I recently sat down for a Founders RAW conversation with Rahul Sood to talk about entpreneurship and various aspects of startup life. Rahul is cofounder and CEO of Unikrn, a Mark Cuban backed startup in the massively growing esports industry. Below is a short clip on how to build a luxury brand.
I am in the middle of a massive mental overhaul and it feels great.
Not that I really felt I needed it or was in danger going off the cliff, but I understand continual refinement is one of the secrets to life so recently I pushed into hitting a greater mental/emotional/professional learning curve. With that I will say I think it’s time we start taking back our minds and not walking around the world like brainless mummies.
You are in charge of what goes into your mind and what you think about. It starts with what you choose to pay attention to and let into your conscious – subconscious even. If the brainless mummy comment was a bit harsh… well that is exactly what the media thinks of you.
I am talking about the news (industry in general) and how much of a bullshit clickbait crockshow it has become. Just look at a quick screenshot of cnn.com today.
It’s as if CNN just reported on the end of the world.
Evacuated.
Terror.
Explosions.
Scared.
Clicks.
Dollars.
Cha-Ching!
That’s what’s going on and I am done with it. So should you.
News and media outlets have long left you in the dust and pretty much focus only on what will bring the most revenue in the bank. They show shock, terror and scare over anything else. It’s all about money and you are being poisoned in the process.
No wonder there are so many shootings and terrorist attacks around the world now. If media stopped reporting it maybe they would stop bombing buildings and killing innocent people since their names wouldn’t be plastered everywhere.
Maybe confused teenage kids who want their 15 minutes of fame on TV and social media would choose another path other than to walk into school and start shooting. But how did they get that idea in the first place??
Oh wait… right.
It’s a challenging topic especially now due to weekly terrorist threats and the latest Paris bombings leading to an unfortunate death toll numbered in the hundreds. My heart goes out to any affected. But it pains me to see this happening and only frustrates me when I see and hear about it.
It actually makes me mad. To the point where I might act on that anger. And that’s why I don’t do it anymore and for the sake of society I hope others do the same.
For an even worse stroll down scaryville-our-society-is-going-to-hell-in-a-hand-basket lane just turn on your local news. Murders. Rapes. Kidnappings. Robberies. Fires. OMG. We have a responsibility to take control of our thoughts and emotions, and never-ending scare tactics meant to keep us glued to the TV or computer screen do not help us achieve peace of mind.
You know what does achieve peace of mind?
Reading positive things.
Meditating each day on the good you will do in the world.
Spending quality time with loved ones and friends.
Putting the newspaper down, shutting the TV off, clicking off the website and then going out to do good in the world.
Go to work and do your part to move the world forward, no matter how big or small your impact may be. Don’t worry about missing out on events in the world – the important stuff happening around the world and in your own city will find you. Until it does, protect your own mind and spirit with all you have since that is all you have.
This I know for sure: Making your own world as positive and generous as possible starts with shutting out the negative messages of the media, which starts in your mind and that is 100% under your control.
This coming week is Seattle Startup Week, a free five-day event highlighting the amazing startup culture of the Puget Sound. It looks like there will be more than 100 events happening over the next week and should be very fun, entertaining and educational.
In fact, I will be participating in 2 of them as I will be leading panel discussions both Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. Below are quick descriptions of each event. If you are free either one of those nights you should come check them out. Here’s the entire schedule.
(Tues Oct. 27th at 6pm)
Learn from local Angel investors and VCs in Seattle about what they look for in a company when they invest.We will be inviting local Angel investors and Venture Capitalists to get insights on the process they use when investing in startups.
Moderators
Speakers
Speakers
The following post is an adaptation from the original one I posted on this topic in May of 2011.
I once watched an interview where Fred Wilson offhandedly noted reading a book which transformed the way he looked at markets and the web in general. I instantly went to Amazon and ordered it and spent the next week reading it front to back. Whew… it changed my life as well. I up and quit my job the next month. Thanks Fred.
Not a day goes by in 2015 we don’t hear the word bubble in some capacity or another. We are on pace for one of the biggest years in Venture Capital deployment since the dot com bubble of 2000. Massive private funding rounds in excess of $1 billion (Uber, et al) coupled with the sickening obsession of Unicorns have created a market with flu like symptoms. Although I cannot predict the future I tend to agree with others who publicly state it feels like we are in for a correction here very soon. If you are a founder of an early stage company, it would do justice to understand the cycle we are in, where exactly we are in it, and what you should do in your specific situation.
Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital by Carlota Perez is one of the greatest overviews of the incredible economic phenomenon known as the bubble. What we are currently going though – recessions and expansions, bubbles and bursts, highs and lows, whatever you want to call them – they are inevitable. In fact, the history of the entire world economy is one big cycle which repeats itself over a period of about 60 years. I cannot do this entire book justice, just take my word for it, go buy it and read it yourself. You will publicly thank me later just as I just thanked Fred now. But I will introduce the general phases a new technology (paradigm) encounters so the “layman” technologist, marketer, social media guru or business person can start to see a clearer economic picture.
I hope I am not being too being blunt, but without grasping this concept you are swimming with your cap over your eyes. You need to understand what is actually going on in this crazy economic world we live in.
Irruption
As a new technology is developed and deployed into our society, it will enter a cycle of adoption. Interestingly, Perez notes new technologies are created during the maturity phase of the last great technology expansion. So although we are starting with the irruption phase, let us take for granted the specific technology has already been created and diffused through very early adopter communities. During the irruption phase, we see a slowing or declining of the old industries and an early adoption of a new technology. Carlota notes:
The very intense activity of the new paradigm carriers contrast more and more with the decline of the old industries. A techno-economic split takes place from then on, threatening the survival of the obsolete and creating conditions that will force modernization.
Old print media anyone? Taxing industry vs Uber and other on-demand ride services? This irruption phase is started with a big bang (invention and initial diffusion) and will propagate within a small community of early adopters. Note the image above, depicting very low diffusion, even to a point the general masses dismissing the technology altogether. Amazingly it is contained within this tight group of people and industries for some period of time. That is until a tipping point is hit. Today, most people who have taken an Uber or Lyft ride – if given a choice – will only take uber from here on out.
Frenzy
Frenzy is a period of massive growth for a new technology. It is a time of new market creation as well as for rejuvenating old industries. Once a critical mass of consumers have been hit, the diffusion of the paradigm takes center stage. Individualism rules the land, as does speculation, wealth creation and ultimately resulting in over-investment flooding the market.
