Face it, you’re screwed.

December 11, 2009 – 3:22 pm

An endless fountain of ideas.  I’ve lost count, but I’d guess an average of 2.5 killer businesses come forth from your brain on an annual basis.  Unfortunately, they get mugged by reality and disappear into the vapor of lost dreams just as quickly as they were formed.

Obviously, there are several reasons for the canyon between your “entrepreneurial” vision and your accomplishments:

  1. Geographic location — no one where you live can code or invest like the hippies in San Fran.  Why fight that?
  2. Debt obligations — Far be it from you to actually take your standard of living down a notch while trying to do something “revolutionary”…..meanwhile, men jump on grenades.
  3. Muted enthusiasm — If your friends aren’t instantly enamored with the 6th complex idea that you describe without having built anything yet, how will anyone else “get” your brilliance?
  4. Idea pirates — Obviously, your idea is so unique and valuable that everyone will steal it, take it to the hippies in San Fran and have it built and funded (but not as good) before you finish the sentence.
  5. Family — Apparently you married someone that needs a lifestyle that ratchets up slowly and predictably in order to love and support you.  And, ya….your infant children would be devastated if you put money into anything other than granite counter-tops and a paper thin computer with a glowing fruit on it.

The list goes on and on.

You’re screwed.  All that genius and no chance to execute on it.

Poor you, born into the country that rewards, encourages and celebrates entrepreneurship more than any other in human history.

You are an old man in a lazy-boy, so damn comfortable you’re afraid to move.

Cruise-control into the coffin it is.  Enjoy.

  • Wow. Harsh, but soooooo true.
  • Well i guess i shouldn't whine about the lack of hippies and coders in NYC and instead look out for those willing to help start up companies, making innovative change in new media
  • Very well said. Do something today!
  • Absolutely LOVE the post and the bullish commentary. One more reason excuses ring awfully hollow:

    In software at least, it has never been easier (read low overhead) to go into business, bootstrap it, and give it hell. A few hundred dollars to incorporate, a decent voip phone for sales, webex and the like for demos, cloud servers rather than your own tin, etc. Contrast that with a restaurant for instance....location, rent, food, silverware, linen service, and on and on just to open the joint.

    Obviously in either case, still loads of work to do once the above is in place, but the difference in burn rate is huge.
  • the best thing about the U.S. is that it doesn't matter where you come from. what matters is where you're going. anything can be overcome or mitigated to one's advantage.
  • Andy,

    This post of yours is now my new champ in getting bit.ly hits, surpassing the previous winner by 50%. I approached the previous record holder about sponsoring a piece by him to promote the new site, but he and I got off on the wrong foot. Now I just need to find someone else with your je ne sais qua.
  • Don't forget bitly stats are cumulative....my sharing of a bitly and your sharing of a bitly all adds into the same pool of stats....thus the "conversation" ability as you dig down into bitly stats.
  • So the stats go by the long link and not the specific bit.ly link? I.e., if 10 different bit.ly links to the same blog post get 5 hits each, any one of those bit.ly links will show 50 hits?
  • Correct....there might be a weird way around it, but by default you're correct.

    Try a bitly to drudgereport.com or something....don't even post it and it'll have stats
  • OK, thanks for the heads up.
  • Sorry, these are just excuses to be overcome! Here is a quote that I like to use....

    "Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. The desire and ability to press on has and always will solve the problems of the human race and divide those who achieve from those who might have been."
    -- Jeffrey Fry
  • Yes....the post was ironic in nature.  Good quote!
  • An awesome post Andy! It reminds me of the acronym F.E.A.R - False Evidence Appearing Real. There's so much potential in everyone of us. If we just stop with the excuses, the F.E.A.R, just imagine the innovation!

    From a very early age, I have banned the word "can't" from my vocabulary and it has served my family and I very well.

    Thanks again!
  • Great points!
  • NH
    Guess what I'll trade any hick for a hippie.
  • Headstrong
    All this depends on how much you want to do it. If you want it more, it will take precedence. This is a highly generic rule for pretty much anything in life. Whatever venture you take, whether you will succeed depends on how much you want it. Sorry but all these are excuses. There are not even hundreds, probably thousands of obstacles you need to go through in order to execute anything.
  • You got it!
  • it's like a lion that lives in a zoo
  • Jane
    wow, i agree with the previous comment. very very good writing. cruise-control sentence is the final blow.
  • Awesome post! And very very well-written.

    "You’re screwed. All that genius and no chance to execute on it."

