Come for the Ride…

For a startup, the runway can best be described as the cash flow you have to keep operations afloat. The use of the airplane runway paints a vivid picture because once you reach the end, you are forced to either take flight or crash and burn. Unfortunately for most startups, they usually result in the latter. However, choosing the right plane and having a clear flight plan may help you avoid tragedy.

Like all things in life, if you have cash (or credit), then you have some wiggle room to make things happen. Without cash, nothing happens. On the flip side, if your runway is too long, it’s also possible that nothing may happen. A plane that never takes off is basically a bus… and no one gets excited about hopping on board a bus.

The trick to making a startup work is to make sure you can create a reasonable runway for the startup you want to take flight. Obviously if you want to fly a Jumbo plane, you will need a longer runway. If you only have enough money to maintain a short runway, you will have to reevaluate your plane; this means shaving off nice-to-have features and focusing on the core necessities (e.g. the engines and the wings).

Realizing what you need to shave off early on will help significantly as you will *hopefully* end your project with a lite but fully functional product instead of a half-completed, bloated pile of junk. Obviously, you can’t fly a half completed plane so what’s the point of trying? Surprisingly many startups do just that… They dive in and just build and build without looking at the whole picture and the length of their runways.

It makes you wonder don’t it?

So, how long is your runway?

Working from a coffee shop… or watching the dogs play while it’s still light out and blogging from an iPhone… These are some of the things I wanted to try while I found myself some some free time. As some of my close friends know, last week I was discharged from my day job on the claim that I had violated the company’s confidential information agreement. While I can confidently say that I didn’t break the rules while I was employed, I can see why my day job would assume I did, and why it was necessary to pre-release me given the limited facts and the eventual outcome. In the business world, employees are replaceable, large clients; not so much.

While I’m an advocate of full disclosure, evident by the existence of this blog; I’m not sure how much I can talk about this particular incident just yet. If in time, this turns out to be what I hope it is, then things should smooth itself out. However, if it turns out to be something more serious; then I’m sure there will be a lot of learnings to be dished out here once it’s all over. Either way, I’m sure you guys will benefit from from my choices so at least the information is helping someone.

So moving on… what’s the art of keeping yourself uncomfortable and hungry and why would anyone want to do that?

Keeping yourself uncomfortable is basically the serial entrepreneurs’ motto for life because it drives us to achieve greater things. This is the reason why seasoned CEO’s leave cushy jobs to join startups and why new and innovative companies succeed where stagnant companies fail. The same can be observed in people. Back in college, it seemed like the individuals who never wanted to learn or do anything hard were the ones who had everything they need including money, security, trust funds, etc. These people simply were too comfortable in their lives to have cause and it’s a shame… cause some of them were smart.

I would imagine this “uncomfortable” startup advice would be on the same level as the “raise money from the 3F’s” in that it’s easy to comprehend, but it takes guts to execute; and quite honestly it doesn’t guarantee fortune or success. In fact, the only sure things are that you will be uncomfortable and hungry.

So here it is: Whether you’re already successful or not, you should always force yourself to take the less traveled route so you don’t lose that hunger of wanting more. Without that desire, you’ll eventually lose your edge and you’ll stop wanting - which is bad if you’re trying to be cutting edge.

For example, if you’re goal isn’t to be a startup and you actually like your job; performance based bonuses are going to be your main driver. Most sales aggressive companies have already figured this out and they use that technique to challenge and reward their star performers. (Give them what they need to live survive on, but make them earn the rest.)

So how does this work for an individual?

It’s always hard to convince someone to leave a position that they’ve grown accustomed to take on something new. I’m sure this is why so many recruiters in the Atlanta area are having a terrible time trying to get people to jump ships even for the exact same position. After all, after months or years of training, you should be great at what you do and you are likely to be able to run your routine w/o too much effort even if the position is a hard one. However, on the flip side, the fear of something new can also be paralyzing and in turn, push away greater, better opportunities. This is where making yourself uncomfortable can help.

The best analogy I can come up with is a tooth ache (or any kind of body ache). If the pain is mild, you do what you can to patch it. What lies out there is a solution to completely stop the pain, but honestly, you’re just not that uncomfortable enough to take action because it won’t kill ya. On the other hand, if the pain is severe and you’re faced with the possibly losing a tooth or a limb, suddenly you take charge, find solutions and in your spare time look for backup plans. While this probably isn’t the way to approach life on a day-to-day basis, it’s important to note that putting yourself in that position often gets you results, whether you like the process or not.

How does being uncomfortable work for startups?