Frenzy is the later phase of the installation period. It is a time of new millionaires at one end and growing exclusion at the other, as in the 1880’s to 1890’s, the 1920’s and the 1990’s. In this phase, financial capital takes over; its immediate interests overule the operation of the whole system.
Notice the part about the growing polarization between the rich and the poor. Sound familiar? Capital investments soar during this time, creating a false sense of wealth creation. This craze attracts more and more individuals wanting to get a piece of the action; so late frenzy is financial bubble time.
Turning point
At some point, the bubble has to burst. Things that go up must come back down. Interestingly, the turning point is neither an event or a phase, rather it is a process of contextual change.
The turning point has to do with the balance between individual and social interests within capitalism. It is the swing of the pendulum from the extreme individualism of Frenzy to giving greater attention to collective well being, usually through the regulatory intervention of the state and the active participation of other forms of civil society.
The turning point is a space for social rethinking and reconsidering. It is, in fact, the time when the mode of growth that will shape the next few decades is defined. I would argue we have been in this phase for a while, maybe starting 5-8 years ago. After picking up the pieces of the crash of the early 2000’s we are now starting to see realignment in almost every industry known to man. Name an industry that is not currently being touched by the internet and mobile? Exactly.
Synergy
This is a time for production. Since the foundations and infrastructures were laid out during the previous phases, conditions are there for dynamic expansion and economies of scale. The diffusion of the new paradigm now reaches far and wide, is accepted as standard, and now governs supreme. It is a time for promise, work and hope. For many, the future looks bright.
Synergy is the early half of the deployment period. This phase can be the true ‘golden age’. It is likely to be the closest the system ever comes to convergence within the economy of the core countries of the system.
Mary Meeker anyone? She has identified this expansion phase quite eloquently, particularly in the mobile space. I would argue we are still at the turning point but on the cusp of this synergy phase. We should expect to observe massive expansion and economies of scale in almost every industry imaginable for the next few decades. New industries and markets will emerge. Old ones will finally die off. Will it be all golden? I am not so sure. But if history is any indication, we shall see an expansion of scale only experienced once every 60 or 70 years.
It was this exact point in the book which urged me finally jump off the fence and into my entrepreneurial pursuits full time.
Maturity
Once again, the cycle continues. Every paradigm has a shelf life and can only survive so long. As it enters maturity, deep questions are asked about the system and the climate is favorable for politics and ideological confrontation. Markets are saturating and technologies are maturing.
Gradually the paradigm is taken to its ultimate consequences until it shows up its limitations... yet all the signs of prosperity are still around. Those who reaped the full benefits of the ‘golden age’ continue to hold onto their belief in the virtues of the system and to proclaim eternal and unstoppable progress, in a complacent blindness, which could be called the ‘Great Society Syndrome’.
During maturity, the stage is set for the decline of the whole mode of growth and for the next technological revolution. Since we are entering a synergy phase, I will not spend much time on maturity. According to Perez, the next maturity phase should not be entered for quite some time and the decline of our current paradigm should not influence ones innovation or investment perspective. Yet it is always smart to keep an eye on something like this. Interestingly, it is in this period inventors and innovators are tinkering with what will eventually become the next great paradigm. This begs the question: What will supplant the internet? I would suggest not worrying much about the answer to that question and take advantage of the current conditions. According to Perez, it should be quite good for years to come.
The lesson I see here is to know that we are in a smaller bubble within a larger economic cycle. The smaller bubbles grow and pop fairly regularly with the net result of growth throughout the 60-70 year larger cycle. The key is to make sure you have made the correct decisions to protect yourself and your company from the small bubble gyrations.
A friend recently asked me a good question:
What’s your feel on whether or not to contact a company without a clear position opening. There are a few startups I really dig, but they don’t currently have a job opening that fits my role. Is it worth it to shoot them an email to introduce myself and possibly talk about carving out a role if they like me enough? Or should I not waste my time?
My answer:
Best to naturally network and get to know people in real life like you have done with me, rather than reach out cold knowing they aren’t hiring for your skill set and hoping for the best. They’ll probably just think it’s spam and not respond – that’s what I do. Most companies/startups hire for personality + skillset, and the only way to find that match is to meet them first and get to know them over time, illustrating your value. So.. find a way to get to know the founders and employees of the startups you like first, then work the angle of getting a job at their company.
Reaching out to startups in an effort to connect and get to know the company is definitely a great idea. But cold emailing thinking you will be able to land a job is a longshot at best, and shows you have no savvy way to integrate yourself within their operations. Especially if they display on their website they are only hiring for certain positions- and you don’t see a good role that fits your skill set. (If they DO show they are hiring exactly for what you are great at, by all means reach out to them!)
The secret to getting hired at a startup is to get to know the people within the company by any means necessary. This effort will provide an opportunity to determine if you are a good culture fit – and you might find out there isn’t a good fit after all. And just like a lot of things, that happens over time. It’s all about learning as much as you can about the founders, the employees, their product and what type of office environment they have. No startup I know of will keep the best engineer in the world on staff if they are also the biggest asshole in the world. And vis versa, no person will want to work with a company/founders who have no idea how to treat employees with respect.
Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood.
And that is the root of networking – connecting with people in your industry. “Networking” has gotten a bad rap and has been misconstrued in today’s fast paced transactional world. It’s not about the one night stand and getting hired as soon as possible. It doesn’t happen overnight. It happens over time and over repeated positive interactions with various people within the startup, to the point where numerous people are asking “what does that person do and why don’t they work for us?”
So if you want to get hired by great founders in the industry, get out there and make sure they know who you are and why they should want you to join their team.
This post originally appeared on Geekwire.
You might have asked someone recently, what the heck is going on with Bitcoin? Or maybe you are still wondering what Bitcoin is, or even questioning its relevancy?
A lot has changed in the last year in the cryptoworld — most notably Bitcoin’s price. It’s a good time to dissect a few points about Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market, things I couldn’t help but notice during my first year in the industry.
The biggest point is the false dichotomy in the general perception of Bitcoin. I’d like to unpeel this and provide a deeper evaluation of the industry, because people who commit the mistake of false dichotomy do themselves a disservice by not taking a full view of what’s going on.
First, a definition to help us here:
A false dichotomy is a logical fallacy that presents two opposing views, options or outcomes in such a way that they seem to be the only possibilities: that is, if one is true, the other must be false, or, more typically, if you do not accept one then the other must be accepted.
