Startup Roots: How to Hack The Startup World

“Do you want to know how to hack me? Well, I’ll tell you how.”

Dan Martell is an investor, a founder, a marathon runner and a self-described “trusted advisor” in social media. He was the rare 19-year-old to start his own company, on his own capital, and make a huge profit. He was the rare individual to create a company that dominates its space within a year. Now, his newest company Flowtown continues to innovate new tools at the forefront of how we use social networking sites like Twitter.

 How can one become like Dan? By first becoming a rockstar intern.

Dan’s Advice on How to Be a Rockstar Intern

Dan gave six pieces of advice that teach entrepreneurs how to fish-rather than simply giving the fish away. By being thoughtful, creative and gutsy as an intern, you can accelerate your own learning curve!

1) Perception is Reality

This is an oft quoted adage, but Dan puts a different spin on it: effectively pitch what you want to be, and it becomes a reality. As a kid, Dan applied for an internship that required a coding expert. Therefore, he pitched himself as such: he printed out and highlighted every piece of code he was proud of in a project that he created. Whether he was an expert or not didn’t matter; Dan was hired. By convincing yourself that you can tackle a variety of challenges you force yourself into situations where that perception becomes a reality. Dan used that experience as a “coding expert” to launch his business and propel his technology career.

2) “Be Lazy”

Or rather use your time wisely. Your boss does not care how many hours you work. If you spend 300 hours on a project or 30, all he or she cares is that it is completed. Therefore, work effectively and reduce time consuming barriers to success. Dan himself often hires individuals to execute menial tasks that take up unnecessary time, like sorting snail mail. He utilizes a service called Upwork to do so.

Dan also applies this philosophy to his own abilities. “I don’t need to be a great engineer” he stated. “To become an expert in something, you need to spend over 2,000 hours -and I don’t have that time. Therefore, I surround myself with great engineers.” Find out where you can apply your efforts most effectively, and concentrate there, and become smarter about your work.

3) “Solve Problems”

If your boss wrote a performance review of you, what would you like it to say? It’s pretty certain that you’d like the words “problem solver” and “takes initiative” used excessively. Therefore, if your boss has a problem: solve it. You’ll become a hero. When Kevin the Flowtown intern was given the vague problem description of wanting to get in touch with the top bloggers in our industry he independently researched and delivered a full list a short time thereafter. “He didn’t ask me how to do it-he just solved my problem and gave me a finished product.”

4) Overcommunicate

Become that person-the one with the notes, the one who emails out the deliverables from a meeting, and the one who over-blogs. It’s a small task for the exponentially greater result of being indispensable. And indispensability is exactly what you want in an internship.

5) “Just ask”

If you want something, or you see a need that needs to be filled: sometimes all you have to do is ask. Reaching out for something and receiving it isn’t unheard of, and it simply relies on your own initiative to do so. Would you like to sit in on a meeting? Ask! Its potential benefit is definitely greater than its minimal cost. Dan described an opportunity at his job (at the age of 19) to have interns work under him. He asked-and hired not one, but two.

6) Hack Individuals (Like Dan!)

Here’s the secret process to hack Dan Martell, or investors similar to Dan. “Get on my radar with something, and then email me intelligently as a follow up. Save my number when I reply to you. Write interesting content, and align it with my interests-follow up again.” Court investors, personalities, and press with content that’s tailored for them-show an awareness of audience.

Dan’s advice on how to be a “rockstar intern,” was really interesting and tangible-but what I really took away from it was his phosphorescent attitude.

Most entrepreneurs who are able to bridge the disconnect between ideas and action, are extraordinary both on paper and in person. They emanate a sense of energy that’s indescribable-except to use the chemical term fluorescent, or filled with intensely glowing, high energy, and excited state electrons. Dan Martell is not just fluorescent-he’s even phosphorescent.

His stories featured an individual that isn’t afraid to take chances-not in the trite sense, but one who reaches out and takes risks when most of us aren’t even aware that there is a risk to be taken. He does so with a confidence and a tendency toward action that “famous-for-procrastination college students” find absolutely foreign. He’s not overly concerned with the New England Puritan inclination for hard work-Dan is willing to skip the labor in order to find a quicker solution. He is the inspiration to deliver, to act on all good ideas, and to leave no opportunity un-seized.

While it’s important to be a rockstar intern and follow Dan’s advice, it’s also more important to not only “aspire” but to be what Dan already is. Treat possibilities like realities, and bridge the gap between ideation and action. Dan always takes action -that’s actually how to hack the process.