Boynton, CEO, Vemity

The past six years of my career have consisted of founding two startups; completing one acquisition, dozens of software consulting projects and 136 undergraduate credits; and being honored with about a dozen awards and nominations. Yet more plentiful than any accomplishments I might have achieved are the countless failures and subsequent lessons I have learned throughout my career.

It is often said that the path to success is through failure. That concept is absolutely true, but only if one is capable of reflecting on — and learning from — their own failures. No matter how tragic it might feel, there are lessons to be learned from every experience. These failures teach us more than success ever could.

Following are lessons I have taken away from my failures that I want to share with others so they might be able to circumvent learning them the the same way I did.

1. Your age doesn’t matter as much as you think it does.

One of my biggest insecurities when entering the startup scene was that I would not be taken seriously at only 16 years of age. I couldn’t attend networking events at bars, my reasoning went; that must mean I couldn’t be recognized as a legitimate founder. As a result, I was often less than honest about my age, or at the very least beat around the bush about it.

Once I got to know a handful of people and got closer with a couple of mentors, I started to realize how silly this fear had been. Yes, there are those who will look down on you for your age. But these people are vastly outnumbered by those who will either treat you like any other founder or will go out of their way to assist you in pursuing your dreams.

The fact of the matter is that being a young entrepreneur is far more of an asset than a liability. Embrace your age and use it to your advantage. Maintain your humility, but don’t hide the fact that you are accomplishing feats well before your peers, because that’s truly something to be proud of.

At the end of the day, age has very little impact on the success of a startup. It’s far more about what you are capable of than how young or old you are.

Next: Others.