Walking the Start Up TightRope
(I originally published this on LinkedIn in June of 2015. The Fantasy Life App only had a few hundred users at the time and now six figures. Staying HOPD is more relevant than ever today.)
My Co-founder and I just passed the 1 year mark at our startup, Arke Apps. Many entrepreneurs talk about entrepreneurship being a rollercoaster. I believe this analogy is flawed because every roller coaster finishes where it started. No company, failure or success, finishes where it started. To me, starting a company is more comparable to walking a tightrope. Every step forward is a victory and every step backward is a chance to learn. With that being said, one flawed step can lead to a fall. And any time you fall, you risk losing all of your progress.
So how do you walk this entrepreneurial tightrope without falling? I haven’t completed my walk, but I can share with you what has helped me. Every single day I wake up and I repeat the acronym HOPD. This stands for:
H: Humble
Be humble. Matthew 23:12 says “Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted”. Success can be taken away at any moment. Life is vulnerable. Recognize that failure is a fall. Humility is rooted in the idea that you can fail at any moment. The greatest innovators in any field use the fear of failure as a tool to advance forward in their walk.
O: Obedient
Be obedient to the process. Trust yourself, work hard, and stay focused is being obedient to the process. People commonly say the best way to walk a tightrope is to “not look down.” Obedience to the process is the best way to “not look down” in a startup. Stay in the moment of the journey and remember why you started your company. It can be fatal to try to skip steps along the way or to concentrate on the end result. Being disobedient to the process can lead to careless mistakes or worse, reckless behavior.
P: Patient
Be Patient. It always takes longer than you expect or anticipate. Roadmaps are great. They keep you on track. But as soon as you get hung up on a missed benchmark, the sooner you’ll go crazy. Don’t be the fool who tries to fix an unbroken glass. If you try to run when things get shaky on the rope, you’re guaranteed to fall.
D: Discipline
Be Disciplined. You have no control over most things. Understand what those things are and accept them now. Once you understand what you can’t control, you need to take a firm assertive grip on the things you can control. That means anything from diet to punctuality, habitual prospecting, customer service, attitude, etc. Being disciplined gives you liberation and power. It gives you the strength to handle the unexpected gusts of wind and “bird droppings”.
Anyway, the tightrope analogy isn’t perfect. That is the beauty of any analogy. It is never perfect. I can’t imagine what the feeling is like when I finally step off the rope and get to the other side. Since I try to stay HOPD I rarely allow myself to think about that step off the rope.
Do you have any questions on entrepreneurship, mobile development, or Community building? I’m looking to share more of my journey, and I’d love to answer any of your questions!
The Fantasy Life app is the best sports community app to talk fantasy football, basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer, WWE, MMA, Nascar, golf, eSports, or anything else you would hear about at a sports bar. Find or post funny memes, polls, GIFs, or join chats about your teams. Matthew Berry (ESPN, The Talented Mr. Roto), the face of fantasy football co-founded the app as a place for fans to chat about sports, get fantasy advice, or find sleepers for your team. Find Matthew on the app @matthewberry
Download the iPhone or Android app at fantasylifeapp.com. Also available in the App Store and Google Play.