As one of the few people here in Seattle who frequently (attempts) to explain Bitcoin to non-technical people, and being the one who handles customer interactions for Coinme, I have noticed a problem. The media, tech executives and the general public talk about Bitcoin mostly by committing to a false dichotomy. Quite amusingly, I find people either preach the positives of Bitcoin or they dismiss it, like Gagnam style. One side thinks we’ll live in a libertarian world where Bitcoin will eventually be an anonymized currency to rule us all, and the other believes it’s only for crooks in the shady, dark interwebs. “It’s doomed to fail!” they pronounce enthusiastically.
Well, neither are true.
When I read about a new random Bitcoin startup here, or a larger funding round there, I start to understand how things are changing, and in what direction. The more I talk with highly technical people who mine Bitcoin or build on top of the blockchain, I learn we’re very early in something very special. Even though we aren’t living in Crypto-utopia, there is a subtle rumbling deep within the Internet we should pay attention to.Studying Bitcoin and watching the markets adjust has taught me a very important lesson: nothing ever ends up being 100% of what you think it will be. Innovation cannot be predicted, and the future cannot be known ahead of time. Correctly predicting the future is simply a function of luck. But seeing around corners can be a function of deep listening, observing and learning. So the best action for success is to (safely) get as close to the something as possible, and learn as much about it as you can, so you start to identify where the world is heading. Only then are you equipped with perspectives on where to invest your time, capital and energy.
My time around Bitcoin has shown me that our world will not be changed as much by the cryptocurrency you read about today as by the underlying technology.
Joichi Ito, who has been involved in building many layers and pieces of the Internet — from helping start the first commercial Internet service provider in Japan to investing in Twitter and helping bring it to Japan — recently wrote about the similarities between Bitcoin and the internet:
The similarity is that Bitcoin is a transportation infrastructure that is decentralized, efficient and based on an open protocol. Instead of transferring packets of data over a dynamic network in contrast to the circuits and leased lines that preceded the Internet, Bitcoin’s protocol, the blockchain, allows trust to be established between mutually distrusting parties in an efficient and decentralized way. Although you could argue that the ledger is “centralized”, it’s created through mechanical decentralized consensus.
What Ito is saying is that we could actually be witnessing the early stages of the next phase of the connected world, a time not so dissimilar to what we experienced in the early 1990s.
An often quoted example of a false dichotomy was when the Internet first gained media attention in the early to mid-nineties. Back then, many people thought it was a fad, hard to understand and a waste of time and money. They simply couldn’t get their head around the fact that there were more than just two possibilities: A (success) or Z (failure).
And therein lies the fallacy of the false dichotomy around Bitcoin.
What we witnessed with the Internet was the invention of the web and the browser, which commercialized the internet and brought with it every major corporation in the world. By ending up somewhere between A and Z, the world changed forever.
It’s clear to me and many others in the industry we are still in the “pre-browser” era of Bitcoin and blockchain technology. It’s there, but you really don’t know how to interact with it. What happens when we reach the “Netscape” moment of Bitcoin?
Could Bitcoin — the currency — pop and crash?
Yes, it could.
But seeing investment dollars in the cryptocurrency/bitcoin market grow each quarter, one has to believe that if Bitcoin the currency pops, then something else will emerge even better and more suited for the general public.
What will that be?
I could take a guess but in reality I don’t have a clue. Yet committing the false dichotomy sin here is a grave mistake. An important point to understand is that Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency, is just one app that runs on the blockchain technology. People well-versed in bitcoin are familiar with the blockchain, the underlying open-source technology (or rails) that bitcoin the currency runs on. Looking deeper, theblockchain stack presents interesting solutions to problems which have hindered our society for quite some time — outside of finance. Issues such as trust, security and identity can be improved with applications built on the blockchain.
In fact, here are a few other areas where the blockchain serves as underlying technology.
The reality is that no one really knows what will happen next — that is why it’s called innovation. But something is going to happen in this area to improve our lives and I hope you don’t get caught up in thinking only A or Z is possible.
Most likely somewhere in between A and Z we’ll see Bitcoin technologies enhance our digital lives. There’s more down there than you think.
I recently noticed a frightening trend with certain founders in the tech industry.
–> Have a great idea. Get a few key people to join you and build it. Launch the product and raise money from investors. Experience massive success. Raise more money. Gain hundreds of millions of users. Raise billions of dollars and fight off regulators. Have unfiltered access to billions of people’s data. Exploit it. Believe you are the second coming of a God. Act like an uncaring, immoral capitalist. Care only about your wealth and not what you are doing to everyday citizens. And so on…
With the recent Uber misteps and observing the resulting outrage which ensued, it has come to my attention that we, as an industry, need to take a long look in the mirror. Founders need to take full consideration in how they are running their company, the culture they are creating, the data they are generating, and the ultimate consequences of their actions.
We all need to understand we are standing at an unprecedented time in the history of business and technology. Everyday Joes now have the opportunity to create an app or platform that one day might just become indispensable to mankind. With its use, Joe will collect billions upon billions of data points on everyday citizens – like where they are currently, where they are going, who they talk to, what they typed, to whom, what they viewed on their phones, whom they connected with socially, etc.. With all this happening, Joe will find himself directly in the middle of our society, holding a treasure trove of personal data and a devil on his shoulder just waiting for the right time to temp him into exploiting it.
I mean, it’s like big brother!
But surprisingly it ain’t the government doing these things. Imagine what Facebook knows about you. Couple that with your Uber or Lyft usage data. Toss in your twitter clicks, Instagram photos, Gmail history and Google Chrome browser history.
We are doing this to ourselves. We are the ones creating this new world of massive data collection which is resulting in unprecedented spying, snooping, breaches of security, cloud hacks and the like.
This is your fault. And mine. It’s all of our faults. All in the name of making more money.
I am not here to end the data analysis, in fact I believe in it and when done correctly it makes for a better end user experience. I also know data collection is only going to get more prevalent with the expansion of categories like the Internet of Things and connected homes.
Yet, I am urging us to start thinking about things using a different filter, or scope of perspective. Start asking yourself these questions:
Recognizing all possible data about myself and every other person is now being collected, how to I structure my platform to preserve mankind and the humanity inherent within our society?
How do balance personalization of my technology with personal security of my users?
How do I proceed when I know I CAN do something but unsure if I SHOULD do something?
Where’s my “do not cross line?”
How can we best usher in a new era of technology applications where security is inherent within the structure of the product, not an afterthought when plugging holes after launch?
How do I shift my perspective from making the most money possible with my application towards making the world a better, more secure and protected society?
Please start thinking about these questions and more… It’s time we call a spade a spade – WE are the ones creating the exact surveillance society we were deathly afraid of growing up. We just thought it would be the Big Bad Government or another foreign country, not ourselves.
