We’re all in this together - Mentoring the next generation
“Entrepreneurs building entrepreneurs”
This post talks about the need for a strong Pay-it-Forward attitude in order to create a thriving ecosystem, beyond generations.
Pay-It-Forward.
A great term out of booming ecosystems, where people know that in order to move forward, you have to help others moving forward.
Pay-It-Forward is an expression for describing the beneficiary of a good deed repaying itself to others instead of to the original benefactor.
The first generation of executives who grew up getting help from others began to offer their advice to younger entrepreneurs. These experienced valley CEOs would take time out of their hectic schedule to grab a coffee or have dinner with young entrepreneurs without asking anything in return.
They marked the beginning of the Pay-It-Forward culture, the unspoken Valley culture based on the theory “I was helped when I started out and now it’s my turn to help others.”
By the early 1970’s, even the CEOs of the most substantial valley companies would take phone calls and meetings with interesting and passionate entrepreneurs. In 1967, at the age of 12, Steve Jobs called Bill Hewlett, the co-founder of HP.
In 1975, Steve - who still was a young, unknown, wannabe entrepreneur - called the Founder/CEO of Intel, Bob Noyce and asked for advice. Noyce liked the kid, and for the next few years, Noyce met with Steve and coached him as he founded his first company and went through the highs and lows of a startup that caught fire.
“Bob Noyce took me under his wings, I was young, in my twenties. He was in his early fifties. He tried to give me the lay of the land, give me a perspective that I could only partially understand,” Jobs said, “You can’t really understand what is going on now unless you understand what came before.”
Personally, what drives me as an entrepreneur:
- looking at what could be the next movements of society, people and customer centricity, by means of technology. Clearly, not for the sake of it. Next, is not for tomorrow, but envisions things that I believe will matter and will have an impact on the long term.
- in order to do so, think about what the ideal environment and culture look like to accomplish this and work on that. Build connected movements. Bottom up (what else?).
- to create that environment that works, Pay-It-Forward is the best structure, giving back what others gave you before. If few have given, show the example, build trust, replicate, nurture the culture and mentality, based on quality over quantity.
Not words, but ACTions: Pay-It-Forward - by and for entrepreneurs - bottom up - people centric - quality over quantity - always on.
Heavily used and impacted in entrepreneurship and startups, in non-mature startup environments, Pay-It-Forward has its ups (think assistance from peers when the going gets tough and limited resources are available), though it can unfortunately also have its downsides. It can be rewarding, but it can be the complete opposite as well. When Pay-It-Forward comes to feel like pay it backward. Not moving forward. Sad, but true.
When you are approachable and willing to help others, it can result in two ways. Or you meet great new people, who show respect for the effort and time you spent and reward you by doing their best to help others further, beyond generations. The ideology is awesome, the impact can be brilliant. This is how it should be.
Some get inspired in becoming an entrepreneur themselves, learn to get through the more difficult times, or find a next challenge. Others struggle growing their team, get customers, with financials or co-founder issues and are in need of assistance, … it’s always a pleasure to help people, see them evolve and maybe even become great friends. + Energy.
However, your efforts to help others can also turn out differently, completely different. Less rosy, more resulting in - Energy spent.
I would like to share some of those less positive experiences here in Belgium, which you might recognise, though by mentioning them here I hope you won’t encounter yourself. Be vigilant about people’s true intentions to approach you, which could be far from the true Pay-It-Forward ideology.
Firstly, you might bump into young, starting or seeking entrepreneurs who abuse your approachability to get sensitive information. They might use this intelligence to get attention and when challenged about it, might get angry and turn against the one whose pure intention is to help. Same might happen when feedback is given in regards to their own project which might not fit what they want to hear. Authenticity and genuine motivations are personal traits you need to look for when encountering young or starting entrepreneurs.
Secondly, some people want to get more out than they are willing to put in (the pretenders/self proclaimed experts). You might encounter those who pretend to have been a startup founder before. Talk to many real entrepreneurs and gather information. To then use that intelligence to profile themselves as entrepreneurs. When challenged about this these people might turn against you.
Finally, and personally the worst experience to me as an entrepreneur and strong believer in Pay-It-Forward and helping others forward is definitively this one; Four founders of a startup, one actively joining me into almost all the entrepreneurial activities I was participating in. No occasion left.
Turned out that there were team issues which he was covering up, and when diving in deeper there was more of another rollercoaster, not in the startup, but in the mind. Ups and Downs. Similar, but differently. Impossible to handle without professional mental help, and even if advised contrary by others, I was stubbornly willing to help, though in the end this turned against me. When personal problems, become others’ problems, far from solving one’s own situation.
More reasons to be always vigilant with your time. Never forget that your main focus should always gravitate around your own challenges. But, whenever possible, do help others. Make the unimaginable possible, not only for yourself, but also for your surrounding networks. Lift people up. Even if Pay-It-Forward puts you in contact with all kinds of people, the + Energy prevails.
The best investment you can make to help nurture a startup culture in Belgium (or any other place) is to share what you know and have experienced with the next generation. Even more, this culture could be created by a handful of CEO’s and board members who led by example. In Belgium, we created the BeTech board for this purpose.
BeTech is the community of, by and for Belgian entrepreneurs all around the globe. Currently a strong, active community. On its way to become a movement, and maybe one day will end up branching out into an ecosystem. A collective of true builders, entrepreneurs. The ones who first challenge and then change things. An environment with a strong message: you want to become BeTech, become an entrepreneur. An environment in which every entrepreneur carries the BeTech sign with full proud, BeProud.
BeTech is much like a startup itself. The road is long and is bumpy at times. Hereby a rulebook for disruption that perfectly fits BeTech:
- bypass conventions & rules (aka for rebels challenging the status quo),
- remove friction,
- pimp the entrepreneur experience,
- and leverage the network.
Pay-It-Forward has a profound impact on our environments in that it creates a sense of connectedness and positivism. When we feel connected to each other, we are more kind, more patient, and more supportive. We take better care of our communities and even think more collectively as opposed to individualistically. As we’ve already seen, these kind of changes can create huge ripple effects.
So the question that remains: What are you waiting for? Find your local Pay-It-Forward group and contribute. Or if you’re an entrepreneur in Belgium and want to help Belgium to become a smart and prosperious country to be an entrepreneur, join us, join BeTech: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BeTech/
Every entrepreneur can use a little advice and a friendly push now and again. Be open to share your knowledge and it will cascade to others. Business can be tough and competitive, but it can also be extremely generous. In the end people always make the difference, this is also why BeTech’s idealogy is people centric, by and for entrepreneurs :).
