Passion and Enjoyment are Key Indicators for Startup Success
Summary:
Passion and enjoyment play a crucial role in determining whether a startup should persevere or cease operations.
If founders are still having fun and genuinely enjoy what they are doing, working with their co-founders, and interacting with customers, it may be a sign to keep going. On the other hand, if the negative implications of the business are overwhelming and relationships are strained, it might be time to consider moving on.
Successful startups often share a deep love for their customers, product, and the problem they are solving, as demonstrated by the example of Airbnb's founders who cherished their startup despite facing challenges.
Ultimately, genuine passion and connection to the work and the team can serve as a strong indicator to persist in the face of adversity.
Transcript:
Speaker 1
I think this is a nuanced question. And it's hard for me to say something on a podcast that will actually be useful to people. But here's here's a couple of thoughts. One, are you still having fun? Do you still enjoy doing what you're doing? Do you enjoy spending time with your co founders? You know, like, is this actually a fun thing you're doing? And if the answer is, is yes, I would tend to lean on the keep going. And then if it's more of, wow, this is actually profoundly affecting me in negative way in my relationships with people in my life and my team, you know, I don't really want to work with My co founder anymore and things like that, then I would lean on the pro. We don't do it anymore. Something that a lot of the folks that turn it around have in common is they actually do love their customers and they love their product. And again, if you in the Airbnb story, again, you know, it really well, but they really liked Airbnb. Like, and they liked working with each other and they liked the first hosts that they met and they knew all their names. You know what I'm saying? Like they were actually, they loved their startup, even though it was going bad. And so that's kind of to me a signal to keep going is that you really, really love what you're doing and the people you're doing it with and you love your customers and you love the problem Versus what you're just like, yeah, I could care less about any of those things. (Time 0:09:01)
Successful Pivots Build on Prior Knowledge
Summary:
A successful pivot in business involves transitioning to a new idea that gets warmer instead of colder, leveraging expertise from previous ventures.
Pivots should build upon prior learnings and skills, ensuring a smoother transition and higher chances of success.
Transcript:
Speaker 2
Wow. Oh, wait, so you're saying Brexit was a VR.
Speaker 1
They thought was really high tech. They want to do a really high tech startup. And so they're like, we're going to build a new VR headset. And you know, they were good programmers, but they just didn't know anything about optics or the things you might want to be an expert in to build a headset.
Speaker 2
Wow. That's an amazing story. It's a great segue to another theme that emerged from talking to founders about advice that you've shared. A lot of people say it. Tell me you were kind of the king of the pivot of helping people figure out how to pivot. I'm curious just what you've seen makes a good pivot.
Speaker 1
Usually a successful pivot gets warmer instead of colder from what you're an expert at and somehow builds on what you learned on the prior idea. Right. And so in the case of Brexit was let's, they had worked on a FinTech company in Brazil when they were younger. (Time 0:14:08)
