Finding Certainty Amidst Uncertainty
From the outside, it is easy to mistake optimism and confidence of most founders as detached, smug, or something worst. Though there are certainly instances where the founders live solely in the reality distortion field of their creation, most likely nothing could be further from the truth. Most founders, I’ve found, are completely insecure.
When one decides to start a company, regardless of the nature of that business, we’re forced to stare into a seeming abyss of uncertainty. That uncertainty comes in many forms and shapes, including:
- Economic — Do I have the resources to risk pursuing something new and uncertain
- Professional — Do I have the skills, experience and connections to solve for a known unknown
- Business — Do I have the will and perseverance to stave off the competition I know of and the ones that will rise up
- Personal — Do I have the head space and personal support in the rest of my life to take a seat in the wildest of rollercoaster rides
For most, intentionally swallowing this many horse tablets is inconceivable, if not vomit-inspiring. Yet there is a class of crazy out there that sees these challenges as the smallest of bumps on what portends to be a fantastic voyage. This is their fuel.
But don’t be fooled. Just because we dive in head first doesn’t mean we know where the bottom is. First time or serial entrepreneur, it doesn’t matter, we enter with our eyes wide open that there is more that we know nothing compared to what we need to know. There in lies the rub.
Uncertainty yields 2 very different kinds of responses, both of which have to be manage.
First, it must be an inspiration to move forward. The uncertainty of what’s next is what creates that tingle in your stomach — ”the perfect anxiety,” if you will. That ever so subtle anticipation of everything that is yet to come.
Second, it must present a problem worth solving. While the emotional side is necessary to drive us forward, we need a road to pave. Entrepreneurs are constantly working through solutions that leverage the resources they have available to them, be they finite or vast. Problems without solutions are dead ends — and there are many dead ends.
The management of these, however, is the most important part as there is a kind of addiction that can result. While both may provide a strong motivation to move forward, they equally can drive paralysis or futility. In these moments, it’s important to remember that deep breaths and small breaths scale mountains, not leaps and bounds.
Too often we hear about the rollercoaster that is startup life. Where there are moments of building anticipation and highs followed precipitously by moments of free fall and outright fear. We’re best served to pretend there are never any highs, but celebrate them whenever we have them, for they are ephemeral.
It’s true, for many, the life of a startup founder seems glamorous and exciting — and let’s not pretend it’s not. But living in a state of always-on uncertainty weighs heavy on us all, startup or not. As with everything, it must be acknowledged to be managed.
The best advice I have for founders in this arena is simple: act with absolute certainty, amidst the perpetual uncertainty. Our actions must be formed with passion, driven by conviction and calibrated with experimentation. Not everyone can do this, but once you decide to, embrace uncertainty, don’t be ruled by it.
