The Challenge Is Motivation, Focus, and Effort
I should probably give an update on what I’m up to. I have not yet done so on my blog, and since this is my blog, it’s only appropriate that I at least explain something.
In January of 2008, I left my job at Microsoft to start a software company with Henry Cipolla, a classmate from my days at Boston University and also an ex-Microsoft employee. What we aim to develop is mostly a secret for now, but it will be on the web, and it will be targeted at consumers. It will rely on the wealth of social information hitting the web, and it will hopefully profoundly impact the lives of my family, friends, colleagues, and everyone else.
Looking back at my time at Microsoft, I spent two years and seven months working on storage technologies for Windows, being present for the final phase of Vista and Windows Server 2008. For more than half of that time I worked on the Volume Shadow Copy team, and I’m grateful for that. I’m especially proud of what we achieved for Windows Server 2008. Our team grew a lot during the last year of release, and it shows.
I left because I wanted to take on the challenge of starting my own software company. It’s always been a dream of mine. I did not leave because of any qualms with my job at Microsoft. In fact, I rather liked it. It is a great place to work, and if you land in a good group like I did, the people can be terrific. I gained valuable experience there, and it will certainly help me on the road ahead.
Looking forward to the startup, I have to be realistic. It’s a likely possibility that our first product may take years to get right, or it might be a downright failure. That means that what lies ahead isn’t just a technical challenge, it’s a challenge of motivation and persistence. You have to keep going, even when things are at their worst.
Paul Graham, a well known entrepreneur and venture capitalist at Y-Combinator, said it best in a speech given to his startups. I offer the following excerpt:
When startups die, the official cause of death is always either running out of money or a critical founder bailing. Often the two occur simultaneously. But I think the underlying cause is usually that they’ve become demoralized. You rarely hear of a startup that’s working around the clock doing deals and pumping out new features, and dies because they can’t pay their bills and their ISP unplugs their server.
Startups rarely die in mid keystroke. So keep typing!
Knowing that should help. If you know it’s going to feel terrible sometimes, then when it feels terrible you won’t think “ouch, this feels terrible, I give up.” It feels that way for everyone. And if you just hang on, things will probably get better. The metaphor people use to describe the way a startup feels is at least a roller coaster and not drowning. You don’t just sink and sink; there are ups after the downs.
Not only do you have to stay motivated, but you have to keep your focus. As he goes on to say:
The number one thing not to do is other things. If you find yourself saying a sentence that ends with “but we’re going to keep working on the startup,” you are in big trouble. Bob’s going to grad school, but we’re going to keep working on the startup. We’re moving back to Minnesota, but we’re going to keep working on the startup. We’re taking on some consulting projects, but we’re going to keep working on the startup. You may as well just translate these to “we’re giving up on the startup, but we’re not willing to admit that to ourselves,” because that’s what it means most of the time. A startup is so hard that working on it can’t be preceded by “but.”
Staying on task won’t be easy, especially when things just don’t seem to be working out. I know this, and I’m sure I’ll have to remind myself of it now and again.
While these are great points, I still can’t ignore the elephant in the room. Motivation and focus get you nowhere without persistent effort. This is going to come down to a lot of work - designing, late nights programming, trial and error marketing, financial planning, pitching to investors, networking - and none of it will be easy. The hope is that despite the difficulty it will be intensely rewarding, and I don’t just mean monetarily. Being a successful business owner with the ability to make decisions at every level - that’s what I mean.
I will close with a quote from Robert Greene that Henry recently brought to my attention. It’s a quote to live by in the coming months.
You are your own worst enemy. You waste precious time dreaming of the future instead of engaging in the present. Since nothing seems urgent to you, you are only half involved in what you do. The only way to change is through action and outside pressure. Put yourself in situations where you have too much at stake to waste time or resources - if you cannot afford to lose, you won’t. Cut your ties to the past; enter unknown territory where you must depend on your wits and energy to see you through. Place yourself on “death ground,” where your back is against the wall and you have to fight like hell to get out alive.