New Life Goal: Build a Zebra Company
I didn’t know I wanted to be a co-founder until I agreed to become one.
For a long time I had a vague notion that I could work on a small company someday, but now I know that I want to build a company. Not a life-in-the-fast-lane start-up with ping-pong tables, but a company. Recently I learned about a newly coined term for the type of company I want to build: a zebra company. I want to build a company that provides a product or service that is sustainable for it’s customers, is sustainable for it’s employees, and for the planet.
I believe that for a product or service to be sustainable for it’s customers, it needs to solve a real problem for them, and do so in a way that they continue to gain value from the product over time.
A company that is sustainable for it’s employees is a place where they can always be learning. A place that fosters an abundance mindset instead of a scarcity mindset, even with the realities of budget and time constraints. A culture where constraints inspire creativity, not an invitation to cut corners.
And of course, being sustainable for the planet to leave things better than we found it, for the sake of our future generations.
Life Goals and Priorities
You only have so much time on this planet, so you have to decide how you want to live your life and what you want to leave behind for others.
I saw my first total solar eclipse this year. I didn’t think there would be a big difference between 99% and 100%, but I was wrong. I’m so glad that I was wrong. My husband and I are crafting our life together, figuring out what’s important and what we need to do in order to grow into who we want to be. The day after witnessing the total solar eclipse we agreed upon another life goal: take a year to drive cross-country with an Airstream travel trailer to all the national parks and catch the total solar eclipse in 2024. We talked about what we need to do between now and then to set ourselves up to achieve our goal. Now when we make decisions, we ask ourselves if it’s helping us towards that goal or not.
I saw my first total solar eclipse this year. I didn’t think there would be a big difference between 99% and 100%, but I was wrong. I’m so glad that I was wrong.
Having a life goal to start a zebra company also helps me prioritize how I need to grow as a professional. I know I’ll probably fail a lot along the way, but each failure is a learning. Sometimes it’ll be a small learning, sometimes a seismic shift in how I perceive the world. Just like I was wrong about the eclipse, I expect that I’ll be wrong about other things, and I’ll feel elated and excited about the new opportunities that come about from learning that I was wrong.
Thank you to Josh Zúñiga, who asked me to help him build Closet Minimal. You might be thinking: aren’t starting a company and planning to do a crazy road trip conflicting life goals? No, they’re not. Not with this company.
Read about how we’re just getting started.
