The movie CHEF, written, co-produced and directed by Jon Favreau, tells the story of a restaurant chef who loses his job after an ongoing argument with his restaurant owner about the menu. Chef Casper (Favreau) wants to cook food that inspires people, while the owner wants him to stick with crowd pleasers. After quitting his job, Casper starts his own food truck with the help of his former line cook and his social networking savvy ten-year-old son. The trio goes on a road trip to bring the food truck from Miami to Los Angeles. It’s a highly entertaining work, do check it out, but eat well before you do (I’ll leave it at that).

Cari Sommer, a Forbes contributor, shares a few Entrepreneurship Lessons that she picks up from the movie (“Entrepreneurship is a journey,” “Never Burn Bridges” and “You Never Know Where Good Ideas Will Come From”). While I enjoyed reading her piece, I think we can do better and be more specific, entrepreneurially speaking. So here are my lessons learned from CHEF:

1. Focus on your passion. Successful entrepreneurs often start their business not for monetary reasons, but because they want to put a dent in the universe. Chef Casper gets his food truck because he wants to improve people’s lives by serving them inspiring food. This is what he’s passionate about and what he primarily focuses his energy on. Everything else should be either delegated for others to own or eliminated as pure distraction. That includes user acquisition, which I address later.
2. Forget the journey, address the problem. Sommer describes entrepreneurship as an uncharted journey in which the entrepreneur is to “make the most out of each and every opportunity, while leaving the door open for future possibilities.” Chef Casper takes on an actual cross-country journey, but he reminds us that entrepreneurship is less about moving from one opportunity to the next and more about dealing with the burning problem of the day. The entrepreneurs I’ve worked with and studied always confronted a demanding problem. In the beginning, it was to keep the business alive. Later, if the business grew, it was often about scaling systems and operations. Typically, what you have in front of you is not an opportunity, but a painful challenge. Circumvent it or resolve it, just deal with it and move on to the next challenge.
3. Stay true to your founding principles. Entrepreneurs want to pick up a fight with the status quo. They desire to change how people think and act at work or in life. The world by definition resists change and will conspire to raise seemingly insurmountable barriers in unexpected ways. The only way to prevail is to articulate unassailable reasons-for-being for the ongoing concern, and cling to them no matter what befalls you. Chef Casper tells everyone around him that his sole desire is to cook great food for people. This incessant chanting helps him stay committed despite the obstacles.
4. Get a growth hacker. Because of point #1, entrepreneurs cannot afford to get distracted by growth issues. Rather, they should delegate these responsibilities to someone skilled at and passionate about growth hacking who can drive customer acquisition, conversion and retention for the business. In the movie, Casper’s son has that all covered.
5. Start when you’re young. This has been extensively covered in the business literature, but CHEF reiterates the point that it’s much easier to become an entrepreneur when you are young, unencumbered by children and mortgage. Entrepreneurship can be so hard that it will succumb you. It will take over your mind and de-prioritize your loved ones. Chef Casper had the luxury of bonding with his son while starting his food truck business; you will probably not be as fortunate.

The movie CHEF — as is entrepreneurship — is about making a decision to change the status quo and staying committed to the decision when the status quo pushes back hard. Think of both as a battle between opposing forces: the entrepreneur, powered by blind passion and optimism, against a world that refuses to change. You may frustrate or anger a lot of people in the process, but if you have the imagination and wherewithal then you just might succeed.

Source: modernstrategy.co

@boazronkin