The following post was contributed by Scott Henderson, managing principal at NMotion powered by gener8tor.

I love trick shots. The more challenging, the better. If it’s possible and highly improbable, I am like a moth to the flame going all in. 

Three summers ago, I was in north Georgia wrapping up production on Project Tumbleweed, a real-time documentary about life in America during a global pandemic. It was my first documentary and I traveled across 15 states to interview 36 people. 

Having helped me line up interviews with Megan Elliott from the UNL Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts and Mike Smith from Rabble Mill, Brian Ardinger and Susan Stibal knew my schedule was about to free up. So they reached out to make sure I knew about another intriguing challenge. 

NMotion and gener8tor had decided to launch a new investment accelerator in my home state and were looking for someone to lead it … in the middle of a pandemic. Having spent the previous 20 years living in Atlanta, Boston and central Indiana working in, around and with startup accelerators, I accepted this juicy challenge to put my experience and insight to work in the state my family has called home since the late 1800s. 

Since September 2020, I have led NMotion powered by gener8tor’s efforts to invest $3.4 million into 34 startups from across the state while helping them grow their revenues and raising additional investments. That’s in addition to helping 10 other startups do the same through our non-investment accelerator program. All while we collectively navigated COVID and transitioned into the post-COVID realities. 

Looking back on the three years and $3.4M deployed, here are three lessons I learned: 

1. Great Trees Never Grow Alone

There are ZERO self-made successful startup founders. Every single one of them received help – great or small – along the way. More importantly, successful startup communities are like vibrant forests. The other trees and shrubs provide canopy protection and help to draw resources to those parts of the forest in need. You can see folks playing a range of roles that increase the surface area of luck for founders: mentors, first customers, early investors, community champions and early employees. 

One of the main reasons I took on this challenge is because we are fortunate to have business leaders in Nebraska who invest their money and networks in those upstart companies. Mike Dunlap with Nelnet, Mike Cassling with CQuence Health, and Paul and Annette Smith from Black Dog Ventures are among the many others past and present playing this role. Working in collaboration with open-minded institutions like Lincoln Partnership for Economic Development, Invest Nebraska, University of Nebraska (all four campuses) and Nebraska Tech Collaborative, these leaders continue to invest in the vibrancy of the entire state. 

2. Lots of “Murky Maybe”

No one can predict the future and certainly no one can predict EVERY startup’s success. Early stage high growth startups have so many inherent risks: human, technical, market, economic and regulatory. I recall Chuck Norris sharing an analysis of the Nelnet startup investment portfolio and illustrating how you really cannot predict outcomes. Even those with all the “right elements” imploded while some they had given up hope on found a way to eke out a successful sale of the company and create a windfall of wealth. 

You gotta play out the game to see what happens. Equally important, you gotta make sure no stone goes unturned in finding the best and brightest talent in the state. We owe it to ourselves to make sure that if you have enough naive ambition to become a startup founder you get the chance to experience the most challenging leadership growth opportunity out there. We also owe it to you brave souls who make yourselves vulnerable to the slings and arrows of creating the future to be celebrated for your stumbles as much as you are for your triumphs. Lessons learned and shared help the entire forest. 

3. Ring the Register Early and Often

This one seems so blatantly obvious. But since startups are new organizations in search of business models, some founders spend all their time building out a complex, shiny solution without remembering to sell it. Coastal startup communities have been flush with early stage investors willing to take large risks that are a long way from revenue. Meanwhile, the Midwest and Great Plains have much more conservative investors and capital sources. 

These investors usually made their money in traditional businesses where you gotta ring the register if you want to survive. While this conservative nature can be frustrating at times, it’s also a competitive advantage for the region since it forces startup founders to focus on generating revenue early and often. Those startup founders I’ve worked with who stand out from the rest know the goal of the game is to create revenue and then create more of it every month. Achieving profitability creates more optionality. And optionality is a founder’s best friend.

Even if your actual sales are small, growing it by 20% month over month creates quite the geometric curve. Perhaps that’s one silver line COVID gave us – an appreciation for geometric curves. As it comes to Nebraska startups, the more who take on the challenge of building high growth startups, the better we’ll all become.

Final Thoughts

Great founders don’t wait for permission. If you are thinking about jumping into the startup game, do it. There’s nothing but upside when it comes to the personal and professional growth you will experience by trying to create a company to solve real problems.