Entrepreneurship #3: Cofounder Dating (1)

As an entrepreneur, most knowledge comes in the form of trickle-down knowledge: blogs, entrepreneurship websites, rich and famous entrepreneurs, and folks who are perceived to have earned the right to voice an opinion.

Almost everyone will tell you about the importance of a core-team - most importantly, of a cofounder. A cofounder is probably the most significant relationship one develops outside of blood-ties and sex, or so they tell you. There is, obviously, no way to validate this when one first starts-up. I always thought I'd find out when I got there.

Why do you need cofounders?

While businesses with single founders have gone on to become smashing hits (e.g. Dell, Tumblr, Alibaba...), these are the outliers, the anomalies of the business world. Two heads are better than one for a variety of reasons: creativity, people-management, devolution of responsibility... But the most important role of a cofounder is support.

The media is full of success stories and unicorns, and one or two stories of past failures of successful entrepreneurs; the reality is quite the opposite. Failure is an everyday commodity, while success is a rare, incredibly satisfying, life-changing event. In an unstructured business, your life can change in a second, and therefore you live in hope.

In this brutal world, it is lonely at the top. I have seen CXOs give clear instructions to their employees while being terribly confused themselves. No money to pay rent next month, but you recruit a new developer. You count on a deal that may go through, and relocate the entire team.

Responsibility takes a heavy toll on the mind. Decisions that go wrong must be quickly forgiven, and viewed only as lessons. When there is no one else to turn to, these become incredibly difficult.

You'll be surprised to know how many founders go into depression.

Commitment is everything

A romance can go through frequent break-ups and make-ups, and actions that break trust in the moment, and still end "happily ever after". A private limited company is far more fragile.

While people talk of complimentary skill-sets and understanding, the most important factor remains trust. "Will he or she stand by the commitment, when things aren't too nice? (And believe me, they won't be nice for a long time.)" Promises are easy to make and easier to break. Such commitment, usually coming at a high opportunity-cost, requires tremendous motivation. At the end of the day, it is beautiful to witness an idea gain shape, momentum and eventually, glory.

While I have always believed the "startup scene" is overhyped, I now concede this: entrepreneurs are among the most energetic, motivated and committed people I have come across. And that, perhaps, is the only reason why a group of individuals, with vastly different methods and goals, sticks together, and then maybe, one day, builds a Unicorn.

Three Levels of Perception: How to become a Zen-master?

Do you remember how we first read books? Those hard-bound things of wonder, with fair, blonde princesses and square-chested knights who would slay dragons and breathe life into the damsel with a kiss… Do you remember Amar Chitra Katha, and the legends of kings and demigods? And then Enid Blyton and her Pixie folks, and later still, Harry Potter, Frodo Baggins, Hercule Poirot…

LEVEL ONE

I don’t know about you, but I read them the same way a devout would read the Bible or the Quran: as gospel. It was written; therefore, it had to be true. This is the first level of perception. When confronted with an experience, we begin by reacting to it, with the body, mind or some combination of the two.

In the first level, the experience itself is flawless. The book is comprehensive, the movie is complete, and the person you talk to is perfect. At this level, we are easily influenced by the permanence and immutability of the stimulus. When our parents said something to us, it had to be correct; it had to be good advice. When a history textbook said that Shivaji was good and Aurangzeb was bad, that had to be correct as well.

LEVEL TWO

Beyond this basic understanding of the world, we begin to question the experience itself. Maybe the book was flawed, or the movie had terrible plot-holes… Perhaps, the person giving us advice is as confused as us.

At this level of understanding, we begin punching holes into theories, books, people and everything that isn’t the Self. We realize that textbooks are flawed because of their own skewed viewpoints, we understand that people have their own vested interests, and that movie-scripts are often written by idiots. At this level, we begin trusting our own previous experiences and the cumulative derived wisdom from those.

We pitch our opinions against those of another. “I think that the eagle could have flown to Mordor and dropped the ring into the fires of Mount Doom”. “I think that Genesis is a bad idea, because I believe in the Big Bang, in evolution, and in scientifically proven concepts”. “I think what you did was really shitty”. Our teenage and early twenties are often about this level of understanding.

LEVEL THREE

After we have spent enough energy fighting with the world, we wonder why we perceive the world in a particular way. What are these lenses through which we observe the world? How do we build our own personal rules?

With a third-person-insight into the prevailing conditions of the mind, we dissect not only why we act the way we act, but also why others act the way they do. In books, movies and works of art, we understand why we perceive a plot-hole where others (including the writer) possibly do not.

It is at this level that I think we are truly incapable of intense hatred or passion. If it can be explained, one can do away with a primal emotional reaction. We begin to see the code that governs this dysfunctional world, and keeps it stuck together in this precarious way.

At this stage, we are far less susceptible to intense life-changing moments. But we become Zen-masters, who can control the flow of water and the motion of the Moon. At this point of balance and peace, the will has a real shot at controlling our own actions.

Note: These levels of understanding are infinite: each subsequent level offers a unique, defining insight into the machinations of the world.

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.