An Entrepreneurial Request

Dear Everyone,

I’m an entrepreneur because there’s some problem that I care about and I have a potential solution in mind. I’ve envisioned a potential future state of the world and I have a compulsion to bring that vision into reality. This future state is, by definition, in the future and therefore doesn’t exist today, or at least doesn’t fully exist the way I’m envisioning it. Yet. For this reason many people call what I’m doing “risky,” but the future doesn’t feel risky to me at all. It feels merely like I haven’t brought it about yet. But I will.

When I share my vision with you, if you see it too — and I say this having had hundreds of interactions like this — then that’s almost always going to be clear within 15 minutes, and it’s almost always going to be a magical experience for both of us. Whether it’s as a friend or advisor or co-founder or investor or customer or whatever, I have no doubt that we’ll find some way to work together, because we both see the future, and that’s a special thing. Welcome aboard, and I’m psyched to have you with us!

If you try and you just don’t see it, that’s perfectly fine too — no hard feelings! You’re welcome to watch from afar and cheer me on, or you can root against me, or you can just tune out. I’ve got enough believers on this journey with me who see and share my vision that I’m not threatened in the least if you’re not with us.

But, to quote an old Semisonic song that’s appropriately titled I Wish, from an album that’s also appropriately titled All About Chemistry —

There’s one thing that I can never do:
I can’t believe for you.
I can’t believe in me for you.

As I said, if you don’t see it, that’s totally cool. But don’t ask me to repeatedly reassure you about the future. Don’t continuously remind me of the all the things that you describe as “unknowns” because, again, they’re not unknown to me. They’re simply unaccomplished. But we’ll get there.

I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but if you’re not a believer, no amount of explaining or forecasting or advocating from me or anyone is likely to turn you into one. There will always be some elusive aspect of the future that hasn’t arrived yet. If that makes you nervous, I’m sorry to hear that, but frankly that’s your own problem, not mine.

So please, don’t attempt to sow some doubt in my mind in order to reassure yourself that your own doubts are reasonable. Don’t try to obscure my vision just because yours is cloudy. Don’t try to bring me down, because you won’t. You’ll just make me gradually realize how exhausting it is to interact with you, and then I’ll stop responding to your emails.

Sincerely,

An Entrepreneur