The Three R’s of EntRepReneuRship
I thought of the title whilst out walking my dog. I didn’t even know there was 3 R’s in EntRepReneuRship. #truestory
Founding a startup is an amazing experience however there are some challenges along the way. To say the least. Just like anything good, it doesn’t come easy.
I am no success story but after about 6 months of being an official company I thought I’d let this thought retrospective grace the pages of the Internet.
I think all of the R’s carry weight to get ahead but like a three legged stool, a startup founder can fall over if one is missing, broken or even a bit short or long.
Resilience
This is talked about a great deal on the Internet. In fact, once you start looking its hard to even start due to the doom and gloom of it all.
Hard, 90% fail in first year, Mentally draining, Socially draining, etc, etc
It will be hard and you will face challenges. You know that going in and you expect it but what you don’t realise is that these challenges will come in many, many different forms. Secret little fuckers (excuse my potty mouth) that haunt you or take you from the heroic founder to a grovelling pathetic, weepy person known as Rob.
Subject matter points in this section are:
- Belief in yourself
- Nobody getting your vision
- Contracts
- Cashflow
- Employees
- Family
- Time and lack of that commodity
- Paying yourself
- The size of the hill in front of you
- The battle on that hill
- Loneliness
It’s very, very easy to get taken down to a dark place. A lot of founders suffer mental instability and I can 100% empathise with that. The loneliness of doing so many things at once and not really being able to explain it to anyone is quite something! I’d surmise that this is the number one reason to have a co-founder.
The resilience is what gets you through all of that though. Like a tardigrade, roll with the punches and try not to let those punches put out that internal fire. A good solid grasp and practice of the Stoic philosophy has helped me (cold showers optional)
Resourcefulness
When the above challenges roll into town you might not have the answer. You might not have anyone you can turn to.
You will find a way
And if you can’t you might just need to find a way to explain it.
The ability to ‘Get Shit Done’ is of paramount importance.
A bit like parenting you come into this startup world with the highest of morals, engineering ethics and sound practices and frameworks.
ALL OF THAT GETS FORGOTTEN (at times)
Not to say you shouldn’t forget your first principles of what and why you are doing what you are doing but a product is a product and to quote some infamous Y Combinator person:
“If you aren’t embarrassed of your product, you didn’t ship early enough” (or something like that)
Rad(iCal)
You need to be a little bit radical. Just starting a business is pretty Rad. It is a step into the unknown and full of fear but you have to stand out as there are no recipes to definite success (by any measure.)
Its unlikley that what you do is unique and you will realise this as soon as you attend any forum, conference or business shindig. I still struggle with explaining what it is OrchardAi does in the perfect VC elevator pitch as I inherently see through my own bullshit.
However, what you do, how you do it MUST stand out to some people. Those people are your clients. If they won’t pay for what you do then perhaps its (possibly) not a viable market.
The Mix
In my view, you need to have all of the above to be ok when becoming an entrepreneur. Find yourself wanting in any of those and you’ll have some bigger issues coming.
The good news is that we humans have been endowed with these traits. You just need to create an environment that allows them to come to the surface.
End Bit
I know from my own experiences that it is not what I thought it was going to be. It is an incredibly rich experience that has changed me (for the better). While it might sound a little challenging and out there all of the above can be managed by the wonder of other human beings.
If you allow yourself to be vulnerable and open up to others rather than being a closed book I have found that there is incredible support out there. From official channels, friends, personal network and people you meet along the way who are just plain good people. Inside of corporate walls you don’t often get to see that side of people. Outside it is full of good groups like #linkybrains. Use them, get involved and try to give back when you can.