5 Things First-Time Entrepreneurs Think They NeedBut They DontBy Chris WardenIn an age where striking out to start your own business takes little more than a laptop and a WordPress site, many of us still fail to start lean. We may praise the likes of The 4-our Workweek and the !ili"on #alley founders who sti"k to their ondas, but we look right past the most useful message e$ery %i&ergy su""ess story should tea"h.That is, what you needed '( years ago to start a su""essful business has been redu"ed to almost nothing material. )othing that "osts mu"h money. )othing that would traditionally signal, I*m legitimate.Instead of dis"ussing what you likely do need in order to laun"h a su""essful business+like a proper work ethi", and a "ustomer+let*s take sto"k of what too manyof us still spend time and money on when bringing together a new $enture. ,or as mu"h as I hang around startups, it*s "lear we all "ould use the reminder.,an"y -."e or /ny -."e0,irst on the list has to be o."e spa"e. ,ar from inno"ent on this one, one of my pre$ious "ompanies 1ui"kly sprung for a 23,4445month, two-year lease before we really knew what we were doing. We will 6ll it with sales guys7It didn*t take us long to reali8e that it was best for the sales guys we did hire to be out of the o."e, not in it. -ur spa"ious en$ironment did allow for multiple ping pongrooms and storage9 the spa"e did nothing to produ"e in"remental re$enue. We "ould*$e likely operated out of someone*s basement.:ommon tale, right0 Then why does it keep happening0 Ignore the temptation. eed the stories of the startup in the garage. ;arages are free.I think entrepreneurs want fan"y o."es to feed their egos, and to feel a""omplished. !ome might argue it will help with re"ruiting. That*s true. ay C of your new business be"ause your logo is done and you want to show your mom things are legit. / business "ard is about as far away as possible from a signal of a sustainable, pro6table business+espe"ially in theearly days. This isn*t 'B34.In many ways, the "heap website you should build is your business "ard. !ti"k to that. !pend the mental energy on the website Dor better yet, making a sale7E. ,orgetthe business "ards.