7 rules that acting classes taught me about startups

When 10 years ago I started taking acting lessons, i couldn’t imagine that my acting experiences would ever teach me some of the startup basics. It took me 7 years to drop out theatrical stages and costumes and start my own startup only to find out that some rules are so crucial that may apply to more than one working environments.

1. ITS ALL ABOUT STORYTELLING

My acting teacher used to say that “People are waiting to listen to your story. You either tell a certain story in an interesting way or people go away. Make sure that the audience has the same pain with you.” In startups it’s exactly the same.

2. THE TEAM

“Your team is as strong as the weakest member of your team is”. That’s another sentence that haunted me and is also true in startups. You can’t work alone and even the slightest weakness of a startup co-founder is affecting the whole team.

3. BUILD SOMETHING OUT OF NOTHING

In acting this type of theater is called “devised theater”. There is no script or director. The team uses all the existing resources, mainly human ones, brainstorms and builds something new, that makes sense and creates buzz.

4. LEARN TO FALL

Days and days are spent in acting schools until actors finally learn to fall in the ground without being hurt. Falling down (on the stage ) is an everyday routine, so you shouldn’t be afraid of it, but fall properly at the right time.

5. YOU KNOW NOTHING

“The only way to become good (on acting) is to admit you know nothing”. Actors are “tabula rasa”. Everytime they play the same scene, they discover it from the very beginning, just like the first time. They don’t copy, they re-invent. Startuppers are challenged to do the same.

6. COMFORT ZONE

Actors spend days and nights practicing but, actually, magic happens at the most unexpected moments. The most astonishing scenes at the past were created by chance, when the team tried out something different.

7. HAVE PASSION

You may have talent or skills but in the end if you are not passionate enough (on stage or on pitch) nobody will be convinced that you really believe what you are saying..

So what are you thinking of these rules? Have you ever learned startup rules out of the startup ecosystem?