"Success is going from failure to failure
without loss of enthusiasm." – Winston Churchill1
Around 2007, I decided that I should one day become an entrepreneur. I reasoned that I was a creative person, always thinking of ways to improve things around me. I was comfortable with uncertainty. I liked the idea of being my own boss, of being free.
Yet, it took me years to build the courage to start my own company.
What if my idea wasn’t good enough? What if I tapped out my savings? What if I became depressed working alone? What if I just wasn’t cut out for it? If I failed, would anyone still hire me?
As it turns out, I was asking the wrong questions.
Having finally started a company, I’ve learned that only one thing matters: Complete commitment to the outcome.
By "outcome" I don't mean an IPO, a sports car and a mansion. I mean that an entrepreneur must be completely committed to solving a particular problem for a particular group of people.
The commitment can come from a variety of sources – obsession, passion, need, discipline – but the completeness of that commitment is essential. In contrast, great ideas are relatively useless2.
Imagine you are shipwrecked and stranded on an island. You have one flair. Your first survival strategy might be to shoot that flair in hopes of being spotted. But you will also try to think of a hundred other ways to survive. You are completely committed to the outcome (survival), and will try as many ideas as you possibly can to achieve it.
As an entrepreneur, your ideas will fail repeatedly. It’s a statistical certainty3. You will work without income indefinitely. You will mostly work alone. In other words, if you want to succeed, you will have to persevere in spite of being a poor, lonely, failure.
To summarize, I've learned two lessons: First, if you’re not completely committed to the outcome, then you will inevitably give up. Second, if you want to be an entrepreneur, you should stop worrying about your idea, and do whatever it is you’re most passionate about. You’ll figure out the rest4.
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” – Howard Thurman
[1] Why I hire people who fail, my inspiration for writing this
[2] Amazing essay about ideas by Paul Graham, Y Combinator Founder
[3] A web search with the terms “what percentage of entrepreneurs fail”
[4] Stellar compilation of startup lessons that helps me figure things out
Around 2007, I decided that I should one day become an entrepreneur. I reasoned that I was a creative person, always thinking of ways to improve things around me. I was comfortable with uncertainty. I liked the idea of being my own boss, of being free.
Yet, it took me years to build the courage to start my own company.
What if my idea wasn’t good enough? What if I tapped out my savings? What if I became depressed working alone? What if I just wasn’t cut out for it? If I failed, would anyone still hire me?
As it turns out, I was asking the wrong questions.
Having finally started a company, I’ve learned that only one thing matters: Complete commitment to the outcome.
By "outcome" I don't mean an IPO, a sports car and a mansion. I mean that an entrepreneur must be completely committed to solving a particular problem for a particular group of people.
The commitment can come from a variety of sources – obsession, passion, need, discipline – but the completeness of that commitment is essential. In contrast, great ideas are relatively useless2.
Imagine you are shipwrecked and stranded on an island. You have one flair. Your first survival strategy might be to shoot that flair in hopes of being spotted. But you will also try to think of a hundred other ways to survive. You are completely committed to the outcome (survival), and will try as many ideas as you possibly can to achieve it.
As an entrepreneur, your ideas will fail repeatedly. It’s a statistical certainty3. You will work without income indefinitely. You will mostly work alone. In other words, if you want to succeed, you will have to persevere in spite of being a poor, lonely, failure.
To summarize, I've learned two lessons: First, if you’re not completely committed to the outcome, then you will inevitably give up. Second, if you want to be an entrepreneur, you should stop worrying about your idea, and do whatever it is you’re most passionate about. You’ll figure out the rest4.
"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” – Howard Thurman
[1] Why I hire people who fail, my inspiration for writing this
[2] Amazing essay about ideas by Paul Graham, Y Combinator Founder
[3] A web search with the terms “what percentage of entrepreneurs fail”
[4] Stellar compilation of startup lessons that helps me figure things out
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