If you’re not paying for it, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold.
Tim O’Reilly CEO O’Reilly
The other day I was watching Dickens’s Tale of Two Cities movie. I was really stunned how it reflects the life of a startup. It’s been a while since you read it in high school, so here’s the start of the novel:
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…”[i]
The above quote distills startup life and work. Many who have thrived, survived, or failed in a startup say that it’s the ‘best and worst of times’ they’ve had in their work lives.
Let’s unpack the above quote in terms of a typical startup in COVID time:
- Startupwork is the best of times as you have the passion, vision, and dream to do something that can change the world or make a difference or make a lot of money. All these are OK. These are the things that drive a VUCAN to excel, dream, or do something different. Your personal dream results in something special for you – think and do something almost supernatural with mono-maniacal focus and energy.
- Startupwork is the worst of times since it can drain your physical, spiritual, family, friends, and relationships. This is coupled with paranoia, cash flow fears, and anxieties – the personal disruptions that startup work can entail.
- Startupwork is the age of ideas and wisdom because you try to do things that have not been thought of or done before. You’re on top of your game. You’re invincible. High-fives all around.
- Startupwork is the age of foolishness because you feel indestructible along with the startup team’s echo chamber. You’re all saying the same things to each other. You’re believers. You don’t listen to mentors, apostates, and naysayers even VC’s on your board.
- Startupwork is the epoch of belief because you feel, believe, and think that you’re at the center of creation, competitiveness, and innovation, which may be London, Berlin, San Francisco, Seattle, Tokyo, or Shanghai. All of you are drinking the same Kool-Aid.
- Startupwork is the epoch of incredulity since the you believe all mountains can be scaled, problems can be solved, obstacles can be removed, and nothing stands in the way of world domination.
- Startupwork believes it’s the season of light since your team has been chosen by the geek or work gods to innovate and create world changing apps.
- Startupwork is the season of darkness since you face new obstacles daily. The highs and lows result in high amplitude, sinusoidal, emotional curves.
- Startupwork is the season of hope as you try to solve problem after another and make hard decisions.
- Startupwork is the winter of despair when after many 100-hour weeks for a year, your project is finished or app is developed. One problem: there’s no demand for the product. Lots of questions: What went wrong? Were assumptions wrong. Why did the design suck? What decisions should have been made differently? Are they fixable? So, what now? Pivot? Countless other justify cations and recriminations.
Work Lesson Earned. So, make sure you’re working on the right problem. Make sure there’s demand for your solution. Make sure VUCANs want it and will pay for it. Remember: You’re not a philanthropy. It’s all about the money!
[i] A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens, 1859.