I remember asking myself a lot of questions before I was able to push “publish” and publicly launch the very first entry in Juan Great Leap.
What would they say?
What if they say, “Sino ba itong feeling na ito!?”
What if they laugh at me?
What if they ignore me?
It took me a couple of weeks in between finishing my first post and actually publishing it.
You know how I did it?
After a long day at work, the thought of publishing it crossed my mind. Before giving myself any chance to over-analyze, I forced myself to just push publish. And that was that. After that, I then started wrestling with the fear of posting it on my social media sites. (“Bahala na” works wonders, by the way.)
You’d think that after over 200 posts, I’d be completely comfortable with pushing publish.
The truth is, is that it varies.
When I put up announcements, for example, there is no hesitation. Publish.
But when I share some personal things about myself, or when I want to explain something I feel truly passionate about, or when I have a very strong opinion on something – I still get those jitters. I hesitate. I begin to question myself, very frequently going through those italicized statements at the beginning of this post.
In other words, it is when I am posting something I have put my soul into that I feel fear.
I realize that this blogging experience of mine mirrors the entrepreneurial experience as well.
Startups, I find, are very personal affairs. It is someone’s original idea. Someone’s effort. Someone’s very personal work.
Then you throw them out into the world, where they are vulnerable, tender, and open to criticism.
What are some of the first things I feel when I’d launch a startup?
What would they say?
What if they say, “Sino ba itong feeling na ito!?”
What if they laugh at me?
What if they ignore me?
Conquering Vs Embracing
You know, before I always felt that the key to it all was conquering fear. It was a leap after all, and I thought that what I had to do was to eradicate the fear. I figured, to succeed, I had to stop feeling this fear.
But this blogging experience of mine taught me something very interesting: it was when I felt fear that I knew that I was posting something worthwhile. When I don’t feel fear, then I might not be pushing the envelope as far as I could. When I don’t feel fear, then perhaps I didn’t put as much of my soul in it as I could. When I don’t feel fear, I realize I am being safe.
Corollary: when I feel this fear – I realize I am closer to following the road I had wanted for myself. This is true when I write posts for this blog, and this is also true with the type of projects I choose to do.
For example, by early March, Matt and I will be arranging something for JGL that’s never been pulled off before. It’s a new thing, so I have no idea if it will end up being a totally awesome project or a complete bomb. Yes, this uncertainty leads to a certain fear:
What would they say?
What if they say, “Sino ba itong feeling na ito!?”
What if they laugh at me?
What if they ignore me?
But I realize now that it is unwise to try to conquer this type of fear.
It is the same fear I felt when I professed my love to my eventual wife. The same fear I felt when I took my great startup leap. The same fear I feel when posting a truly meaningful blogpost. The same fear I feel when I share something I have poured my soul into.
If so, then I do not want it to go away. This fear will always be there whenever I do something truly worth my while. A signal of sorts, that I am onto something good.
(This is the third of a 3-part post which talks about the tremendous lessons we can apply from closely looking at how the preeminent Startup Nation – Israel – attained tremendous economic success through the deliberate development of startups. Previous posts: part 1, part 2)
5) We Need To Just Ship It, Ship It Good
In 2006, in the height of the Lebanon War, missiles began to rain down on northern Israel. Understandably, the world’s most famous investor, Warren Buffet, was worried. The first company he ever bought outside the US – Iscar – had its plant and R&D labs in the north of the country and was a primary target. Eitan Wertheimer, the chairman of Iscar, called his boss and explained:
“Our sole concern was for the welfare of our people, since wrecked machines and shattered windows can be replaced. But I am not sure you understand our mindset. We’re going to carry on with half the workforce, but we will ensure that all the customers get their orders on time or even better.”
Afterwards, Wertheimer further reasoned:
“It took us a brief time to adjust, but we didn’t miss a single shipment. For our customers around the world, there was no war.”
Now, I don’t know about you – but that is amazing!
Sure, for some it might be carrying it a bit too far, but this best illustrates Israel’s commitment and mindset towards keeping its promises – especially to its global clientele.
