Make your statement

robert wuebker
Sep 1, 2018 · 2 min read

If you are going to lose a finger, make it count.

A startup is like sticking your hand on a chopping block, grabbing a sharp knife, taking a deep breath, and cutting off your pinkie finger. If your startup fails to get traction, stop — you only lose one finger. And if you get traction? Well, you start with the next finger.

Every startup I have worked at took a few years off my life. Those that grew up to be something probably shaved a decade off of my lifespan. Given what you go through when you start a company, why trade the easy life of an employee for certain pain and an uncertain outcome? Well, that’s a good question — and the topic deserves an article or two of its own. But let’s say you’ve decided to give it a go. Given that initial decision , you owe it to yourself to deliver nothing less than your best. And I don’t mean your best effort. Your best effort is a given. Truly heroic levels of effort — working hard and smart — is the lower bar to make a startup work.

What I am talking about is making sure that, no matter what twists and turns the road takes and where you are in the process, make sure that what you create stays connected to your core.

Here’s the thing about memorable startups of any size — and it applies to companies as visible and sprawling as Mobike and as low-key and compact as what’s happening at T-12: Lab. Great companies are statements — theories about the world and what is missing in it that, if brought into being, would be valuable to someone. At root, a startup is not just a collection of people or a nexus of contracts. More than those things, a startup represents a unique point of view— it embodies a theory about a problem to solve, a new experience to create, or new products or services that customers can “hire” to do a job in a new way.

Startups that are theory- or thesis-driven are easy to spot. In a world of compromises and half-measures, a theory-driven startup is a beacon of consistency and clarity. Decisions about the product, the business around the product, and the totality of the experience for everyone involved from customers to employees — it is all designed coherently and consistently. It is a beautiful thing.

It does not matter whether your theory is world-changing, or just represents a unique take on a neighborhood tonkatsu shop. But here is what does matter. If you are going to start something new, chances are it is going to fail. And the effort is going to shave years off your life, guaranteed. If what you are making is truly yours — if it represents something you believe in and are in love with — then the entire experience will be worth your time, whatever the outcome.

Snake shop, or SpaceX — time well spent is what matters most.

robert wuebker

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assistant professor, university of utah. never for money. always for love.