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Living Life As an Entrepreneur: Without a Startup
By Shlomo Maital
A funny thing happened to me on my way to speak to a group of Canada’s York University engineering students on Monday. I did a “pivot”.
In startup entrepreneurship, startups “pivot” when they start by doing one thing, or one idea, and discover (by interacting with real people) that what is really needed is something different.
I spoke to my students about “why startups fail – and how a few succeed”. But I also spoke to them about – when to become an entrepreneur?
In five years? 10 years? After gaining experience and saving some money?
No.
Now. Today. Tonight!
Because entrepreneurship is not a profession, it is a mindset. And we all can live fuller, more interesting, more meaningful, more creative lives, if we live them as entrepreneurs, with an entrepreneurial mindset.
But what is it? What is an entrepreneurial mindset?
I believe there are two parts.
Part One: sharp eyes and ears. Be alert for things that you believe are simply wrong, and for people who have a pressing need that is unmet. Entrepreneurs don’t seek to make money, they seek to make meaning, by filling unmet needs of people, to make people happier, smarter, wiser, more content, healthier, and more vigorous. Living a life by doing this, even in small ways, is full of interest and meaning. I myself discovered this rather late, but not too late.
Part Two: solutions. Assume that for every challenge, every problem, every unmet need, there IS a solution. And if not a solution, an amelioration, a way to make things a bit better or a lot better. If you assume from the outset that really hard problems do NOT have a solution, then your brain will be unlikely to come up with one. If you assume from the outset that there IS a solution, or at least a partial one, your brain, including your subconscious brain, will work on the problem – and ideas will pop into your head at the most unexpected times. I’ve known many people who recount such experiences – and I’ve had them myself.
Want to become an entrepreneur? Start now. Look for ways to make people happy. Then implement them.
Worth a try?
Why Ideas Resemble Pearls
By Shlomo Maital
Pearls are one of nature’s many wonders. It occurred to me that ideas are born in ways similar to pearls. How come?
Pearls form when a microscopic ‘intruder’ or parasite invades an oyster. (Rarely, a grain of sand…mainly parasites). This irritates the oyster. In defense, it starts to coat the intruder with a form of calcium carbonate. Layer upon layer of calcium carbonate coat the intruder, until it is harmless. Then, perhaps, a pearl fisher is lucky enough to find the resulting pearl. Millions of years of evolution have given oysters a vital tool for survival.
The process in oysters is not unlike the human immune response – a germ invades our body, and our antibodies (usually T cells) grab the invading antigen and capture and neutralize it.
So why are ideas like pearls? Ideas can form when creative people are irritated by something we see or hear. For instance — on the street, I see an elderly person struggling with a cell phone, trying to see and punch numbers on a cell phone meant for fingers fifty years younger. I am irritated. Why should this happen? Why are the elderly humiliated and ignored?
That irritation is like the invader of an oyster. Immediately, the creative brain goes to work, often subconsciously, working on ‘neutralizing’ the irritation by finding a solution… coating it with many ideas that solve the problem. And if you listen carefully, some of those ideas pop into your conscious mind, like lovely pearls waiting to bring happiness to the world…but only if you crack open that oyster, find the ‘pearl’ and ACTIVATE – do something with it.
This is how memory sticks were invented. The inventor Dov Moran forgot to plug in his laptop and lost his presentation, in 1986. He swore at that moment, through irritation, that never again would this happen. The result: his startup M Systems invented the memory stick. The memory stick was the pearl that Moran formed, around that initial sharp irritation.
The lesson here? Be passionate. Be empathetic. Care about what goes on around you, and care about people who struggle, suffer, are in pain, or who simply have unmet needs. Feel the injustice! Then let your creative brain eliminate the irritation by finding a solution or solutions.
Natural pearls are rare and expensive, and adorn women with means. But natural ideas cost nothing and change the world. All that is needed is that initial tiny irritation – a feeling caring person whose irritation at injustice and pain goes away only when a creative solution emerges from it.
Which VC’s Offer Seed Money?
By Shlomo Maital
The tables above show VC funds and angels that invested in zero-stage startups in the period Jan. 1 2009 through Aug. 21 2014, in the U.S. and in Europe. If you have an early stage startup and are seeking funding, perhaps you should ‘pitch’ to one of these funds.
But notice: How very few investments were made, in two huge areas, U.S. and EU, in 2009-2014. VC funds, it is well known, have capital, but very little ‘venture’. Seed money, and zero stage investors, are scarce everywhere, because the risks are so high, and because it is so difficult to pick winners at such an early stage.
I recommend that you consider bootstrapping – get your business going with just your own savings. The farther along you are, the closer you are to a prototype, the more the VC’s will listen respectfully to your pitch.
How Must Entrepreneurs Treat Failure?
A Practical Solution
By Shlomo Maital
Last evening, I spoke to a group of Brazilian entrepreneurs, here in Sao Paulo, at an accelerator, Startup Farm, run very well by Alan Leite. In the latest round, over 130 projects have been through Alan’s capable hands.
In my brief talk, I tried to practice what I preach, and listened carefully to precisely which messages I brought resonated. The key one, by far? About failure. Entrepreneurship is less about success than about failure, how you perceive it, how you relate it, and how society relates to it. There are cultures where failure is treated as a personal crime; those cultures will never ever have entrepreneurs.
My wife Sharona, a psychologist, listened to my talk and gave me valuable feedback afterward. She reminded me of work by Stanford Psychology Professor Carol Dweck, who has done pioneering work on ‘mindset’.
Here is a brief summary, in the context of startup failure.
Mindset is a mental attitude that determines how you respond to situations. There are two types of mindsets. One is a fixed mindset, which assumes that intelligence is a fixed trait, and that all our qualities and capabilities are fixed, constant and constrained. The second is a growth mindset, which assumes that intelligence (and other capabilities) are qualities that change, grow and develop, especially when we work hard at it. Why don’t we see unmotivated babies? Dweck asks. Because when babies learn to walk, stumbling is not failure, it is a vital step on the road to success…and because you have to learn to walk, you have to stumble and fall luntil you do. Absolutely true of entrepreneurs, too.
Entrepreneurs should have a growth mindset. And they should use it to shape their perception of failure.
Failure can be regarded as personal: I personally have failed. Or worse, I myself AM a failure. My startup failed; I am a failure.
- Wrong. Wrong.
Failure can be regarded as a learning experience; my startup failed, but I am a brave and courageous entrepreneur, because I attempted something very challenging, and did not succeed, but learned a great deal, and eventually I WILL succeed to change the world.
This is how entrepreneurs, and all of society around them, should, can and MUST interpret failure. It is part of a growth mindset; failure is a step toward success. Thomas Edison actually said that, when he tried 10,000 experiments to invent the filament of a light bulb, and each failure brought him closer to the final successful answer.
Here is how Carol Dweck advises us to develop a growth mindset: 1. Learn learn learn 2. Realize hard work is key 3. Face setbacks. Focus on effort, struggle, persistence despite setbacks. Choose difficult tasks. Focus on strategies. Reflect on different strategies that work or don’t work. Focus on learning and improving. Seek challenges. Work hard.
Thank you Professor Dweck!
TIMnovate 