Fuck Entrepreneurship
Having spent the past 3 years exploring entrepreneurship, and what exactly it is that we mean with it, I’ve come to one conclusion. And that is:
Entrepreneurship is fucked.
Let me explain.
Problem 1: We party like it’s 1730
We’re back in 1730 when it comes to entrepreneurship.
Richard Cantillon, a French economist, was the first to coin the term entrepreneur. An entrepreneur, he said, is someone who undertakes a business venture with no guarantee of profits.
And so, the 21st century entrepreneur ventures off:
“Richard, that’s great! Now I know exactly what I need to do!”
And now we find ourselves in the 21st century, with more startups then ever, who are all building businesses without thinking about how they can actually make any money.
21st century entrepreneurship seems to say you should build a house, and then maybe add a bathroom later.
I mean, sure that’s possible, but why the f*ck would you do that?
Solution 1: Learn how to make money. Most entrepreneurs can make revenue from the start, by doing pre-sales, LOIs or whatever. I know you’re thinking ‘that doesn’t hold for my business’, but f*ck you’re an entrepreneur you should know better than giving me such a weak argument. Be a real entrepreneur and think about ways in which you could make revenue. I know you’re probably innovating and disrupting your whole industry but seriously if you’re creating something valuable, charge your customer.
And say that you really can’t make any money right now, calculate your business case. The economics really aren’t that hard! Come up with assumptions about your potential customer’s value — what someone will pay for your product and how often they’ll pay — and your cost — of operation and of acquiring that customer. Then test and see whether you can even become profitable. There are so many awesome guides on how to do that, you really don’t need to live with the premise that making money is of second importance. It’s not.
Problem 2: We’re taking meds for the sake of meds
Would you take medicine for the sake of taking medicine?
Of course you wouldn’t. You take medicine to prevent getting sick or because you’re already sick and you want to get better. It’s a solution to a problem. It’s a means to an end.
That’s what’s wrong with entrepreneurship. We’re taking medicine for the sake of taking medicine.
Entrepreneurship today seems to be about starting for the sake of starting. We’re starting because we want to start. We’re becoming entrepreneurs for the sake of being entrepreneurs, and not for the sake of undertaking something that’s actually important.
Solution 2: By first principle, what is it that a business does? It solves a problem for someone, or addresses an unaddressed need. Go out and look for the ones you’re most passionate about addressing and getting solved.
Problem 3: What the f*ck is entrepreneurship anyways?
Everyday we hear entrepreneurship being used in different contexts. We hear ambitions to be the most entrepreneurial city, the most entrepreneurial university, the most entrepreneurial corporate, and all of this should lead to the most entrepreneurial lifestyle.
But what does it mean?
Does it mean getting some crazy idea and then looking for millions of funding? Does it mean working 100 of hours a week? Does it mean reading TechCrunch and Hackernews every day so you can talk about how Elon is taking Tesla private? Does it mean having a bar in the office? Does it mean ordering pizza every evening? Does it mean reading a book per week? Does it mean being an expert in lean startup? Does it mean calling yourself the CEO of a business with 1 man employed who’s not actually getting paid anything because you’re not making any money?
If your answer to any of these is yes, then I have a secret for you.
Those are all unrelated to your success as an entrepreneur.
What I’ve learned in these past three years, is that professional and personal success come from being exceptionally clear and exceptionally specific.
And that is exactly what entrepreneurship is not.
So what does it mean to be an ‘entrepreneur’?
One way a lot of people define it is borrow from the French word ‘entreprendre’, which means to start, or to undertake.
Using this definition, you have problem 2: you’re entrepreneuring for the sake of entrepreneuring. But what is it that you want to start? And why would you start at all?
Solution 3: A definition that’s more specific was given by the French economist Jean-Baptiste Say, who popularized the word entrepreneurship. Say defined an entrepreneur as someone who ““shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and greater yield.” Put simply, they look for opportunities to create value.
But where are those opportunities?
Seriously, all around you. You just need to look for them.
But how do you look for them?
Well, now you know that things with low productivity offer a great potential. Like a car standing still 22 hours a day (offering the potential for a car-sharing platform like DriveNow) or having an extra bedroom in your apartment that’s not being used (offering the potential for a home-sharing platform like Airbnb.)
That, or you address someone’s need. Simply go back to the specific challenges that we’re all confronted with on a daily basis, and remember it’s associated with what could, should or would be good for me. Then figure out for who that would be valuable, and start asking them questions about what success means for them and what stands in the way of achieving that success.. For more on that, you can read this piece.
In this way, being ‘entrepreneurial’ means being a problem-solver. The former definitions don’t inspire people to take action. This one does.
Conclusion
So I say fuck entrepreneurship, and please excuse my French but I do invite you to do the same. To make specific choices, because you have the choice and it’s a privilege that you do. And let’s start confronting the specific challenges we’re faced with and start creating actual value.
This story is published in The Startup, Medium’s largest entrepreneurship publication followed by +365,763 people.
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