Buffet, the Dumbledore of investments, obviously calculated this risk when he bought 80% of Iscar just 2 months before the bombing started. He knew the facilities could get destroyed in such an event – but he also knew that the value of Iscar lay far beyond the physical. More than anything, he was investing in Iscar’s people – their ingenuity and ability to keep promises. He was investing in their ability to ship.
Even in times of war.
In local news, I remember feeling quite shocked and scandalized during the recent Habagat episode when there were some BPO’s who were asking their employees to go to work despite the rains.
Looking at it from this perspective has forced me to at least reconsider that feeling a bit.
If we cannot keep our contractual promises, then how can we be trusted as a global partner? We just need to find ways to get it done.
People, if you have a startup, or are planning to put one up -remember this mantra: just ship. I can’t tell you how important this is for a burgeoning startup.
No excuses.
Just ship.
6) We Need To Adapt A Migrant Mentality
Israel is a nation of migrants. Foreign-born citizens of Israel currently account for over one-third of the nation’s population (think about that for a bit). Israel is now called home by more than seventy different nationalities.
Now why is this significant?
Simply put, a community of immigrants is almost always a community of entrepreneurs. A great number of the world’s greatest entrepreneurs are first or second generation migrants, living in a foreign land.
Why?
Israeli venture capitalist Erel Margalit explains in the book:
“A lot of it has to do with immigrant societies. In France, if you are from a very established family, and you work in an established pharmaceutical company, for example, and you have a big office and perks and a secretary and all that, would you get up and leave and risk everything to create something new? You wouldn’t. You’re too comfortable. But if you’re an immigrant in a new place, and you’re poor,” Margalit continued, “or you were once rich and your family was stripped of its wealth – then you have drive. You don’t see what you’ve got to lose; you see what you could win. That’s the attitude we have here – across the entire population.”
Now, obviously, we cannot artificially create an environment where suddenly migrants would come to Philippine shores by the millions to ignite entrepreneurship.
But knowing what the fruits are of the migrant paradigm, I can’t help but think – perhaps we can re-channel and use our own local context into a the type of desperation which breeds innovation. Perhaps we can draw from something else.
Our underdog mentality – the one we Filipinos seem to love so much? Instead of automatically thinking ourselves as inferior (which I write a bit about here), perhaps we can re-channel this into a chip on the shoulder which can fuel our drive to create something great.
Perhaps we can use the poverty our people are experiencing as added motivation to do a startup which can make a difference.
We need to feel that wall against our backs. True, circumstances dictate this. But attitude is also a key ingredient. We can DECIDE to feel a sense of urgency.
Bonus: We Need To Work For One Startup
And that of course, is our country.
In working with HR departments, I’ve come across a behavioral phrase that has been used a bit extensively in performance feedback forms of managers:
“Prioritizes the welfare of the company versus the welfare of his team.”
This is one thing the Israelis have learned to do.
It is certainly difficult. As a startup, it is very easy to adopt the mindset of “me versus the world.”
But perhaps the effort to incorporate a slight tweak can work wonders.
It’s us versus the world.
(Kindly share to those you think will find this useful!)
(This is the second of a two-part post regarding the tremendous lessons we can apply from closely looking at how the preeminent Startup Nation developed. Part 1 can be found here.)
4. We Need To Have More Filipino Argonauts
In Greek mythology, the Argonauts were sailors and adventurers who travelled with Jason in search of the Golden Fleece.
In her book The New Argonauts, AnnaLee Saxenian writes, “The New Argonauts are foreign-born, technically skilled entrepreneurs who travel back and forth between Silicon Valley and their home countries.”
This “argonaut” concept of people coming back and forth from centers of global innovation, like Silicon Valley is a key component of Israel’s development. In Startup Nation, the authors describe several Israeli “argonauts” who would gain knowledge and status in their international companies, but have always intended to return. And when they do, they would become catalysts for Israel’s technological and entrepreneurial development. The book says Israel owes much of its success in this “argonaut” model, not only from diaspora in the Valley, but from quite a number of other countries as well.
