Is Entrepreneurship for Me?
Lessons learned from NPR’s podcast “How I Built This?”
Two months away from my MBA graduation, I find myself at a crossroad between two career paths — entrepreneurship and venture capital. As I shared my frustration with my best friends, one of them recommended NPR’s podcast “How I Built This?” hosted by Guy Raz. “It’s as close as it gets to what it feels like to be an entrepreneur without being one”. I decided to give it a chance, and before I know, I listened to every episode published over the past three years.
Everyone has come across some of the businesses discussed in the podcast either as a consumer, business school student or professional. But for the first time one has a chance to get an honest, inside peak in what it felt like to build these businesses from scratch. Building a business is hard, and risky, and time-consuming. That’s the beauty of it. I highly recommend the podcast to everyone who ever wondered, “Is entrepreneurship for me?”. You might not get an answer, but you will learn a lot and have some fun along the way.
Here are my key lessons learned from the podcast:
1. Luck, luck and more luck. At the end of each episode Guy Raz asks each founder how much of their success is due to luck (vs. hard work, skills and intelligence). The answers vary, but every entrepreneur acknowledged that luck played some part in their journey. I like Instagram founders’ thesis, “The world runs on luck; the question is what you do with it?”.
2. No right time to become an entrepreneur. There has been a lot of research conducted on what age, prior experience or career path would increase one’s chance of being a successful entrepreneur. Truth is, the right time to be an entrepreneur is when one decides to become one. You can move straight out of college to the Valley with the clear idea of starting a business (Airbnb). Or you could spend a lifetime career as a scientist with limited business experience but a revolutionary idea to create meat from plants (Impossible Foods). The path to entrepreneurship is different for everyone.
3. No single recipe for success. Successful ideas come in different shapes and forms. You can create a new industry such as the sharing economy (Lyft, Airbnb). You can find a smarter solution to an already existing problem such as an online payment system (Stripe). Or you can simply make a delicious product (Ben & Jerry’s). Ideas matter but they are not the sole differentiator for success. Whatever idea you settle on, believe in it.
4. Takes more than money to motivate an entrepreneur. Guy Raz often likes to ask his guests on what their main motivation was for becoming an entrepreneur. Answers vary from seizing an opportunity in a new market (Dermalogica) to following your parent’s example (M.M.LaFleur) to helping less privileged communities (Cotopaxi). Money is the last driving force behind entrepreneurs. And the last unit of measurement for success.
5. Get ready to hear “NO”. Again. And again. I hardly believe there has been an entrepreneur who never heard a “NO” in his life. It usually comes from investors, but you can often hear it from your close surroundings such as family, friends and colleagues. As Impossible Foods’ founder Pat Brown put it, “This is the kind of thing you have to do. You have to be not afraid to try things that may fail.”
6. There would be a moment when it all goes wrong. There’s hardly such thing as a smooth entrepreneurship journey. And there are definitely moments when all goes wrong. Whether someone steals your laptop the day before you launch your business (Sweetgreen) or you accidentally come across an exact copy of your product at a trade show in Asia (S’well), there would be obstacles along the way.
7. Nothing better than a good partner. Entrepreneurship is a long journey. You could decide to do it alone, with close family or a partner. There is no right or wrong decision and no guarantee for success. Yet, there is nothing more heartwarming than listening to two founders turned into lifelong friends after building a business together. If you listen to Ben & Jerry’s podcast you will know exactly what I mean.
Wrapping it up
The ultimate dilemma when it comes to entrepreneurship is whether entrepreneurs are born or made. I would argue it is both. One has to be born with the inherent desire to create something from scratch and aspire to higher ideals than money and prosperity. Yet, nothing is possible without grit, hard work and risk-taking. And a little bit of luck, of course. So is entrepreneurship for me, you and everyone else out there? The only way to find out is to just give it a try.
