Startups who invent are hard
Typically, a startup might have a proven idea that works well in a certain market. Maybe the founder has years of experience in the industry. That is what I would call 90% of startups. But for a fraction of us who are truly invested into changing paradigms — founders who invent — their journey is fraught with much more risk. More than you can imagine. Here is what I learnt being an inventor founder:
No-one gets it..
You grew up listening to all those stories of lonely inventors, now you get to experience it yourself!! I now feel for Isaac Newton’s struggles and Galileo’s imprisonment, whereas in yesteryear I may have dismissed such stories with the irrelevance of history. Inventing is something few people appreciate. Even when you find wanting ears, you may never achieve mutual understanding.
Double Loneliness
Compound the loneliness of not being understood as a inventor with not being understood as a startup, then you get really really lonely. This loneliness is so damning that it consumes you. There’s no way out really. You have to make both ends work. The invention has to make sense or do something. The startup has to making money or at least look commercially viable. Think it’s a two person’s job? Damn right. So get used to talking to your left and right hand like they are separate partners in crime, because until you get an equally crazy co-founder, you’re going to be doing it alone.
Get a patent.
If you don’t, why invent? The reason we applied for a patent was to give us time to sort out how to make the invention commercially viable. Getting your patent’s priority date sorted is key. But be warned, making this work takes a little lateral planning. You’re trying to describe an invention that isn’t tested nor is it a real product. It’s like dancing with the devil. On one hand you’re coding away, micro-pivoting every step of the way. On the other hand, your lawyer is drafting a document that makes the invention seem like it already exists. Sound like fun?
Family struggles
“Honey, why can’t you do a simple idea that brings money to the table?” your other half would say — be that your partner or your daily conscience. Add a kid and you even get a daily injection of Guilt. Startups already struggle with family relations. Inventions are much worst.
Inventions aren’t intuitive
“Intuitive“ — that word.. that dreaded word. Every mention sends chills down my spine. Where the hell did we get the idea that everything has to be intuitive? I’m an architect and I’ve never ever used that word for my building designs. That word is like saying you know how to use something without ever seeing it before. Sounds great in plan, but in action it generally means age-old tried and tested UX design patterns — i.e. not new. Now try inventing while making something intuitive. Good luck because it’s next to impossible. You can’t make something new that make people feel like they’ve used it before! So others look at your invention and struggle to use it, we should embrace it, not dismiss it because it’s complex or not intuitive!
OK! So these are the bad bits. Want to read the good bits? Read the next blog post: “Startups who invent are better.”