Please understand hubris will sink anyone who thinks they are immune to it. You – as a founder and someone desperately wanting to change the world – can now no doubt do just that. You and your technology can alter the history of humans here on earth. Just make sure you know what change you are putting in place.
I have often said being an entrepreneur feels like you are a circus clown on a unicycle, riding on a tightrope and juggling 5 different things at the same time.
Yep, that’s pretty much what I am doing right about now and it feels a bit crazy. My hope is that it settles down a bit as we get these things in motion.
Below is a glimpse into the road(s) I am looking down right now and if all goes as planned it will be most of my career focus. They might be general – on purpose – but they are the trends of the next 20 years and industries I am both interested in and feel are at inflection points historically.
Most of you know I have been in the mobile payment space for a few years now. Our first try with Seconds payments didn’t go as smoothly as we had hoped. BUT, we learned something really valuable – remote mobile payment/billing is going to be huge.
We learned this from realizing the act of forcing someone to make a payment with their mobile device while standing in line at a coffee shop/target/local market/etc actually takes more time and is more complicated than giving cash or card. The end solution just has to save all parties valuable time. It will be years before this becomes commonplace and who knows how much it will take (billions invested) to make it happen.
But, you know all those letters you received (or still receive) from utility companies, munipalities and other entities basically telling you 1) here’s the total you owe and 2) here’s where you send the check or 3) log in at this url to pay? Well, we can save people a lot of time and hassle with a new direct mobile billing experience. That can all be achieved by a simple notification on your mobile device informing you of a balance due, should you opt into receiving it. And with your payment credentials already in the system all you need to do is simply respond with “pay” and it’s all taken care of. Business gets paid, consumers account is cleared, no re-entering payment credentials… Simple.
Yep, we got that in the pipeline.
Since I am in the payment/financial space I have been watching the rise of Bitcoin for some time now. It’s very interesting to say the least and everyone has an opinion.
Here’s mine: the world needs a new mechanism for payments to flow around the world and Bitcoin feels like it’s the one. As both a currency and a technology, it will not only transform money as we know it is but also its place within this new digital/mobile/worldwide economy. As a speculative commodity, no one knows if the value will hold ($500), massively increase ($100k) or completely tank ($1). We’ll have to see, but my guess is that its value will not be the greatest impact Bitcoin will have on our world. As for regulation, the government will have to figure out how to play nice and guide it towards positive impact on our country and world. I don’t see it completely taking the role of the U.S. dollar so I think that argument is flawed and used politically to take a side, similar to the silly spat between Republicans and Democrats in this country.
So please remember today’s incarnation of Bitcoin will not be tomorrow’s… merely turning your head and shushing the noise is the wrong answer. Just as there were many naysayers in 1994 and 1995 about the web, we are seeing something truly transformative take shape and I don’t want to look back in 10-20 years and kick myself for not getting involved in the movement.
That being said, yep…. the road also includes some things around Bitcoin. It should be an interesting year.
Another interesting phenomenon starting to take shape is the so-called Internet of Things. I am not sure I like that term but we’ll agree it means a world where everything is “smart” and “connected” to everything else via the web and sensors. Just imagine what can be automated or programmed when devices and objects – previously “dumb” and non-economic actors in our world (tables, chairs, driveways, houses, bikes, cars, etc…) are brought online and provided an identity. Then include an economic identity (hhmm like using something like bitcoin…. now are you are starting to get it?) and allow humans to communicate with and pay and be paid by machines. The possibilities are endless.
Even more basic is the ability to start automating things in your life. If you have heard of IFTTT (If This, Than That) you know what I am talking about. Basically, it means you can set triggers in the world, that when activated, will result in an action you previously determined. These triggers are offered by various web based components in the form of API’s (Application Programming Interface) which allows you to tap into and easily integrate with other technologies. For example, if I leave the house (known because my GPS on my mobile) then lower the temperature in my house by 5 degrees. If Bitcoin falls below a certain price ($300), purchase X more for me. You get the picture.
Yep, something like that’s in the works as well.
An amazing area for innovation using connected and wearable technologies is health care. We are wondering what is possible once people wear something(s) that are able to monitor and collect up to the second data regarding our vital heath?
Given my background in health I am immensely interested in the future of preventative health tracking, and we are in the process of laying out our first attempt at it. Imagine wearing a small device that, when it senses a certain vital sign has fallen out of the standard deviation for this specific individual, sends a notification to family and medial team with actionable instructions? Imagine how many heart attacks could be prevented if we knew the second someone was “about to go there”? Now, I know this vision could collide with the scary notion of Big Brother NSA, but I have a feeling the pendulum will swing back toward a better equilibrium of personal safety and information security.
Yes, although it might be a bit on the horizon this is down the road for me as well.
The last one is video. We are starting to see more online video created and watched each day, month and year. And it’s easier than ever to create and distribute video, especially through social media. I intent on continuing my work on Founders RAW and experimenting with online media. Founders RAW is a great playground, since it falls inline with entrepreneurship and founding of technology companies. My goal is to continue to talk to founders and put out high quality content for all of us to enjoy and benefit from. It will be interesting to see how content and video grows from here, how we all can take part in it.
So there you have it.
If you are tired from simply reading it, how do you think I feel? My mind is spinning with all these possibilities and opportunities. While it may seem like I have some random form of ADD (might be true) it’s more like all these opportunities came to me in the last few months. Some are being built as we speak. Some are on their way. Some are in brainstorming and prototyping stages. Some might not make it into production, but all are well thought out and well positioned to become something great in the future. I hope to be a part of them all.
It’s never been a better time to be an entrepreneur.
Image by Flickr user oatsy40.
So, you want to start a company?
Awesome. That’s a very exciting decision but first you must make sure it’s the right decision.
Startups are hard and have been referred to as “a full contact sport” by others so deciding to be a founder is only the right decision if you are ready and willing to except what comes with founding a startup.
Coincidently I am going through this same thinking process right now. Even though I have started a few companies before, I find myself at the starting line once again evaluating a new “dent in the universe” idea with a fellow co-founder. Here are five questions I am asking myself right now to help determine if it’s the right decision. I believe they can that help you too along your path to starting your next company.
Am I really an Entrepreneur?
Risk is the heart of entrepreneurship — which is defined as “the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled.” Your relationship with risk is the sole determinant whether you will succeed or fail as an entrepreneur.
