Passion

All Entrepreneurs Have It

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 ~ I've been accused at times, to my astonishment, of lacking evident passion for my startup venture. Somehow, apparently, during investor presentations, I focus too much on the factual details and fail to offer (say some) a higher level of dynamism at the podium.

Does this really matter? Do investors truly demand a theatrical exhibition of passionate enthusiasm? Or a concise and complete enumeration of the relevant criteria for evaluating a prospective investment?

A sober presentation is better:

From now let’s all agree that we’ll only use the word passion when it’s followed by the word fruit. Ideally then followed by the word daiquiri.

Passion is implied. Passion is why you are reading this article. Passion is why you don’t work for Deutsche Post or a big bank. It’s why you believe that in the face of all the advice that tells you not to do it, to stick to your nice, safe, salaried day job, you’re doing it anyway. Passion is no longer a differentiator, it’s a prerequisite. It’s why you’re at the race, but it’s not the reason you’ll win.

No passion, no chance. I wouldn't be doing what I do (rather than a safer, easier and likely more immediately remunerative alternative) unless I was deeply passionate, not just about the startup, but about the difference I intend it to make in the world. Nor would any entrepreneur.

Only the passionless could possibly be confused on this point.

Another Market Failure

Heads I Win, Tails You Lose...

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 ~ When oil is cheap there is little incentive to develop and commercialize biofuels or other liquid alternatives. Especially since they largely remain generally more costly than conventional hydrocarbons.

But when the price of a barrel of oil rises, alternative energy fuels will surge, right?

Actually, no:

House Effects

Using Intramural Rivalry

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 ~ My high school had (and still has) a house system, modeled on the traditional arrangement in English schools. All students are assigned to one of four houses, each with its own symbols, traditions, and social events. They provide a way of promoting esprit de corps across different grade levels, but their most obvious purpose is to provide various forms of intramural competition in sports, debating or other contests.

J.K. Rowling imagined a house system at the fictional Hogwarts.

Similar loyalty-building divisions and intense competition can also be found between the various branches of the US military, especially among the elite units of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC).

Companies sometimes form competing "skunk works" teams to each independently tackle tough problems.

These institutions all seek through a kind of tribal loyalty to promote rivalry and vigorous competition that, in theory increases the excellence of all.

So why isn't it working at Microsoft?

Startup Salaries

Which Risks to Take?

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 ~ How much should startups pay in salaries?

One line of thinking, advanced largely by rookie angel investors and those who have never worked in a startup, is... nothing. The justification? A need to "conserve cash" so the startup can maximize the length of its runway, the period of time it can continue operations (and take self-sustaining flight) before the bills can no longer be paid.

This idea is, simply, wrong. It is behaviorally naive, financially simple-minded, and legally dangerous. Here's why:

An Entrepreneur's Challenge

Tempering Urgency with Patience

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 ~ Sure, you want to get the cheese, but take some time to think and plan first instead of just rushing in.

Or maybe first see how the impulsive mouse fares.

First mover advantage? Bah. It's often the second mouse that gets the cheese.

What Shall We Teach Our Children?

Science? Or Belief?

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 ~ Hardly a week goes by without someone decrying the atrophy of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) instruction in the US, yet we do nothing about the teaching of ignorance in schools throughout the country. We desperately need to have more scientifically capable graduates for our global competitiveness as a nation, but we condone indoctrination in dogma instead.

Never Give Up

The Entrepreneur Credo

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 ~ I like this infographic:

The dip, as in the graphic, looks, and especially when you are in it, feels, more like a yawning chasm, even an abyss. True to the optimism of entrepreneurs, however, when you are there, things are looking up!

And it's still better than working for the Man.

12 Predictions for 2013

Clarity Moving Beyond the Past

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 ~ The best part of 2013 is that there won't be a federal election. Consequently, some useful things will get done. There will still be way too much partisan malarkey for my tastes, but the electorate expects action on a host of things and the political dynamic will allow more progress than last year's gridlocked, posturing debacle.

This year's predictions:

My 2012 Predictions Revisited

About 3/4 Accurate

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 ~ So how good was my prognostication of the past year? Not bad, although I did make some creampuff predictions that boosted the grade. Using a scale of 1 (utterly wrong) to 10 (perfectly prescient):

Beyond Gizmos

Building a Broader Ecosystem

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 ~ What would happen if entrepreneurs only built companies that satisfied idle desires of the rich?

Nathan Mhyrvold decried this tendency during his keynote at SIFP, urging more focus on inventions that really make a difference.

It’s great you can kill aliens with Xbox at a faster rate than ever before, but ... there are people that do need their lives changed.

There's ample irony in one of the nation's leading patent trolls preaching more democratized innovation. As he cheers less well-heeled strategies, his company makes considerable income from squeezing scrappy startups on often-ostensible infringement of one of their arsenal of patents.

But he's also right. There's an app for that, no matter how silly.

