What Inspires Me To Start Stuff?
An essay on inspiration.
This essay is part of a collaborative blogging experiment to answer the question: What inspired you to found your startup?
This was a fun exercise for me. I’ve never been forced to collect my thoughts in an attempt to rationalize why I do what I do. I’ve had a handful of startups now, with every flavor of success and failure, but I’ve never drilled down to where it’s all coming from. What I learned in this exploration is that my inspiration comes from more than just solving problems, but in the hope that solving those problems creates.
In 2009, I was told how to answer the question, why did you found your startup? Specifically, I was told what venture capitalists were looking for in an answer to this question; that, no matter what, my answer should be:
I’ve identified a problem and I’m passionate about fixing it.
I’ve since learned that while this is partly true, my motivation comes from a much deeper, more human place.
Going back just about as far as I can remember, I’ve been starting things. Creating things. Founding things. At 8 years old, I played company with my younger brothers. At 14, I made and distributed flyers for Art Lessons charging twice minimum wage. When I was 16, I formed a landscaping design business. In college, I started a whole bunch of stuff including helpmepaybackmystudentloans.com - but that’s another story.
Now I’m 35, and I’m still riding this continually strengthening trend. In the last few years, I’ve created services for people to rate and review financial advisors, log CrossFit workouts and manage never-ending workloads. These recent journeys, like those of the past, have carried with them their own unique sets of successes and failures. Each one frustrating and rewarding in its own right, and each one spurring me forward to do it again.
For better or for worse, I’ve had a lot of startups. I’ve had an exit, a failure and just about everything in-between. Like many people who are built like me, I often wonder why I am so compelled to do this time and again. Why do I spend my free time starting things? Why do I work so hard to bring my ideas to life? What causes me to keep pushing?What inspires me, quite simply, to start anything?
In preparation for writing this article, I first thought of the guidance with which I opened. Then, I took the time to identify the problems I was attempting to solve at the outset of each endeavor.
Fabeetle - Rate & Review Financial Advisors.
I wanted a place for people to rate and review their financial advisors. I worked with a ton of them in the business and thought the public deserved to know who they were working with.
WODstack - Log & Track CrossFit Workouts.
I had two desires: learn ruby on rails and find a better way to track my workouts. Thankfully, I did both.
Taskk - Task Management with a Brain.
For two years I cobbled together project management and time-tracking applications in an attempt to figure out what to work on next. Nothing considered both my priorities and time available to actually get work done.
I could write countless paragraphs on the specifics behind each of the aforementioned projects. While each product is unique, the explanation for their existence stems from the simple steps of identifying a problem and solving it. This isn’t unique - it’s the reason almost all good products and services exist.
At this point, it’s tempting to explain the motivation for each effort with some singular, proprietary life-experience responsible for having such a passionate pursuance of the solution. For example, I was a financial advisor, so I did have insight into the lack of information surrounding the selection of a financial advisor. Or, I’m an avid CrossFitter, so it’s natural that I wanted to solve the workout tracking problem. I’m a busy husband and dad, so the desire to manage my priorities and work efficiently led to Taskk.
Does it make sense? Sure, but I would have to question my own authenticity if I stopped my exploration there and credited hundreds of night and weekend hours to simply being passionate about to solving these problems. I think it’s more than that.
Why do I care about solving problems in the first place? For that matter, why do I think I’m qualified (when, usually, I’m not) to create a solution? Why not just peruse Techcrunch, LifeHacker or Web Appstorm waiting for someone else to solve it?
The inspiration to start each one of my journeys stemmed from a desire to scratch a much deeper itch. It comes from my desire to have a life filled with significance and freedom.
Significance
Deep inside, I want to do something significant. All of us have a need to feel significant; it’s part of our human condition. But, I have a need to do something significant. That’s different. I want to be responsible for doing something that changes peoples lives. Whether that be through the creation of a product itself, the jobs that the product creates or the opportunity to help others that success provides. I want to do something important, lasting and meaningful.
Freedom
I can’t help but shake the awareness of my own mortality. From a young age, I’ve had an advanced understanding of this. It’s manifested itself as both worry and motivation. More than that, I want to make the most of my time here. I want to live life. I want to spend time with those I love and experience as much of this existence as I can. I want to stay up late and get up later, or the other way around. I want to be in control of my time to make sure I do the best version of my life possible.
So, in answering the question presented in this essay, I’m forced to go a bit deeper. Inspiration for me is born in that moment where I see both a problem and a solution - not because I’m passionate about solving the problem, but because I’m passionate about what solving that problems represents for my life and the life of others.
Hope
In the moment where all of this comes together, I find the emergence of hope. Hope has inspired me to do everything I’ve ever done and will continue to inspire everything I will ever do.
This essay is part of a collaborative blogging experiment to answer the question: What inspired you to found your startup?