By definition, startups and established brands are two completely different beings. One tries to bring new order while the other tries to maintain their established order. The reason they can even compete is because most startups have what established brands lack, and that’s desire. Now, I know you’re going to say that giant brands have desire too. Yes, they certainly do… but where startups succeed and where established brands fail are usually in the level of desire in which they have to compete.

It’s like saying rich people and poor people both love great deals; and they do! However, the intensity that poor people (or companies) will go to get these deals are way, Way, WAY more extreme than what most rich people (or companies) are willing to do. Let’s say both Paris Hilton and Joe Hobo are offered a chance to win a brand new Range Rover, (or for your sake, a brand new rack of web hosting servers.) To win it, the contestant would have to keep their hands on the vehicle for the longest time. Ummm - who do you think will win? Who do you envision got more uncomfortable (and was willing to) in the process?

Yes, this is why disadvantaged companies CAN compete and this is also why being uncomfortable and hungry can help you stay sharp and competitive even if you lack most of the other ingredients.

Often times I get distracted from new projects, exciting projects, like EasyAutoSales and while plugging along, trying to get to my next milestone I read a quote or hear an inspirational line that really helps me push to the next level. Today it was a quote by Theodore Roosevelt. It goes a little something like this:

“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”

Wei had a great idea. It’s something I’ve belived in myself as a car buff and he put into words and pictures that which I couldn’t. I believe that together, we can turn this idea into something greater than just a bunch of car pictures online of cars for sale. It’s about being passionate about an idea and not afraid to fail. By taking the risk and putting yourself out on a limb, spending time and money on something that might or might not work, you’re already winning. Success means winning the game. Failure means learning and trying again. Sounds like a win-win situation to me. As they say, nothing worth doing was ever easy…

Many of us, whether we work for ourselves or someone else, want to make what we’re worth because well… we deserve it. After all, what’s the point of spending a 1/4 to a 1/3 of our lives learning if we can’t take what we learn and pay back all the debt we accrued while learning?

So for many of us… after years of school and years of working for someone else, we come up with the bright idea to start our own business. But what is a business exactly and how does that differ than just working for yourself? Both jobs have clients (hopefully) and both jobs have long hours, so why the change?

The difference for me is the light at the end of the tunnel. One has the promise of one, while the other is… not so promising.

A business is like a child. You conceive it, you nurture it and after watching it make a few mistakes and stumble, you hope that one day it will be able to self sustain and reward you for your efforts. A good business will stay afloat and make you money while you’re on vacation and a bad one will cause you worries while you’re gone. Will lil Timmy meet up with the wrong crowd and destroy your home? Quite possibly. However, if you’re lucky and have the right leadership, you may even see your business married off to some other successful businesses and throw a giant party to celebrate. Ahh… such is the life of parenting gone right.

Self employment on the other hand is a bit different. For me, self employment is the dream of technicians when they are tired of the sh*t from their former boss. While you may be successful performing a particular task or trade to warrant self employment, there rarely is an exit strategy that will allow you to throw that giant party at the end. Unless you have good business acumen, self employment may generally lead to long hours, anxiety, nausea, vomiting, stress, and irregular bowel movements. Sounds like one of those drug commercials don’t it? It feels like it too.

So to sum up. Have a good business idea? Great! Have a goal to be self employed? Think twice. Remember:

Self employment - A job or business that wouldn’t exist or make money without you. (Think of the missed vacations!)

A Business - A job that could exist and be profitable without you (but wayyyy down the road). Though, an exit strategy that doesn’t equal your death exists!

Enterprise - A space ship in the future.

An Empire - Something that requires a lot of technology and possibly even the force to be on your side.

That’s not true.

At least it’s not true almost all the time. Very few of your prospects literally can’t afford it. What they are really trying to say is, “it’s not worth it.” As in, it’s not worth reprioritizing my life, not worth the risk, not worth what I’ll have to give up to get this, not worth being in debt for.

The blog title and the quote above were pulled from Seth Godin’s blog. Although he was talking about selling a product or service, I’ve actually received a similar response recently while talking with my friend about starting a company.

For me, it’s always been “you can’t afford not to…” after all, life’s too short not to try. However, my friend’s response to my question on why he hasn’t started a venture when that’s all he reads and writes about, really baffled me; until I read the quote above.

Even though many entrepreneurs have the courage to just go-for-it and take it for granted, there are many others out there who just can’t seem to do the same. If you guys have any good advice on how to release the fear, I would love to hear about it so I can pass on the encouragement.

Edit: Releasing the fear is just the first roadblock of many to pass through when jumping into the world of entrepreneurship. However, everything else including money, technical skill, resources, etc. can all be resolved once a person set their mind to it. So the question is, what would make an entrepreneur climb over that first wall so s/he would learn that they can in fact think creatively and scale any wall?