Entrepreneurship #2: "We'll Figure It Out"

I'm shamelessly stealing my friend's (and a bunch of seasoned stoners') go-to line here, but existing stereotypes - blame the Valley - and an incipient entrepreneurship culture have made it indispensable.

"We need to get 10,000 downloads by January. How are we going to get there?"
"We'll figure it out."

"Hey, we have only 20,000 bucks! How are we going to pay rent next month?"
"We'll figure it out."

"What time do you want to leave for the movie?
"We'll figure it out."

"Dude, she's really hot!"
"We'll figure it out."

And so on and so forth. It is the ultimate fallback line, which acts like a safety net for failing businesses, time and money crunches, seemingly hopeless situations, falling aeroplanes... When the average human being is about to push the panic button, the entrepreneur begins to figure it out.

Of course, there needs to be action beyond these words; otherwise, failure is certain. These words cannot be empty. "Figuring it out" is an essential skill that any freelancer, entrepreneur, person in an unstructured business/activity or leader who is pushing the boundaries of human progress must learn. In a regular job, and in several other day-to-day activities, this process can be avoided by a hand-over.

When another human being has already done what you are about it do, then your task can be simplified by something businesses have charmingly termed Knowledge Transfer or KT. Good businesses have expansive databases to document their experiences, problems, solutions, capabilities, competition, weaknesses, clients, random visitors... Outside these organizations, there is currently no (effective) database; without these databases, one is always flying blind.

During this blind flight, it is important to find solutions to brand new problems all the time. There is no one you can "escalate" the matter to either (God isn't a good listener). Sometimes, these problems are solved by asking people who are willing to help, and even as I write this, I'm pleasantly surprised about the number of people who are willing to help. Entrepreneurs who have nothing in common with you, for some strange reason, care for their creed. They will help you. (This is not the case in most other fields. For example, in writing, the most common first-instinct of a critic, editor or fellow writer is to destroy a manuscript on the pretext of providing constructive feedback.)

In other cases, simply asking questions won't solve the problem. In order to figure it out, a best-fit solution is chosen, implemented and tracked. Sometimes, it works. At other times, the figuring-process continues.

I think a thin line separates excitement from panic. When you're figuring it out, you're always walking that line, confidently.