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1/ I flashed back to 1994 when I heard Elon Musk say recently: "If you need encouraging words, don't do a startup."
I was in that situation in 1994 and for me doing a "zero to one" startup was a mission: bring the benefits of broadband networks to every place on Earth.
I was in that situation in 1994 and for me doing a "zero to one" startup was a mission: bring the benefits of broadband networks to every place on Earth.
2/ When someone like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos sets out on a mission not primarily driven by economic returns the world will benefit from positive externalities of the inevitable innovations that result from the work. Bezos is a example of a missionary. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/02/09/amazon-bezos-blue-origin/
3/ Both Elon and Bezos know that BIG changes happen faster if the activity has positive economics. It isn't that return on investment isn't important, but that profit and free cash flow enable the mission to achieve scale. Bill Gates believes this about achieving scale too.
4/ "Doing really great things is hard. And doing great things
where you're basically breaking ground and being innovative, is even harder. If you don't have the perseverance to last through an ordeal, to go through the valley of death, you don't make it." https://www.infiniteloopspodcast.com/tren-griffin-escaping-gravity-ep26/
where you're basically breaking ground and being innovative, is even harder. If you don't have the perseverance to last through an ordeal, to go through the valley of death, you don't make it." https://www.infiniteloopspodcast.com/tren-griffin-escaping-gravity-ep26/
4/ If you follow or invest in a mercenary founder, the odds are higher that when the going gets tough that they're going to quit and go on to the next thing. A missionary more often achieves the mission, because passion helps them endure a messy middle. https://25iq.com/2018/09/29/lessons-from-scott-belskys-book-the-messy-middle/
5/ Bezos: "I pictured myself 80 years old, thinking back on my life in a quiet moment of reflection. I wanted not to have regrets. I knew for a fact, I have this idea, and if I don’t try, I’m going to regret having never tried.” https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/02/what-jeff-bezos-told-employees-about-stepping-down-as-ceo.html
Not everyone's a missionary
Not everyone's a missionary
6/ "If with the help of the teammates at Blue Origin we put in place the heavy-lifting infrastructure that made access to space cheap and inexpensive, so the next generation could have the entrepreneurial explosion, like I saw on the internet, I’ll be a very happy 80-year-old."
7/ It is hard to explain what a magical year 1994 was and almost equally the six following years. It was an entrepreneurial explosion that created a massive tailwind. There was zero probability I was going to miss that experience and not be able to share stories about it someday.
8/ What late 1993 felt like was that there was a MASSIVE typhoon called the Internet coming very soon that was going to create equally large opportunities to create something truly great. Jeff Bezos wanting the make 1994 happen again is a worthy and almost nostalgic mission.
9/ The time when you feel most alive are when you are doing something like this picture. For me it was starting with nothing and trying to try to it into something. But circling all the way back to the first tweet in this thread, if you need to be encouraged to do this, don't.
