Category: TAKE THAT LEAP!

It’s a Saturday night. I’m a bit tired coming from a party. The kids are asleep. Pauline’s on TV. After a full week, I’m on my bed wanting to relax and have my me-time.

Three things to choose from: a book to read, NBA 2k13, or surfing the web.

I choose to surf the web.

What do I end up doing? Going to Linkedin to recruit for some startup openings we have.

One way to look at it: that’s pretty sad, man! 

Another way to look at it: I find work fun, and I’m not trying to escape it. 

Work on something you love. It’s becomes a virtuous circle.

Off the top of my head, I could name 10 different people who cannot get their startup off the ground because of the lack of a co-founder.

During the open forum of the last JUAN GREAT MEET in Briggy, there was a flurry of co-founder related questions:

How do you find the right co-founder? Where do you find the right co-founder? Is it right to co-found companies with friends?

What struck me during the proceedings was when someone added to the discussion (I think it was Joey Gurango): okay, so why would you need a co-founder in the first place? 

You know, it’s very clear for me why a co-founder is better than going at it alone: you want have someone to be with in the trenches, someone to discuss things with, someone who will be strong in the areas you are weak in. Because of these very powerful reasons, it’s quite understandable to expect someone to wait for the “right one.”

But only up to a certain point.

If you’ve already spent a considerable amount of time exhausting your network, getting to know even more people, looking under every rock you see, and you just keep hitting a brick wall, then it might be time to throw in the towel and get some work done. At some point, the waiting just becomes counter-productive, so just try to start.

Yep, alone.

For some, this might be a scary thought, as the assumption all along was to form a team.  But perhaps this has become some sort of a crutch, and excuse for you to put off doing what needs to be done.

It doesn’t need to be complicated. Knowing you WILL go at it alone, ask yourself, okay, what’s that next thing that my startup needs to progress?

Are you a someone with an idea who’s been searching for a technical partner for a year already? Then the next crucial “step” (the one you’ve told yourself you can’t do without a technical partner) is to build a prototype, right?

Just start. Create detailed specs – how does your app work? Ask around and canvass for freelance programmers who might do it for a fee. Try to look for and recruit the best one. Begin raising the money that might be required.

Perhaps you don’t need a technical solution just yet. Perhaps you can test the market out by creating a powerpoint mock-up and just doing a “demo” of your product to dozens of potential customers. The info you’ll get is guaranteed to be uber-useful.

I know it might sound intimidating because that “next step” would typically be the precise reason why you’re looking for a partner – the skills required for this next step might not be within your comfort level. But this is what makes an entrepreneur an entrepreneur – she learns, adapts, and just makes things happen.

So stop waiting and start doing. The ironic thing is, once you just go ahead and decide to start, you’re sure to encounter and attract even more people who are interested in what you are doing. Sometimes, the best time to find a partner is when you’re not looking.

I haven’t written in around 2 weeks.

Last week, I had an excuse – I was bedridden for much of the time. This week though, I could’ve hammered out some posts earlier, but I just inexplicably refused to do so – it was like I was allergic to the keyboard all of a sudden.

Since I hadn’t written in a long time, it was sort of easier to keep not writing – and it seemed like such a chore to start.

It was reverse momentum! The more I didn’t move, the more I didn’t want to move.

I realize there were so many other aspects in my life that I’ve felt this way about: going back to the gym after stopping for a while, finishing a book I had started, getting back into daily prayer, eating the right food again, sleeping early again, and so on. Sloth does one other deadly thing: it begets even more sloth.

Perhaps there’s an item RIGHT NOW that you KNOW you need to be doing, but can’t seem to muster the effort to do so because its been such a long time.

Some of the good habits we’ve developed WILL end up getting challenged by reverse momentum at some point. If we give in, there’s a danger we lose the virtue entirely. We need to be stronger.

The important thing is to take a deep breath, embrace the resolve that you’re NOT going to let it win, and just do it.

Yesterday, I had the privilege of giving a talk at the AIESEC Leadership Convergence Summit.

The person who spoke before me was Gian Scottie Javelona and I found his story riveting.

The people at the conference were branding him a “19-year old CEO.” But I think this title sells him short.

Anyone can call herself CEO. Those who get enough votes in their college business simulation companies have that title. Those who inherit Dad’s business at 19 can call themselves CEO (to Dad’s Chairman of the Board).

Quick, tell me the last Filipino you know who created a product in his college years and turned it into a business?

At 19, I was busy going out with my friends, playing video games, and cramming for the next exam. This guy probably does all that as well. Oh, but he’s also creating mobile enterprise software and trying to grow his firm at the same time!

Gian isn’t just a CEO, he’s an entrepreneur.