Are you ready to take a risk? I encourage you to think of yourself as an entrepreneur in the adjective form, not a verb. What do I mean? Well, during my first startup I struggled – a lot, and for a long time – and it really bothered me because I didn’t really know why I was struggling.
Then it finally hit me.
It all changed when I re-thought what the dream actually was. I realized my dream wasn’t about what I was working on at the time, but more about the person I was becoming in the process. The dream is about being an entrepreneur – the adjective – not the noun.
Entrepreneur – noun. A proprietor who owns their own business. A title.
Entrepreneur – adjective. A person who embodies the qualities of being Courageous. Risk Taker. Innovative. Persistent. Agile. Intelligent. Savvy. Strong. Personable. Creative. Excellent. Fighter. Winner.
Once I realized all I needed to do is change me perspective of who I was, everything changed. Also, I realize being an entrepreneur was all about how I viewed and embraced the world of risk.
Fellow entrepreneur and billionaire Sir Richard Branson follows a principle called “protecting the downside,” which means that by looking at any situation and determining all options before making a decision, one can identify the worst case scenario and work backwards from there to find the optimal route forward. Protecting the downside is really just identifying and understanding risk.
So your first step is all about asking if you can handle a world full of risk.
Am I ready?
Once you determine you are cut from the entrepreneurial cloth, you must ask yourself if you are actually ready. Is it the right time to embrace a life of high risk and high reward?
Question yourself on things like: Do I have more important responsibilities, such as family obligations, debt to repay, volunteer work, coaching youth sports, or things that require your time and energy?
The reality is startups take pretty much all of your time and energy. They are like rockets going to space – it takes A LOT of energy to take off but based on physics it takes less energy to keep going as it gets higher and farther away from earth.
Step 2: sideline some of these major responsibilities if you are to start a high growth company, and then pick them back up once things really get going.
Am I passionate about the idea?
Once the commitment has been made and you believe you are ready to take the plunge, you should ask if this is something you are really interested in, passionate about, and willing to give it 5-10 years of your life.
This is somewhat of a controversial topic. Some say founders need not be passionate about a startup, simply because only possessing passion for a subject does not guarantee success. And I agree. Just being fanatic and uber-excited about something is not a shoe-in for startup success. But consider the opposite: if a person is not particularly interested in a subject and not emotionally driven to solve a particular problem in the world, will they be able to make it through the trough of sorrow?
I think not.
Step 3 requires asking yourself if you posses energy, curiosity and passion about what you are doing so you can withstand the inevitable challenges and be able to push through the hardships you will face.
Is it a big and growing market?
Startup fact: Investors are looking for home runs, not singles.
One of the biggest mistakes first time founders make is not evaluating markets correctly and picking a market with low potential for growth. Most investors and potential acquirers evaluate startups on the recipe of future potential. A founder who desires a successful outcome for their company should look for solutions to problems in growing markets.
What is a growing market?
Growing markets are ones with an accelerating rate of competitors, users, revenue potential, and aligned with emerging technologies/platforms. Founders should build their solution with forward thinking perspectives on technology and societal norms. (ie: mobile usage vs desktop usage, network platforms vs non viral sites, portable vs non portable tech, etc…)
Even if a founder is not planning to accept outside investment and wants grow from a bootstrapped position, it still makes sense to look for market that is big and growing.
Step 4 requires one to ask themselves, “no matter the size of my ambition, am I building for tomorrow, not just today?”
What are my unique gifts?
Startups are difficult and require one to utilize their unique talents and gift in ways they may have never imagined before. When a founder starts their company, it’s important they take some time and take into account their naturally gifts. Are you uniquely technical and have the ability to quickly whip together a simple prototype? Or are you more social, amazing with people, a natural salesman and can easily work a room full of investors? Are you a visionary or an operations person?
This is probably the hardest question of the bunch, but the most important because the answer to these questions will point to your next phase of the company – recruiting others. If you are non-technical and (most likely) better with leading people, you will need to find a technical person to balance your founding team out and help you build products. If you are highly technical and can easily hack together websites and mobile apps, you will need to find someone who is less technical but more gifted in the business and people operations.
The last step pulls you inward to understand yourself, what your talents are, and who you should look to bring on and join you in your new venture.
Asking yourself these 5 tough questions should not only help determine if this decision is a good one, but if it is the right one for you at this time.
Adam Lieb, founder and CEO of Duxter, started his entrepreneurial journey at a very early age. He founded and sold his first company at the age of 11! Not too shabby, eh.
I sat down and talked with Adam during one of my recent Founders RAW conversations where we covered what it’s like to start a company so early in life, the value of Law School and how easy (or hard) it is to raise money for a growing startup.
What a great conversation!
By chance have you noticed how often you are interrupted each day?
I am sure every minute or two you are dinged or buzzed with a new text message, IM, email, phone call or Facebook message. If you are not dinged you are probably grabbing your phone incessantly and checking it yourself, thus breaking from the normal pattern of thought.
In a one word, it’s annoying. I know life has to continue and we need to communicate with each other but the ever increasing pace of interruptions is definitely becoming more obvious.
I wonder if this Is this good or bad for us humans.
I recently read how Paul graham viewed this phenomenon, as he tied it into the larger addiction conversation. He ends by saying:
I used to think running was a better form of exercise than hiking because it took less time. Now the slowness of hiking seems an advantage, because the longer I spend on the trail, the longer I have to think without interruption.
…We’ll increasingly be defined by what we say no to.
I fully agree.
I recently went on a weekend excursion into the Cascades with a group of friends, spending 3 days with my hiking boots, pack and tent. We hiked 10 miles into glacier lake and set camp for two nights, We hiked a total of 26 miles in 3 days – all without checking our phones once!
It was refreshing.
I believe we need to schedule into our lives a few days/weeks every so often to be off the grid, just so we can remember what it’s like to not be interrupted every few minutes. And just so we can be taken back to what a long, winding and challenging conversation with another person feels like without grabbing a device a solving the argument by “googling” the answer. I cannot tell you how great it was to be on the trail, talking with my friends about anything and everything we wanted, without interruption or having to pause because one of us was responding to a text or grabbing a quick phone call.
Remember, technology is there to augment our real world relationships, not replace them. The nuance is in how we gracefully use technology to enhance our world, not negatively impact it. I was beautifully reminded this on my weekend backpacking trip and then again today as I read Paul Grahams words.
Do yourself a favor and plan off-grid experiences, your health and sanity will thank you later.
I tend to get a bit emotional when I find myself looking back over my almost 2 years of full time, full contact entrepreneurship.
Why?
