Anything that won’t sell, I don’t want to invent. Its sale is proof of utility, and utility is success.
“
| — | Thomas Edison from Google Books |
Why I Think of Myself as an Inventor, Not an Entrepreneur
I rarely think of entrepreneurs as inventors, which is a shift in perception compared to just 20 years ago. I suppose it has something to do with how much innovation today comes from a semi-intangible realm - the realm of software, the internet, and information - compared to the more tangible realm of lightbulbs and bifocals. Edison and Franklin were thought of as inventors first and entrepreneurs second, if they were thought of entrepreneurs at all.
Furthermore, Society’s prototypical inventor is the person who assembled the product that ended up in the hands of customers. No one thinks of the “business” person behind the scenes who established the company, set up the team, raised the capital, etc as an inventor.
Here’s a test for you - Have you ever thought of Sam Walton, Ted Turner, or Mary Kay Ash as inventors? I didn’t think so.
Let’s change our vocabulary for a minute. Look at it this way -
Sam Walton is an inventor. He invented the big retail company.
Ted Turner is an inventor. He invented the modern media company.
Mary Kay Ash is an inventor. She invented a new kind of direct sales company.
Why is changing the language such a big deal? Because we’re more willing to accept failure as part of the inventor’s path to success than we are the entrepreneur’s.
Oh I know everyone talks about how most startups fail and you have to be willing to accept failing over and over again, but there is a huge psychological gap in the subtlety of looking at what you’re building as a new invention vs. a new business.
Edison’s famous quote which by now has become a cliche - “I have not failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” - sums up how we perceive inventors. On the other hand, if Mary Kay Cosmetics hadn’t worked, would we have painted Ash as succeeding in finding one way to sell cosmetics that won’t work?
No. We would have just said she failed.
The reason this mental exercise has become important to me is because Pocket Tales hasn’t progressed as planned. Our actual path hasn’t even resembled Plan B, Plan C, or even Plan D. Additionally, the “failures” aren’t coming from likely places. It’s not that we’ve put a product out into the world and it got rejected. We haven’t gotten that far yet. If we had, it’d be easy to see the parallels between building a lightbulb that “failed” and needing to take it back to the shop and try again, or “iterate.” That type of failure is perfectly understandable and socially acceptable.
Memorable quotes from the interview:
“One thing I did at my second company was to put white sticky sheets on the wall, and I put everyone’s name on one of the sheets, and I said, “By the end of the week, everybody needs to write what you’re C.E.O. of, and it needs to be something really meaningful.” And that way, everyone knows who’s C.E.O. of what and they know whom to ask instead of me.”
“I keep my eye out for someone who has achieved a lot, so they’ve been a great athlete or on a great team, but then something didn’t go quite right, and they’re still very hungry and want to be C.E.O. of something. I like to bet on people, especially those who have taken risks and failed in some way, because they have more real-world experience. And they’re humble.”
Watch the downside; the upside will take care of itself.
“
| — | Marty Gruss from Malcom Gladwell’s article “The Sure Thing: How Entrepreneur’s Really Succeed” |
I don’t think there are people who are just better at startups…I think that’s a character flaw, and I have it. I have sold all my companies, and I wish I hadn’t sold a single one. No matter how much money you make you’ll be surprised at how bad you feel later. I sold them because it got really hard. But a lot of times there are easy things you can do to fix that without selling the company.
“
| — | Wences Casares as quoted in a TechCrunch article |
Great entrepreneurs are hard to work for. They jerk you around, change things up, and are always pulling the rug out from under you.
“
| — | Fred Wilson in his blog post about “Action Oriented.” Read the whole article for other great insights (and quotes). |
Valley Culture has an unwritten rule that if you don’t like a job, or if you think your company isn’t going anywhere, you leave. Instead of hanging around the office whining, you walk out the door and find something better and cooler to do.
“
| — | Paul Boutin in a Wired Magazine post |
The Most Misunderstood Poem of All Time is Well Understood by Entrepreneurs
You know that poem by Robert Frost? The one about the “road less travelled”? Do you know what it’s called?
It’s not called “the road less travelled”…and for good reason.
It seems like everyone loves that poem and it’s because everyone can relate to it. Everyone dreams of wanting to be a pioneer. Everyone wants to do something that’s never been done before. Everyone wants to be first and to blaze a new path.
The problem is everyone doesn’t read so carefully.
The poem alludes to “the road less travelled” but it’s actually called “The Road Not Taken” because that’s what it’s about. In one sentence - It’s about a person who reaches two roads and although he wishes he could take both, knows he can only take one. Here’s a startling fact for you - he doesn’t even choose the road less travelled.
Let’s take a look at the poem:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Like I said, a guy reached two roads and couldn’t travel both. Now check out these lines:
You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.
“
| — | Steve Jobs in a commencement address at Stanford University |