I think Winston Damarillo is the clearest example of this here in our country. He resides in the US West Coast, but you’d regularly see him in the startup circuit here in the Philippines. In doing so, he transfers a ton of technology and insight back to the country. I think this is crucial. We need more Winstons.
I wrote a bit about our own diaspora in this post, and I’d like to make the same call again here.
To all our Filipino brothers and sisters around the world who have found success in their respective fields and are in positions of influence and knowledge – come back. I think its high time to seriously think about doing something for the country.
One very very common thread I felt while reading Startup Nation was the extreme sense of nationalism and giving back that these Israelis felt. Even while studying abroad, even while working in their foreign firms and achieving much success – they always knew they would come back and build something. (not all of them of course, but a significant number)’
I think this sense of nationalistic pride is found in so many of our countrymen abroad. Perhaps you have been biding your time. Perhaps you have been waiting for the right time.
I think now is the right time.
For the first time in my life, I now see a surge of foreigners going here. (hello, Matt) They are in startup events. They are looking for employment. They are looking to build here, and some have already built great startups here. (including multi-awarded Payroll Hero). It’s easy to see why.
The tables have turned. Asia is now the global growth area. The Philippines itself is in a state of incredible growth. It’s not only the “nationalism” carrot I’m dangling here, but amazingly, even the “practical” carrot.
You want to take advantage of this?
Come back.
Build something. At least look into it.
PS: I’m writing this series a tad longer than expected. I might need to extend this to a series of 3-4 posts, instead of the original 2-part plan.
PSS: A special request of mine? Please share this, especially to Filipino diaspora you know around the globe. What’s to lose?
The country we are talking about received more venture capital per capita than any nation in the world – 2x as much as the United States. They have more companies listed in the NASDAQ than Korea, Japan, Singapore, China, India and all of Europe combined. They’ve done this despite their small populace (just 7 million people), having relatively little natural resources, and being in a perpetual state of war (it is surrounded by its enemies).
It is Israel.
In their amazing book, Start-up Nation: The Story of Israel’s Economic Miracle, authors Dan Senor and Saul Singer tells the story of how Israel has recently achieved tremendous economic growth through the development of startups.
As someone whose passion lies in the development of Filipino startups precisely for economic growth and poverty alleviation, the book simply enthralled me and made my imagination run wild.
The book talks about innovation, about “battlefield entrepreneurs”, about the importance of survival mentality, nationalism through enterprise, about the critical role of diaspora, and naturally, about chutzpah.
The book talks about how a powerfully entrepreneurial culture made all the difference in their transformation into Startup Nation.
We HAVE to emulate their example.
Here are some the most compelling arguments and ideas which crossed my mind while reading the book:
1) We have to destroy hierarchical thinking
Precisely because they are surrounded by enemies from all sides, Israel requires all young men and women mandatory service in the IDF – the Israeli Defense Forces. Now, you might be thinking “joining an army?! this is the absolute LAST thing you want to do to challenge hierarchical thinking!”
But this is where it gets interesting.
The IDF employs a curious bottom-up culture where hierarchy is thrown out the door. Subordinates are actually encouraged to challenge their superiors. In fact, subordinates can oust superior officers through vote (!).
Miss Israel 2009, IDF soldier
Consequently, from a very young age, Israelis are trained to challenge the status quo and assert themselves – in extremely high-pressure environments.
Is there a better way to train would-be entrepreneurs?
With the combined experience of University AND a 2-3 year, one-of-a-kind stint in IDF (which the book explains through a greatly-named chapter, Battlefield Entrepreneurs), the Israeli 25-year old would-be entrepreneur has no global peer.
So…how can we start changing our culture here?
Our schools, by and large, teach our children to follow rules and singular ways to solve problems (multiple choice, fact-based learning, etc). Our companies, by and large, teach our workers to follow very defined job descriptions and kowtow to the boss.
This needs to change. We have to find a way to reward risk-taking and encourage doing things different, especially with our younger generations.
(Note – this school thing really worries me. My 5-year old was recently accepted in a big university, and when we were given the official introduction of what happens in school – I really second guessed this decision. I think our schools still produce graduates built for the industrial age – and the industrial age is dying fast.
