Let’s get personal
This is the second of three posts covering my pre-launch thoughts for Startup Portraits, a personal photography project. Part one covers the basic idea; part three covers editorial goals and logistics.
If you’ve seen the film Network, you may remember the scene where the character Howard Beale—famous for the “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this any longer” line—is effectively brainwashed to believe he’s on a mission from god. “Why me?” he asks. The reply: “Because you’re on television, dummy.” It’s one of my favorite scenes in film, with all its conflation of madness and ambition, and for projects like Startup Portraits (and perhaps any entrepreneurial endeavor), its central question is worth answering.
Why me? Three reasons.
- I spent two years as a professional photojournalist (and a decade as an amateur shooter) before I started two now-defunct companies as the product-focused cofounder.
- I agree with Señor Thiel that technology startups are the definitive medium of our time for effecting world-scale change.
- I take deep inspiration from people who are passionate about their work.
A step further: Why me now? The short answer is I'm excited as hell about this, and if successful, Startup Portraits will open two big career doors. The first is a career in corporate photography; the second, reentry into startup life. Probably in that order.
The photography door starts with this premise: The companies I shoot will, if they’re successful, eventually need photographs beyond what I produce in my day with them. If my experience in this industry is a guide, I’ll be the first “professional” photographer most founders will have met. Hopefully they'll give me a ring. (Were this a purely journalistic endeavor I’d fire myself for even suggesting this. It’s not.)
The startup door looks a little different. No doubt, tangible work will come out of this project—photographs and a blog—but a deeper motivation is to learn as much as I possibly can, as fast as I can, about product management. I’d like to start another company in my life, and it’s quite intentional that if Startup Portraits is successful in its surface mission, I’ll also have built working, collaborative relationships with dozens of potential mentors. I also leave open the possibility of joining one of the companies I visit.
My fiancée and I have been discussing drafts of these posts the last few evenings, and our biggest sticking point has been cash flow. Or really, her cash flow, and how it’s not enough for us to live on. As we discussed last night, this project needs to turn into a job, or lead to one. I’m optimistic on both counts, though to be honest, I’m not sure which is more likely. As a former founder, I’m comfortable with this kind of ambiguity.
A final note: Considering my wiggle room in defining success, I’m going to do my best to apply Lean methodology to this endeavor. This series of blog posts is my first build; I’ll let you know what I measure and learn in a follow up.
Part one: The idea. Part three: Editorial goals and logistics.