    REAL "idea guys" aren't afraid to bet their livelihood and reputation on their ideas. And they aren't deterred by failure because they have confidence in themselves in the long-run. They're just that crazy to think that they really know anything and they're itching to find out... time always reveals peoples' true colors.
  • Well said Sayem!
  • Anon
    I wasn't born in the US. If I quit my job to act on my ideas, they'll throw me out of the country.
  • Talk to the Y Combinator folks, and Paul Graham. Many of those startups are people in the same predicament as you. And Paul will also tell you that some issues like immigration will melt away if you try hard enough.
  • Fred
    I think you're undervaluing the strength of (2) and (5). Do you have a young child, unsupportive wife, and massive debt? If so, I think a blog post on how you got around *that* would be far more welcome than this "you're lazy you suck" inanity.
  • I think the lesson here is that there's always going to be something in the way. You just need to suck it up and, just do it. An example that comes to mind is George Eastman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Eastman
  • Exactly right.  Thank you for having sense!
  • Fred
    "Thank you for having sense" makes it sound like you think that the grandparent (viz. me) has none...or maybe I'm just projecting insecurities. *shrug*

    In any case, I'm not entrepreneurial by nature, but I'm no stranger to perseverence...I'm less than a year from finishing grad school, but I've got more Fs on my undergrad transcripts than you can shake a stick. Nonetheless, I think the implied "do anything at whatever cost to the non-entrepreneurial aspects of your life" is unrealistic.
  • Well, if entrepreneurship is not your cup of tea, then you're not exactly the audience this blog is for - because entrepreneurship is an extreme sport, we push the limits of what is possible, and that sometimes includes digging yourself out of the deepest abyss you're currently lodged in.

    Elon Musk did it, Max Levchin did it, Chris Gardner did it (yes, the guy from Pursuit of Happyness), Mark Cuban did it, Steve Jobs did it, George Eastman did it ... history is littered with examples of people who was in the deepest shit and still made the unrealistic happen.

    If all else, it is my own firm believe that one may be poor in the pocket, but it's infinitely much more worse that you let that make you limit yourself and artificially be poor in your dreams. Dreams don't cost a thing. Have you forgotten that?

    It's the darkest just before sun rise. You're finishing grad school, ahead of people who don't even have a bachelors. You've your whole life ahead of you just about to start. And starting this journey with the firm belief that you've already lost the battle is no way to start.

    The journey through a bachelors and then grad school is grueling, so I understand that perhaps after such a long and drawn out fight, you've now become cynical, pessimistic, and you've lost the courage to fight. Which is why you need to hold on to your dreams, it'll give you a reason to fight, it'll give you a reason to live. Here, go watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo
  • "If all else, it is my own firm believe that one may be poor in the pocket, but it's infinitely much more worse that you let that make you limit yourself and artificially be poor in your dreams. Dreams don't cost a thing. Have you forgotten that?"

    An interesting point, Jay, and one that reminds me of Pascal's wager. Why not bust your ass trying to be successful -- what's the downside to believing that your hard work will eventually pay off?
  • First time I've heard of the wager, but I have thought of the same exact thing Pascal said :D

    Although the spirit of my comment was slightly different. It wasn't so much that there's upside to bet right, and no downside to betting wrong (which is certainly a valid point on its own); it was more that (for me anyway), if I try and I fail and end up a miserable and bitter old man .. on my death bed I can honestly said "I gave it my best shot and failed", and that to me gives me satisfaction over saying "well it was futile anyway so I didn't bother lifting a finger".

    Or in other words, if I don't try, that's a 100% guaranteed chance of failure. So if I tried even just a little, my odds of success is already > 0%. So the more I pour in, the higher my odds .. and maybe I just got to hang in there until I catch a break. I'm all about the hard math and science, but luck plays an important factor too. You can't win the lottery if you don't at least buy a ticket.

    If you have no luck, be it because you really had luck against you - not beause you shut the door on luck itself.


    There's no substitute for hard work. If you work hard and prepare yourself, you might get beat, but you'll never lose
    — Nancy Lieberman-Cline
  • That last sentence is worthy of its own post.  

    Thank You.
  • I just happen to be sitting in my deceased father's old lazy-boy as I read this. It is, of course, true.
  • Zing! So who's this refer to, everyone except the hippies?
  • LScott
    Screwed and chopped.
  • Face the fear - this is the perfect reminder to get off your ass and stop JUST talking about it. Guilty as charged. (seriously, let's be honest, most people do take it to the grave full of regret.)
  • I can personally vouch for #5, ... if your spouse isn't onboard, don't be suprised to eventually find yourself tossed overboard.
  • Lol awesome....well not really but hey good for my blog comments
  • Black_Bart
    Notice how most millionaires in SF don't dress well enough to get into a bar in Boston. Coincidence, I think not.
  • gregor.us
    ...your infant children would be devastated if you put money into anything other than granite counter-tops and a paper thin computer with a glowing fruit on it.

    Good writing.

    Perhaps you've been reading transcendtalist stuff on self-reliance. :-)

    No but seriously, very good writing.

    G
  • Brilliant, people need a slap on the arse sometimes.
  • US rewards, encourages and celebrates entrepreneurship more than any other country. Nice job, counselor.
  • And it also has the highest entrepreneurship percentage, doesn't it? Perhaps even too high.
  • Actually, I was building off Andy's text. Your statistic sounds complementary, though recommendation heads in another direction. I'll take a look at your linked post.
  • I understand your point and Andy's, and I don't disagree with them. But my linked post makes an orthogonal point, echoing one Scott Shane made in this essay last year. Shane's point, to oversimplify it in the interest of brevity, was that most American entrepreneurs don't have the chops of an Andy Swan or a Bob Brill, and we'd be better off not encouraging them to start their own businesses. I assume Andy's post was aimed at those who have higher potential than the folks Shane describes, but who make excuses instead of taking action.
blog comments powered by Disqus
Andy Swan is proudly powered by WordPress. Designed by Bob