Startup dreamers take note – the education system is just waiting to be disrupted – it is now starting in the US. Why not here?)
2) We need to embrace and use technology, regardless of our “field”
I talk to a lot of entrepreneurs who say “technology isn’t for me,” and that’s that. I think a quick dismissal of using technology is huge mistake. Technology is precisely what has made this world flat. Technology is what leveled the playing field for any entrepreneur in any part of the world to compete on a global scale. Why not use it? It is precisely what can take us to the next level.
Technology can be applied to ANY field, with wondrous results.
A budding social entrepreneur can say “I just want to help the farmers, I don’t want to be involved with tech.” Guess what? Hi-tech in Israel started with agriculture. Without much land (and most of it infertile) and much water, Israel was able to turn itself into an agricultural force, increasing its agricultural yield a whopping 17 times!
How did they do this?
Technology.
Are you a doctor who wants to build a startup? A musician? A publisher? An events organizer? A marine biologist?
Look hard at technology. Embrace it. It isn’t your enemy, and it can become your bestest friend.
How can technology allow you to do something different and new and innovative in my field?
(In Israel for example, you’ve got doctors working with engineers on a startup which aims to build a credit-card like device which aims on making the injection obsolete. The book lists so many of these “mashup” startups which combined expertise and technologies from different fields. Amazing.)
3) We Need More Venture Capital, Much More (and the government needs to get into the game)
The book is very very clear on the role of venture capital in Israel’s startup-powered economic transformation. They call it “Innovation Finance.”
I always try to encourage bootstrapping, and essentially, this was also how Israel started – with an awful lot of bootstrapped firms fighting for survival. But in order for us to scale our businesses on a global level? Venture capital is a crucial key.
Seeing the strategic role venture capital had in its development, the Israeli government started a program called Yozma (Hebrew word for initiative) in the 1990’s. The government investment $100 million in forming ten venture capital funds. A key part of the strategy was to have each fund represented by 3 parties: a young Israeli venture capital company (in training), a foreign venture capital firm, and an Israeli investment company of bank. To attract foreign VC’s, the Israeli government offered that its shares can be bought out cheaply after 5 years, if the fund was successful. This essentially meant that while the government shared the risk, it offered the investors all the reward – an unusually great deal.
The government did this not only to attract foreign capital, but to have the young Israeli VC;s learn about successfully managing venture capital from their successful foreign counterparts.
In a few years, this same fund has grown to around $3 Billion, all to support hundreds of Israeli startups and ventures. The Yozma program has resulted in copycat programs all over the world.
Is there any innovative Philippine politician, lawmaker, or national leader listening?
(and if you know anyone, please forward this to him or her)
If there are, let me tell you personally, startups are the key. We Filipinos LOVE technology. We are naturally innovative. We speak great English, the startup language. We can build great, globally-relevant startups.
Over the past year, we’ve seen fund sources sprout up from the business sector, all aiming to help startups. This is great news and has to continue. We have also seen startup-related initiatives by DOST, and a few other government sectors, but you know what, I think we might just need MORE help.
PS: If you know anyone who would resonate with this post or to whom this post would be pretty useful for, do practice some yozma and share! Who knows what could happen if you do?
This is a cool review of 2012 for the Juan Great Leap blog!
136 countries! 35,000 views! Glen Macadaeg as most frequent commenter!
Can’t wait for what this year would bring!
Here’s an excerpt:
4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 35,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 8 Film Festivals
I’ve written a couple of times recently that the amount of startup support that has locally sprouted over the course of just the last 12 months has been amazing.
One recent development has been the rise of the online Filipino startup magazine Homegrown.ph
There are a couple of articles I’ve written on the site (you can check the latest one here), but I highly encourage you to check out the other articles, if you haven’t yet. They are really quite helpful, especially for new startup founders. Topics range from the practical (How to renew your business permits) and strategic (Choosing the right team), to the the compelling (This season of resolutions).
It could be finally registering your firm. Or perhaps making that site you’ve been working on live.