Fostering Entrepreneurship—V

Feast or Ramen

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 ~ Being an entrepreneur is hard. Much harder than than it initially appears to the first-timer, and widely misunderstood by those who have never tried it.

It's hard because it requires both you be quite good at many very different things, have broad skills, and also that you recognize what you're not good at it, and get help, or coaching, or an able co-founder to complement your strengths.

But all that is doable by those with commitment. What's not so easy is to find a way to the pay the bills until your venture starts paying for itself.

Fostering Entrepreneurship

Diversifying Into More Sectors

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 ~ What needs to be done to grow the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Pacific Northwest?

This question was one of the four primary themes of the recent Pacific Northwest Innovation Summit, and the focus of the day's third panel. Everyone is in favor of more innovation leading to more entrepreneurial activity, but the specifics are elusive.

Moderator Luke Timmerman, Seattle editor for Xconomy, asked about barriers to local entrepreneurship. There are several (a few to be subjects of later posts) but one is how concentrated we are in software and life sciences. The Seattle region is an undisputed national, even global leader in those, but we need to expand beyond just two to truly build a stronger innovation-fueled economic engine.

PNW Innovation Summit

Discussing Challenges, Envisioning the Path Forward

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 ~ I was honored on Tuesday to be a panelist at the Pacific Northwest Innovation Summit, part of the ongoing 50th anniversary of the Seattle Center. The all-day event featured keynotes from Washington Lieutenant-Governor Brad Owen and Frank Blethen, publisher of the Seattle Times, as well as four panels on various aspects of entrepreneurship and innovation.

The entire event was streamed live, and you can watch the entire event here. The 3rd panel (of which I was a part) on fostering regional entrepreneurship, begins about 4:49:30.

National Wonder

Deep Space Dime

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 ~ A view deep into the universe by the Hubble Telescope:

The image shows 1,500 galaxies, but most amazing is that it spans such a minuscule part of the sky—the width of a dime from 75 feet away.

But which is more incredible—the technology and the image it captures, or that we as a nation found the political will and funds to develop, launch and operate such a marvel?

Buried Treasure?

Keep Fossil Fuels Buried

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 ~ We should leave our fossil fuels in the ground.

And not just because it would keep that carbon and its climate change impacts out of the atmosphere, but also because it would add to our energy security as a country.

Keeping more of our fossil fuel wealth in the ground would increase our energy security in two ways:

So Just Build It Already

It's Not Who, It's Where

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 ~ Actually, you did build it.

But you didn't just do it in the abstract; you actually built something specific, and more importantly, you built it somewhere specific. You built it in America, which, as every flag-waving patriot will insist, is the best place in the world to build a business.

Why? Just like in real estate: location, location, location.

Why Are We So Dumb?

Because We Choose To Be

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 ~ To be competitive, whether as nation, as a business, or as an individual, today requires relentless innovation and unflagging drive. These are core traits of the successful entrepreneur and the use of which are widely touted as key to resolving our economic woes.

There is a growing recognition that our educational system is largely failing to graduate workers who are competitive in the global economy, or even in the prevailing gig economy here at home. To succeed, we must all be entrepreneurs now, at least in mindset and approach, and be able to deftly, creatively adapt to rapidly changing economic circumstance and opportunity.

That requires an inquisitive mind and critical thinking faculties, and that's what education should instill. But look who doesn't get it—the Texas Republican Party:

Entrepreneurial Thinking

Phrenological Fun

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 ~ Via Grasshopper:

A few notes:

Short-Sighted and Fuelish

Weakening National Security

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 ~ The GOP hatred for all renewable energy technologies has jumped the shark.

They are no longer content with demagoguery about Solyndra, squelching renewable energy, and gutting regulations to promote drilling on every square inch of land and sea. No, now they even demand a prohibition on the development of alternative fuel capability by the US military.

There was a time that our military leaders got pretty much whatever they wanted if they made any kind of case that it supported the warfighter or enhanced national security. No more. Evidently "support the troops" is a political bromide or a bumper sticker, but not something that covers the making of policy if military leadership dares an initiative that bucks GOP ideology, or annoys its campaign bagmen.

Consultants

How to Pick One

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 ~ They aren't all the same.

Disappointed in your outsourced help? Not getting value?

Consultants have been caricatured for running up huge bills while not delivering a lot of value. It can make clients angry enough to forswear consultants altogether.

But really, you just need to pick them more smartly.

As an entrepreneur, you learn how to do anything and everything with scant resources, relying instead on insight and innovation. And isn't that what you often want from a consultant? Understanding and creativity in solving a problem or crafting a new way forward without a load of expensive process and superfluous rigmarole?

So don't hire any old consultant, especially if they come from a big firm with a big dollar mentality, or sport an MBA dragging a massive student loan that needs servicing (by you!)

Hire instead one that comes from a hardscrabble operational background, where lean practices and disciplined imagination are the norm. You'll pay less and get more. Want to see for yourself? Contact me.