Early on in my first company we hit a nice period of growth and hired a bunch of people. Fast forward 18 months and the business was fine but the people side of things was a mess. There was no cohesive corporate culture and we were suffering mightily because of it. At that point, I went on a reading binge and worked at assimilating as much information as possible on the people side of the business. Finally, we worked through a number of tough changes and came out stronger because of it.
I tell this story not to highlight the importance of corporate culture, but rather to emphasize that entrepreneurs need exposure to many ideas early and often. Yes, it was important for me to experience things first-hand, but I should have been more proactive earlier around gathering ideas and learning from others.
Here are a few ways to seek out ideas:
- Join a startup or entrepreneur group like EO
- Subscribe to blogs (including this one!) via email or RSS (try Feedly or Digg Reader)
- Network with other entrepreneurs in town
- Follow entrepreneurs on Twitter
The goal isn’t to spend a ton of time away from your business learning everything about everything, rather the goal is to continually learn and gain exposure to a wide variety of ideas.
What else? What are your thoughts on entrepreneurs needing to seek out ideas?
David Cummings on Startups 
This post sounds too familiar to my own story. Fast growth, no culture, big mess!
Not only is it good to be exposed to many ideas, but exposure also builds self-confidence and can help you become a stronger leader.
Thanks for always paying it forward David!