
Your startup is a commodity
Wednesday. 5pm. Tel Aviv. I’m sitting at Aroma (the Israeli version of Starbucks) having a date and banana shake waiting for MassChallenge Startup Shuk event to open. Just a couple of weeks ago I stood on the floor of RISE Hong Kong, surrounded by startups and thinking to myself “This feels like a Shuk….”
If you don’t know what the f**k a Shuk is then let me briefly explain. Shuk comes from the Arabic word Souq which dates back to around 1820–30 and refers to a market or traditional bazaar. Israel (being a mediterranean country influenced to a large extent by Arab culture) has its share of souqs, some better known than others like, Shuk Ha’Carmel in Tel Aviv and Shuk Mahane Yehuda in Jerusalem. These traditional markets have a typical setup — long narrow streets lined with small stalls (called Basta, also from Arabic) selling everything from fruits and vegetables to cheap toys. A successful Shuk is usually bustling with people squeezing down its narrow street, carrying plastic bags full of goods, while stall owners very vocally advertise their merchandise. It’s quite a unique and overwhelming experience...
Historically, the Shuk played two main roles: cultural — as the center of community life, and practical, serving as a one-stop-shop for all your necessities. When Masschallenge decided to brand their event as a startup Shuk, I’m pretty certain that what they had in mind are these cultural / practical values. But when I stood at RISE Hong Kong and thought about the Shuk, I had a somewhat different narrative in mind.
The best thing about a Shuk is that you can literally find everything you need…and at a good (I won’t say cheap) price. That’s what makes the Shuk awesome. A few years ago, Shuk would have been the last word I would use in context with startups. I mean startups are cutting edge, advanced, technological….and the Shuk is everything but….right? But things have changed. Today, startups are commodity. They line the booths of a conference like boxes of cereal at the supermarket and {insert role here} — investor, corporate, service provides, etc. — get to walk around and shop for the one that’s right for your business. How did we get here?
Entrepreneurship is no longer a vocation…it’s an industry. From co-working spaces to swag, there’s an industry that is catering to a growing community of people building random stuff that someone may or may not need at some point. Maintaining this industry are the investors who build elaborate funnels that process an ever-growing number of startups through one end hoping to extract a few unicorns on the other end. It’s a numbers game, nothing more, nothing less.
Eric Ries defined a startup as a human institution designed to deliver a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty. That’s nice. But that also describes (almost) every business starting out….or starting up. Too many “startups” today are happy “playing the entrepreneurship game” — build a prototype, chase investors and jump from one funding round to the next. Most startups are better off calling themselves a Business — focused on building a product people love and need, getting customers and getting paid, and eventually making more money than spending.
It’s 6pm and I’m picking up my tag to Startup Shuk. An attendee tag for me and an investor tag for my friend. I’m invisible. He’s surrounded by startups. I walk up to one of the startup stalls and greeted by “Hi, would you like to hear about {startup name}?” I take a sip of beer and say “Sure, why not…” They start talking and I want to have an honest conversation about what they’re selling. Instead, I take another sip of beer.