Well, it’s been such a crazy ride. It’s been up. It’s been down. I’ve been in. I’ve been out. I quit my last full-time job over 2 years ago with basically nothing to jump to but my own gut instinct, which told me – akin to Field of Dreams – “if you jump, they will find you.”
I jumped. And they found me.
It was incredible to jump into my company full-time, but in reality it hasn’t been all roses. Mostly I’ve hung in there and “weathered the storm” as they say, until brighter days came.
It was then I realized what this entrepreneurial journey is all about – hanging in there. I was reminded of this recently as I was chatting with GeekWire founder John Cook. He mentioned it as I asked him about some of the lessons he has learned over the last few years building GeekWire.
He said something to the extent of “if you just hang around long enough you will make it.”
What I think John is saying is you need to be patient enough to give yourself the opportunity to encounter success. It doesn’t happen overnight. It sometimes doesn’t happen over a year. Fortunately (or unfortunately) some people must wait many, many years before the seeds they have planted actually grow into something they can reap benefits from.
But you just have to hang in there.
John is a perfect example of this in action. He spent about 10 years working for an old traditional newspaper, the Seattle PI. At the time, he was covering tech and could see what was about to happen (or happening) to the newspaper industry due to the growth of the web.
In fact, he and his friend Todd actually came up with an entire plan, shared it with the PI and suggested they go another direction, embracing the web as opposed to fighting it. John and Todd told the PI they would run it. Those executives didn’t listen the John and Todd, which at the time I am sure was frustrating to the both of them.
Yet, today…. GeekWire is an up and coming digital media resource, has a great presence in Seattle and beyond, and is growing strong. The Seattle PI? They shut their doors on their physical paper a few years ago and are struggling to stay relevant in this new digital world.
Lesson: It will come soon enough if you just hang in there.
A cool new project about the Seattle creative community hit Kickstarter recently. It’s called We Make Seattle.
Given the fact I am an entrepreneur, founder of a Seattle startup and now founder of a site that helps other founders tell their startup stories, I am very excited to see something like this come out of our community. Seattle needs more exposure to put to rest the “Seattle vs Silicon Valley” arguments. We are not SV and never will be; we are Seattle. We are unique, different, but also a land of huge opportunity. Films like this allow us to tell our stories to the world and show them we know a thing or two about creating great products and companies.
They are more than half way to their goal of raising $28,500 to get this thing in production, so go on and help them achieve their goal! Below is more about the short film.
This short film is a celebration of what makes Seattle the best place in the world for entrepreneurs and creatives to live. It tells the story of the vibrant and supportive community we have for starting companies, betting on dreams, and chasing big ideas.
Despite being named the #1 tech city in America by The Atlantic, and consistent top rankings on the list of the world’s most livable city, we’re frequently overlooked as the place to go for people with big talents and ideas. This film will change that.
The film has three goals:
1. Celebrate the creative community. We have all personally benefited from the Seattle community, and the film will be a reflection back to the community itself on how many amazing companies, events, and projects are based here. In our daily lives we rarely step back to see the entire city, and We Make Seattle will inspire by telling the story of how many great things happen around us.
2. Help recruiters and entrepreneurs attract talent. NYC, LA and even Portland have produced short videos to help local companies tell the story of their city. Seattle has no such film, until now. The film will be the perfect one link to send to convince ambitious creatives, potential business partners, or top candidates from around the world to bring their passions to the northwest.
3. Have the community tell its own story. Everything about this project is built by the Seattle community itself, and led by well known leaders who have benefited from our creative city and want to give something back. We’ll be inviting people to contribute in various ways throughout the production of the film.
All funds beyond our budget will be used to promote the video, as PR and reaching a wide audience is as important as the video itself.
An important first step when building a product/business is determining what problem you are actually solving. Pick the wrong problem and you will waste precious time, resources and energy running in the wrong direction. Pick the right one and you just might have a billion dollar business on your hands.
The key is to be wise in how you pick the problems you will ultimately solve.
Surprisingly, founders’ instincts to solve problems can also cause us to fail. Many startups miss success signals because they are too busy solving problems. Our instincts tell us to be responsive to customer feedback – especially negative feedback. These problems are so actionable that we feel good solving them. But over time a startup that chases problem after problem creates a bloated, fragmented solution that isn’t really needed by anyone.
Think about that statement for a minute. Basically, what Sean is saying is you cannot run around and fix everything that people complain about in your product. It takes wisdom to decipher which feedback from customers – positive or negative – you should listen to and act upon.
He goes further.
Ultimately the goal of any startup should be to create a “must have” product experience. The signal that tells you that you have created a “must have” product is your true north to build a successful business. You should understand everything you can about the “must have” experience so you can cultivate and protect it. Who considers it a must have, how are they using it, why do they love it, why did they need it, where do they come from…?
A “must have” user experience. Perfect. That’s exactly what you need to be striving for and what customer discovery is all about. He lists of a few questions that need to be asked about the target user. I can think of hundreds more which need to be written down and answered through interviews, user testing and the customer validation process.
The goal = listen to the positive reinforcements from customers, follow where they are leading and create the best product possible. All the while not listening to all the negative feedback and not building X, Y and Z feature just because one random customer emailed you and suggested you need to include it.
Be wise my friends.
Here’s a quick one today. When designing your product, app or website, it’s best to think about the user first. Interestingly, some behaviors that drive us nuts are core to the human experience:
Next time you are whiteboarding your product just stop and think about what you, as a human, value most. Your users will thank you later for it.
You have no idea how bad I want you to catch this disease.
We usually have a negative connotation to the word disease, but not in this instance. I believe entrepreneurship is a disease – albeit a good one – that can positively affect entire societies.
I recently ran across this statement on PandoDaily and it sums up how I feel about entrepreneurship:
I believe the key to creating a new Silicon Valley is to make entrepreneurship a cultural and societal norm for the region you’re trying to affect. Once it becomes a norm, it spreads like an infectious disease. If you believe entrepreneurship is what’s expected of you, it’s highly probable you’ll go after it regardless of how many VCs are nearby or whether or not there’s a local tech happy hour.
More and more often I am reading articles touching on a new norm in our society – college grads and people looking for jobs should prepare for a life of ‘temporary jobs” “part-time positions” and “a lifetime of ever changing job markets.”
Sounds promising, huh?
If you are a life long employee this is not good news. The traditional employee mentality will not cut it anymore.
But if you are an entrepreneur, or someone who views the world as a multitude of opportunities just waiting to be jumped on, you are embracing the times like there’s no tomorrow. You know that like it or not, your future is 100% dependent on you and you alone. The world is now your oyster and it requires you to think more like an entrepreneur than ever before.
