Entepreneurs: What's wrong with our Brains?

So what is wrong with us?  We drag our spouses through a rollercoaster ride they never asked to go on, get caught up in the whirlwind of our own passion for an idea that we know to the tips of our souls is right and will work if only we can get others to see what is so clear in our heads.  We put ourselves out there in front of hundreds of people who at best will respond with "That's a great idea, but what you REALLY need to do is [insert seemingly random tweak or left turn from idea here].   Worse, hidden in that hazing ritual of unasked for suggestions are great observations that can only be seen by fresh eyes, and balancing  listening to those and being able to be nimble with being the change-o-matic guy who leaves his teams exhausted and with  NY taxi whiplash type resentment, is an act worthy of Cirque du soleil.

We need to be utterly blind to the objective odds of success and willing to stand tall and project a will-fed force field of success that shelters and shapes those who drink the Kool-aid with us.  We need to keep those deep fears of failure and rending moments of rejection hidden from everyone, usually even our spouses, who can't help but respond with "well then why are you doing it?"

We need to be so sure of what we are doing, how to do it, and that, damnit we are right, that we can stand up to all the pounding we take to get through the waves. No wonder so many of us end up perceived as brilliant on one side of the coin, and utter jerks on the other.  And no wonder we tend to have such problems when we get back into big companies, who tend to look at entrepreneurship like a perfect sweet through the glass, longing for it, but unwilling to take a bite when they actually have it in their hands. We get impatient with those who we keep having to deal with that don't "get it" (ie see what we have in our heads), people who in the start-up world just get left behind as those who decided not to fund or join.  And we can't stand seeing something that can be fixed and not just fixing it, or worse, doing paperwork (cough, MRD, cough  that we know are more for the reflex of the company process rather then on that razors edge to getting what needs to be done, done.  And even worse...the painful Kabuki drama of quarterly budgets...the wild hunt to fill them out at the end of the quarter for the known fear of them being reduced the next.  And the absolute worst...the corp. ejector seat to that senior exec. who "got it" and brought you in in the first place.

We end up in the corner of the pub, muttering to ourselves like the sea captain who's lost their ship, with that mad look in our eyes, knowing that we will never be truly happy until we are on the deck, barking orders and proudly pointing our billowing masts at a point in the horizon that only we know is there.  Sound crazy?  Sure..we're all crazy....but as the joke goes...we may be crazy, but they need the eggs.  ;-)

Entrepreneurship in big companies…100% failure?

Source: Scripting News ( Dave Winer)

Oh they wanna do it!  They want it so bad it haunts their dreams… “Innovate…before someone else takes your market away…be young and scrappy again…disrupt yourself before someone else does it to you….”.  Most heads of big companies want to foster internal innovation and entrepreneurship in the worst way.  They set up labs apart from the constant grinding need to feed the under staffed folks who are shipping the bread and butter projects, they spend big bucks hiring EIRs (Entrepreneurs in Residence), they put together VC funds, they set up internal entrepreneurial training, innovation prizes, and officially set aside time for people to work on projects outside their normal work.  They carefully read Christenson’s Innovation series of books looking for clues.  AND, WITH RARE EXCEPTIONS, THEY ALL FAIL!  What the hell?  None of these are stupid people.  Many of them have done the exact thing they are trying to get done within the bigger companies? So why doesn’t it work? 

Yark..doing a show on Friday, April 30th... ;-)

Ok...it's only been about 20 years or so since I've been on stage, that is as a straight performer.  My degree is actually in theater (went in as a Physics major, came out with theater...much to my father's dismay.) I've been on stage a ton since then, but mostly as company boy, or geek to English teacher. (For a while I held the record as doing the most talks at a single MacWorld, including a regular talk I used to give trying to explain databases to people in a way that didn't make their eyes cross.  Actually did that one for an audience that was in the 5k range.)

But I haven't done a pure performance piece in a while, and I sure as hell haven't sung in front of people in a long time.  And here I am, doing a piece that I'm lovingly calling a brutally honest look into while the hell someone would subject themselves to the hell of being an entrepreneur willingly, and even with some perverted relish.

I'm struggling mighty with how to put this together, but I think I've finally got and approach that will be interesting. 

I'm going to run through a bit of it here with the image of you guys sitting in front of me (sorry...the singing won't make it through the keyboard...to see that, you need to be there in person.)

 The show is Friday the 30th at 8.  Tix are here..

Hello: My name is Ben Calica and I'm a Start-up guy.  (Notice I didn't say entrepreneur.  Actually saying it breaks the 3-C rule [Carefully Constructed Casualness] that entrepreneur's need to obey.  Since the right to not have to get dressed up comes from enough sucess that you really don't give a $#^@ what anyone else thinks, that becomes the ideal that we try and project.  Think about it.  If you go into a business meeting and 20 people are dressed formally, and one is in jeans and a Hawaiian shirt, likely he's the most successful guy int he room.  That or he's an engineer who doesn't give a crap.  In either case, likely someone you want on your side.)

I say I'm a start-up guy with equal measures of pride and dismay.  After taking a very long and hard look at it, I can honestly say that it is a matter of who you are, not who you choose to be.  Believe me, the ups and downs that I put myself and my family through are neither fun nor kind.  So what makes someone do this?  What is it about our upbringing or DNA that prevents us from leaving well enough alone.  That keeps us from trusting that there most be some good reason why something is being done in a lame-ass way. And that forces us to grab the reins and do our damnedest to find a way to make things better, even if it ends up stepping on someone else's toes in the process?

What are the characteristics of an entrepreneur?

1. Too smart for his/her own good (never saw a problem or unsolved market need that they didn't have to try and figure out)
2. Golden tongue and the passion to match:  Can talk the feathers off a peacock (or checks out of angels or VCs)
3. Risk-Blind: Ok not risk blind, but willing to take big leaps without the safety net of someone having done it before or some set of BS market data that they can point to later to blame if it fails.
4. Reality-Proof Ego:  Able to keep going through a storm of "That will never work." or "Actually, what you really need to do is...".  Able to take a hundred rejections to get to the one or two folks who get it.
5. +10 Force of will:  Able to take something from the wisp of an idea and make it to come into reality through that sheer force of their determination.
6. Weeble: "Weeble's wobble but they don't fall down."  Semi-sane ability to keep getting knocked down, thrown off course, and some how keep getting back up again...

 

More later...The show will include a few deep and dark stories from the industry past including my one really great argument with Steve Jobs. (A big deal in my life, I'm sure not even a speed bump in his.)