It could be doing that big talk with a parent to say your heart isn’t in the family business and hasn’t been for awhile.
It could be deciding to resign from corporate. Or to finally using the savings you’ve worked so hard to accumulate.
It could be deciding to pursue funding to aggressively seize an opportunity for an existing startup, typically foregoing comfort and control.
It could be something as deceptively simple as writing someone an email or scheduling a meeting or talking to your boss.
It’s precisely THE ONE action which would push you to start things up, or to push your startup to the next level
I call it the Fulcrum Moment – because once you are able to cross this moment, it invariably, permanently, tilts your fate in a certain direction. It’s life-changing.
My big one was finally leaping from corporate a couple of years ago. Starting this blog was another. I’ve got another big one I want to tackle in 2013.
The Fulcrum Moment. Think of yourself walking on one end of a see-saw. At one point you approach the fulcrum. You hesitate. You just know that crossing over would make you lose balance. But you do so anyway. Then you experience a shift. You are suddenly tilted in a different angle, which also gives you momentum in crossing through to the other side.
But alas, like the proverbial smitten teenager getting tongue-tied asking the girl out, we often find ourselves failing rise to the occasion. We KNOW how potentially awesome the moment can be for us, but we talk ourselves into thinking it is quite rational to delay things. We think of a thousand reasons how it could explode in our faces. We allow ourselves into thinking the negatives outweigh the positives. Why?
Because we perceive this moment to be peppered with risk.
Let’s get this out of the way: nothing great is ever done without risk.
Nothing.
This goes double for startups. Think of your entrepreneurial heroes.
Jobs, Zuck, and Gates gave up the traditional college route to pursue their passions.
I think ALL of the renowned Filipino Taipans have great stories of how they started. Every single one of them took massive risks at particular junctures in their careers.
ALL the successful startup owners I know now ALSO have great stories to tell. The stories all become great because the protagonist always faces something uncertain and scary and risky. They faced their Fulcrum Moments head on and lived to tell the tale, ALWAYS for the better. Did they always succeed? No. But that’s part of it. But they persevered. And learned. The learning which happens is worth much more than the price of admission. It is precisely the learning that leads to success.
So you know what? I’m throwing the gauntlet to start 2013 off.
I challenge you to finally face your Fulcrum Moment. Start the year the best way possible by finally tackling it.
Look at it straight in the eyes. Grab it by the horns.
I spent a twelve years in corporate, from one company to another.
Across these dozen years, I have bounced around in different firms.
Christmas is celebrated more or less the same way:
A big “Christmas” party is planned
The party starts with a token prayer (typically by the HR guy)
The CEO starts a speech, usually beginning with something like “Hey, I know you guys want to party, so I’ll keep this short!” (he usually doesn’t). It’s on dreaded Powerpoint. It’s filled with graphs about the company, how it performed, how next year would be even more amazing.
Then the CEO ends the speech with something like a “KAIN TAYO!”
Food and drinks are served
A raffle ensues. Some games.
A band starts playing, people start dancing, and getting drunk.
There is nothing wrong with this per se.
But why call it a “Christmas” party at all?
Just call it a “Year-end company party”, since there is no mention of Christ anywhere but the token prayer. Not one of the CEO’s I’ve witnesses have ever mentioned Him. It’s all about those graphs and things.
To those of us building firms, we have a chance to do much better than this.
Let’s celebrate, but then let’s also remember why we are celebrating in the first place.
Back around 2007, I remember being thoroughly underwhelmed by the CEO of a multinational company our startup competed with. Our companies were summoned by a client in a joint meeting to compete for a bid.
I distinctly remember telling Pao: “The guy didn’t say anything and just wrote down notes. He was so unimpressive.”
Little did I know that not saying anything and taking down notes were quite strategic in one on one sales, so much so in B2B sales. Stubborn that I was, it took me a year or two to incorporate the same strategies in my own sales meetings.
Back then, whenever we did sales pitches, people would always react at how young we were – and this always felt like a hurdle in the selling process. (as the years went by, losing hair and gaining pounds remedied this – ah, the perks of baldness!) This, plus our being rookies in the industry, made me feel a gap in credibility.