So how do we spread the entrepreneurship mentality like a disease?
1) Education
There was a time when jobs were secured and a lifetime in one profession or trade was the societal norm. Times have changed, yet we are still educating our children with the assumption they will have one job when we should be preparing them for a life of uncertainty. We need to adequately educate them on how to evaluate markets, find problems, build solutions and market services to the masses. We also need to prepare them for failure, and how to appropriately navigate around it when it inevitably hits.
Formal education such as Entrepreneurship courses and qualified majors are starting to pop up at universities around the country. This is a great first step but not at all good enough. I am encouraged with the movement of accelerators and incubators in the technology space, such as Founders Institute (which I experienced in 2011) as well as YCombinator, TechStars, 500 Startups and many others. Although great organizations, the challenge with these is the fact that they put the cart before the horse at the expense of many would be founders. One must enter pitching their product/service idea, already have a highly talented team, and previous successful experience in-so-much that they can pass the admittance interview. Unfortunately, it’s easier to get into Harvard than it is to get into YCombinator.
What about those who are too early in the process to gain acceptance to these elite programs? I believe entrepreneurship needs to bleed deeper into our society, influencing our youth at an earlier age. Hopefully, junior high and high schools will start to focus on entrepreneurship just as we previously focused on wood shop and auto shop. Also, more media attention and resources can help permeate the spread of the disease. This is where resources like Founders RAW (selfish plug), Under30CEO, Coursera, Udacity, entrepreneur.com and others must continue to focus on educating the early stage founder on a daily basis and in an easy to access virtual environment.
2) Publicity
The stories need to be told. People need to be able to learn about other founders and realize these successful people are no different than the rest of us. Yet, I see a disturbing problem creating an unfortunately negative influence on our society. The stories of Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg have become folklore to the point where they are unrelatable to the common man. The story of a Harvard dropout becoming a billionaire doesn’t help most people who are just trying to get to the next level in their newly started company.
The reason is we tend to compare ourselves to the other people, so stories about a billionaire doesn’t necessarily help a college grad taking their first step in creating their own startup. They need to hear realistic and relatable stories from people closer to their viewpoint of society. We need to do a better job of showcasing and publicizing early stage founders stories. We need to celebrate smaller wins, rather than wait till a founders sells their company for hundreds of millions of dollars. Again, this is one of the primary reasons we are starting Founders RAW, to share the truth about entrepreneurship and illustrate how founders can be relatable to others wanting to start their own business.
3) Events
Startup events like meetups, sponsored events and weekend gatherings are paramount to community engagement. We need more! The already established startup community needs to be able to open their arms to newbes who are shy or unwilling to open up in new environments.
Why? These are the places where people can get acquainted with their local startup communities, where they can meet other founders face to face, and possibly even meet their next co-founders. Also, events like Hackathons are a great way to grease the wheels of creativity, sometimes these are seminal events where an individual hatches first project. More events create more connections, which create more opportunities for innovation.
Encouraging entrepreneurship is great, but simple encouragement misses the point. We need to infect our family, friends and neighbors with the “go getta” disease if we are to survive the next century in the U.S.
Here’s an amazing video on design. Simply put, we shape our tools and our tools shape us. Something to keep in mind as you develop and design your solutions to the worlds problems.
A 21 year old Stanford grad recently raised $25 million before even launching his payments company. It was said to be the largest seed round of funding in Silicon Valley history.
This, for him and his other founders, was a terrible mistake. Before I go into the reasons why let’s talk in broader strokes about what the first early years of growth of a company should be.
Initially, you have an idea (a hypothesis) and you sketch it out on a napkin. You then determine who else you need on your team – go recruit them – and establish the founding group of 3 or 4 people. After that, you build a prototype as quick as possible and you get it into customers or users hands. Once released, you observe the usage, gauge what’s working and what’s not, keep what’s working and toss what’s not and iterate as quick as possible.
All the while, you keep your team small, lean and working efficiently running like hell and trying to keep the wheels on the car.
All this could take anywhere between 6 months and 2 years – maybe longer – but it’s the most important time in the company’s history because this is where you are testing things to find the “secret sauce” and how repeatable it can be. Before leaving this phase you should experience a massive uptick in growth, proving you actually have something worth investing in. That, or the reality is you just have an idea but you don’t have anything people will use/buy yet.
I explain this because it is not how Clinkle’s, the startup I mention above, story unfolds. From my understanding – and I don’t have all the facts for sure – is they have been working on this concept for some capacity for almost 2 years, already have roughly 50 employees and just raised $25 million all the while with no product launched.
The crazy thing is the list of investors is star-studded; they are A list investors who have backed many other successful technology companies. I don’t blame Clinkle for being naive and short sighted when you have these types of people begging you to take their money.
But the reality is they just signed their companies life over to the devil.
The devil? Yes, they have entered startup hell.
At this point, some simple math and logic can explain. By taking $25 million this early, they just lost all leverage with investors. They also just put the horse before the cart. When raising money at an early stage, a startup generally gives away anywhere between 20 – 40% of their company. So, if they raised $25 million and gave away 25% of the company, it’s fair to say this unlaunched company is valued at $100 million post money.
You read that right – $100 million valuation for a startup that hasn’t even put out a product. This is absurd and it’s a terrible situation for any founder to put themselves in.
You might say that’s too high. Okay, so maybe it is but given this much invested this early, I have a hard time seeing investors with less than that amount so it’s fair to see the investors share 20% on the low end.
Also, it now raises the exit question. Given such high investment it now means Clinkle will have to exit for north of $100 million to simply not lose any investor money. More likely, a $200 or $300m exit would be needed for VC economics to work. This is not an easy task at all. A nice $50 million acquisition will now be seen as utter failure. You don’t think investors wouldn’t block an acquisition offer to sell at a decent price, because it would be bad for their return?
Another thing to consider, down rounds. Raising this much money and allowing for at least some sort of valuation on the company (even if it was completed using convertible notes there still is an implied valuation) now sets the bar for future fundraising. Basically, Clinkle just did the equivalent of making their first skydive the Felix Baumgardner Skydive from space. It’s a bit difficult to repeat this feat.
More to the point, if Clinkle stumbles at all with during their first $25 million and they don’t have out of this world user adoption, they will be facing a down round of funding – meaning they will need to raise another round of funding at a lower company valuation than the previous raise. The result strips out founders ownership and gravely demotivates the entire team.