At 19 years of age, he’s a wunderkind.

Let me tell you the best part of his story for me.

Gian’s company, Orange Apps, has created a customizable mobile portal for schools. It runs on the Android platform.

Gian had one problem when he was trying to develop the app….

He didn’t have an Android phone!

So what did he do? At first, he kept on borrowing a friend’s Android phone. Finding this too slow, he finished building a payroll system for a client, and then used the funds to buy himself an Android firm.

This, my friends, is the very essence of entrepreneurship.

His school, PUP, has since adopted his platform. Gian is now busy getting his product to other schools and expanding.

All while trying to fulfill school requirements for his impending graduation.

Amazing.

No matter how loud this blog becomes, 99% of people will still choose to go the usual route.

99% percent will still choose to go with the herd.

99% will still play it safe and choose the comfort of a twice-a-month salary.

What differentiates the 1% from the 99%?

What differentiates the 1% from the 99% is conviction.

I have seen this first hand with all the entrepreneurs and founders I’ve interacted with. They believe in their vision. More than that, they believe in themselves. It is an unshakeable, oftentimes illogical belief.

It is this conviction which allows them to take on the big hairy leap to go out on their own. But this isn’t what results in the 1% yet. Perhaps 10% of people will take this courageous leap.

But 9 out of these 10 people who will leap will give up the moment it becomes dicey, when they get punched in the mouth.  Most successful entrepreneurs and startups have had colossal failures marking their timelines. Our hero Steve Jobs very publicly got fired from the company he founded. He could’ve retired with his millions, but instead he used the failure as fuel to mount the greatest comeback in business history.

Unlike with most people, failure doesn’t make any significant dents in the conviction of the 1% – it actually strengthens it. (Failure can create the proverbial “chip on the shoulder” – which some investors love)

I like how the other meaning of conviction ties into this discussion. The other meaning of conviction is “judgement rendered.”

In a sense, this is exactly what the entrepreneur exposes himself to – judgement.

I wrote before at how the leap in people is prevented not by the incapacity of the person to take on risk, but a lot of the time, its “what will other people think?”

“I will leave my 15-year banking career to put up a startup which creates mobile apps for the elderly? OMG! What will my family say? What will my peers say?”

An entrepreneur just leaps in and effectively says:

Hey world, this is me!

You want to be like the 1%?

Then DECIDE.

That decision is the underrated element of the leap. Most people are wishy-washy with their decision, doing a “wait-and-see” versus an actual decision. (you who are guilty of this know what I mean) Or choosing to be in perpetual “data-gathering” mode. Stop talking about it and start doing it.

Can’t resign yet? Perfectly okay. Allot 2 hours a day working on your startup – plan and do. Too hard?

Then you’re in the 99%.

Let me end this post with lyrics from one of my favorite 90’s songs, Conviction of the Heart by Kenny Loggins. If you want to sing along or something, you can click here. (up to you if you want to sing on until the environmental part of the song 🙂

CONVICTION OF THE HEART, Kenny Loggins

Where are the dreams that we once had?
This is the time to bring them back.
What were the promises caught
On the tips of our tongues?
Do we forget or forgive?
There’s a whole other life waiting to be lived when…
One day we’re brave enough
To talk with conviction of the heart.

And down your streets I’ve walked alone,
As if my feet were not my own
Such is the path I chose,
Doors I have opened and closed
I’m so tired of living this life,
Fooling myself, believing we’re right when…
I’ve never given love
With any conviction of the heart.

I’ve recently been talking to some of the incubators that have sprouted in Manila.

Let me tell you, we’ve come a long way from the “I want 80% of your startup since I’m shouldering all the risk!” we’ve always heard from angels and investors when we tried to raise money before.

If your team is top-notch and your idea is sound, you CAN get funding now for much less equity. Investors are getting to be more sophisticated. Plus I think there are more investors now who were startup founders themselves, so they know they’ll never partner with real entrepreneurs if they insist on majority shares.

I will always, always advocate bootstrapping as much as possible (at least to start), but if your idea direly needs funding, you will find it just a bit easier to raise money now.

So okay, let’s recap:

Funding = easier.

Ideas = a dime a dozen.

Startup support infrastructure = getting better.

So why haven’t we seen an AVALANCHE of startups? What’s the bottleneck?

If I take into account the number of people who are looking for co-founders, the number of people I know who are fence-sitting in corporate waiting for the “right opportunity,” and the same (great) people I see in startup circles and meetups – then the answer is pretty obvious: it’s the lack of people who are willing to take the leap.

C’mon people. You know who you are.

Don’t be like the proverbial torpe who lived the rest of his life wishing he asked the girl out.