So in the back of my mind, whenever I’d go to pitches, I thought – “I have to prove to this person how capable I am.”
So my pitches early on became exercises in hearing all about how great we and our products were.
One BIG problem: clients don’t care about how great you are. They only care about how you can help them out.
I remember seeing this in their faces before: they WANT to say something but I was so busy wanting to blurt out my “piece” that sometimes I didn’t let them get a chance to.
HUGE mistake.
The whole pitch has to be about the client. How can the product help them out? What’s in it for them? It only becomes a great product if they can see how it helps THEM to be great.
Listening and writing down notes are great visual indicators that the client’s needs are precisely what you are prioritizing. I’m not talking about putting on a show though – you really have to listen. Authenticity is pretty easy to sniff out. The client’s needs HAS to be first.
A client who is excited, talking, and feeling good about herself and her company is a much more likely sale than the one who is repressing herself to listen to someone saying how great they are.
Putting themselves first is a great temptation especially for new entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs precisely because they have a lot of confidence in themselves. They also usually have a chip on their shoulder – a great need to prove something to the world. Inviting them to talk about their passions could easily turn into a couple of hours of monologue.
Overall, this is a good thing. Entrepreneurs need this to go through the roughest cycles of the job.
Just remember to rein it in sales meetings: just give a concise, well-thought pitch…
Growing up, I was always told that it is through consistent, regular effort that we make great things happen.
Experience has taught me that this isn’t always the case, moreso with a number of “great” things.
For example, the people I know who have undergone uber-dramatic (and lasting) weight loss did it by doing something drastic in the beginning – like a month of little to no carbs coupled with really small portions. For those of us who love eating, you know how difficult this is – a truly supreme effort. In a month, results became obvious and motivated my friends even more to see things through.
For these friends of mine, “slow and steady” efforts over years never yielded the results they wanted.
True progress only started after a relatively short period of intense, concentrated effort. Results are obtained. Maintenance, as everyone reports, is much easier afterwards.
There are examples all around.
I know certain people who have carved out successful careers out of working their tails off in landing ONE humongous account.
Law and medical students studying the lights out for one exam which will dictate the course of the rest of their lives.
Slow and steady doesn’t always apply because life itself isn’tslow and steady, right? Life is composed of seasons -peaks and valleys. Times of abundance. Times of scarcity.
Times of varying degrees of opportunity.
Opportunity doesn’t come from a slow and steady stream, doesn’t it? It just presents itself.
This is where intense bursts of effort trump steady distributed effort nearly every time. When the opportunity comes, you usually have to be able to exert a great, drastic effort to grab it. The great effort will usually allow you to grab a foothold – something that slow and steady effort might not have allowed you to do so. Then, in a lot of ways, it becomes just a bit easier.
This is very very true in startups – especially in the early stages.
Looking back when I was starting, this was so true in so many ways:
Recruiting the right partners – and casting a large enough net to do so – for STORM required me to spend almost all of my weeknights for around a month talking to people.
Landing that first client in as a B2B firm (so crucial to get a first reference) required a great, drastic effort on our part.
Finally leaping from corporate required a great burst of sacrifice, planning, and work. (and prayer)
Want to put up a startup? Your slow and steady approach might not cut it (and for some of us, I know it’s been frustrating)
Do something drastic in a short, concentrated burst of great, grand effort. Focus this intense effort on the fulcrum issues which are causing your startup to stall.
Need funding? Reach out to 100 strategic individuals. Give yourself 5 working days to do so.
Need a co-founder? Arrange 8-10 interviews a day for a full week.
Need an idea? Need to validate with the client? Need to build a prototype?
Instead of spreading things out, try bursts.
Oh, you’re doing this part-time? Just take your 5 “vacation” days off and do the exact opposite. Plan these 5 days out carefully – what you’re going to be doing for your startup in every hour.
When I put up announcements, for example, there is no hesitation. Publish.
Growing up, I was always told that it is through consistent, regular effort that we make great things happen.
JUAN GREAT LEAP 