Look, I have no idea if Clinkle will be successful or not, they might end up the new Paypal or Square for all we know. But make no mistake, these are very important founder lessons for a few reasons.
Founders’ best asset is time, in the sense that if they can buy themselves more time to figure stuff out they generally do figure it out. They key is to figure it out while still retaining the highest percentage of your company possible. But when you raise $25 million right out of the gate you are not afforded that luxury. Investors will rake you over the coals if you slip up and not perform. The problem is Clinkle has no idea how the market will adapt and adopt their product. That’s what raising a smaller seed round over the first few years and growing naturally affords.
Secondly, the press will kill you if you come out of the gate doing something like this. Do you want to be known as the next Color (who basically did the same thing) for the entire history of the company? People love to find the next thing or person to pick on, and as a founder it’s not smart to bring this unwanted attention to your already stressful life.
The lesson here is – mo money, mo problems. If you raise money at all you should raise enough for money for what you need for the next 12-18 months and be strong enough to say no to investors who don’t have your best interests in mind.
That, or sign your company over to the devil.
I am pleased to announce today we are releasing my first book, published through Hyperink.
It comes in ebook format, with content adapted from posts originating on this blog. I cover topics ranging from leadership, founding experiences, to dealing with uncertainty and doubt. Go ahead, don’t be shy… give it a purchase and see what happens next!
It’s called The Agony and Ecstasy of Entrepreneurship. Here’s where you can buy it for only $5.95:
Once upon a time there was a world where you went to school, earned a degree, graduated with honors and went straight into a 35-year career with one company. Simple was your life. They treated you right; you worked your way up the company ladder toward senior management; and when you retired they took care of you through your golden years. That was then.
This is now.
Nothing is guaranteed and we’re all fighting for our own scraps today. The world has changed, and your life now depends on you navigating the professional world with a new set of skills and talents. Whether you are starting your own company or joining a large corporation, today’s world demands you to be entrepreneurial in everything you do—fighting tooth and nail for new customers, innovating around creative ideas and new business models, networking with others, and understanding we now live in a fluid and ever-changing world economy where thousands are all elbowing for one job opening.
So what makes you unique in this new world?
What follows has been adapted from my blog, So Entrepreneurial, and placed into book format. They are my thoughts and musings on all things entrepreneurial, meant to help you understand what it takes and how to think like an entrepreneur in today’s world. Far from perfect and by no means the only way to go about the journey, they represent my lessons taken straight from the trenches. Since my thoughts originated as blog posts it’s best to take them piecemeal, maybe even digesting just a few topics each day. You will find my main perspectives are around mobile, digital and internet technologies, but the principles can be applied to any other entrepreneurial focus.
I am not bashful in saying entrepreneurship is not easy—in fact it is extremely difficult. Yet for many reasons it’s probably one of the most rewarding pursuits in the world. You will find straightforward talk, deep thinking and at times uncomfortable topics discussed with authenticity and honesty in hopes to educate the less familiar on the ups and downs of life as a founder. If anything, I’m sure it will lend itself to some entertaining reading.
Your own agony and ecstasy of entrepreneurship will rock your world more than you ever imagined, my hope is that by sharing my thoughts and experiences it might help you prepare for—and even celebrate—entrepreneurship in some small way. If you feel so inclined, shoot me an email and share your own entrepreneurial story.
Are robots set to take over our society?
Probably.
It is a scary thought to say the least, especially when you consider the Singularity, or what Ray Kurzweil believes is the date when computing power eclipses the intelligence of the human brain. Basically, at that time the capacity of a machine will be greater than a human mind and they will be able to think for themselves.
So I guess we will need to learn how to live with them or we’re pretty much screwed.
Jon Evans wrote a very intriguing post on TechCrunch titled After Your Job is Gone. In it he explains how technical advancements are continuing at such a rapid pace that very soon you just might find yourself out of a job since a robot can do what you do more efficiently and at a a very reduced cost. Actually, he dives deeper into what we are seeing today to illustrate this is already happening in many different industries.
Think you’re safe because you don’t work in a factory? Guess again. “In a move that could put millions of teenagers around the world out of their first job, Momentum Machines is creating a hamburger-making machine that churns out made-to-order burgers,” reports Gizmag. A Cornell robot can learn how and when to pour you a beer. Well, never mind food service, how about social services? …Oh. Other robots have been shown “wiping the mouth of a disabled man and adjusting a blanket.”
You should read the piece, he also taps into the inevitable widening division between the elite wealthy, high tech class and the poor majority. The picture he paints is not pretty.
I want to stress again that this is only the beginning — that as software eats the world, as Marc Andreessen put it, this two-track economy will grow ever more divergent around the planet. The relatively few people fortunate enough to work in technology (or have the capital to invest in it) will grow steadily wealthier, even as more and more jobs around the world are replaced by software and drones and robots.
I generally agree with his stance – basically you are fighting for your job job every day and eventually you will lose the battle. Not to a human, but to a machine.
What I don’t agree with is his torch-the-earth view of how WE ALL are pretty much screwed.
I don’t think ALL jobs are not lost, but I do believe you are screwed if you have a job where a task or skillset is the premise of your position. Do you do something that can be automated in a certain way? Do you complete a task in a day that could possibly be completed in a few minutes by a programmed machine?
If you do a job which is judged by time, speed, accuracy or many other attributes that an algorithm can optimize, yes you are screwed.
So what are you do to?
Well, don’t just sit there and cry, or just try to deal with it. I suggest you pull back your perspective and look for your answer within the fundamental differences between machines and humans.
Human – human interaction will never be replicated.
What robots will never do is employ Leadership over humans. It’s simply impossible. Leadership requires such a complex ingredient of human intelligence (IQ), Social Intelligence (SI), Emotional Intelligence (EQ), situational awareness, cognitive functionality, amongst other nuances of human life.
Even if Ray Kurzweil is right and we’ll see a time where the two are simply equal in computational power, humans will simply refuse to follow machines. We yearn for people; beings who have feelings and care about our well being and who will lead us towards prosperity.
The human race will always be in short supply for quality leaders. We needed them in tribal times as hunter gatherers and we’ll need them as the digital future takes hold right in front of our very eyes.
So if you want to save yourself and your employable future, you need to think long and hard about what you do. What makes you unique? Are you indispensable? Can you think critically and influence others in your way of thinking?
What do you do that no robot could ever replace? What intagible qualitites do you posses which a company large or small – today or next millennia – will pay you top dollar to do for them?
Answer that and you’re set for life.
Image cortesy of Flickr user epSos.de.
So Entrepreneurial 
