That’s the entrepreneur. She can never resist a new opportunity, especially when it’s risky.
She’s the girl wearing jeans and a casual but stylish blazer while meeting with investors. She’s on her laptop at the coffee shop down the street. Her coffee is cold because she’s kind of mentally occupied. Lost in a world where anything’s possible and each no gets you one step closer to a yes. Sit down and chat. (She’ll give you a look because people are always sitting down to chat with her.) Ask her about her idea, product or service. Let her talk about product-market fit, angel investors, and IPO’s. If you dare to interrupt her she’ll give you a look, as most girls who create do not like to be interrupted. Try giving her a problem to fix, but only if you really want it fixed and fixed right. Ask her for her help or advice.
”—Date an Entrepreneur – Female Edition | hp (via noreaster)
Beautiful
“Indiana Jones is actually a good example here. He’s thrust into the dark. Can’t see. What does he do? You ask: What do I have on me? Where are my feet? Not going to jump around. I’ll take a small step. OK, does it feel like I can take another step? Oh, on my belt I have a flashlight. Maybe that can help me a bit. You, playing Indiana Jones, know exactly how to get out of a dark hole. And these are exactly the rules you need to understand to take entrepreneurial action.
In the face of unknowability, what does rational behavior look like? Action. You can’t think your way into an unknowable future, so your only way forward is to act. How? Take small steps–not big leaps. Small steps. [Prior point: It is a myth that entrepreneurs are inclined to take huge risks; they are inclined to minimize risk.] Take a small step with what you have in hand. Limit the risk with each step. Then build off what you actually find from taking that step, whether good or bad, and would be nice to have some friends and resources standing by to help.“
… "They think ‘we can’t fail.’ We’ve been educated to believe that failure is a dirty word. That when people fail, we send them away and they disappear. ‘If you fail you go to the desert and don’t come back.’ But in reality, if you take a step and it doesn’t turn out how you expected, quite likely you just learned something that nobody else knows."
Found via @kende
Makes me think how settle should be the enemy not failure. I would much rather hear "I failed but tried again” instead of “I settled”.
Something I’m constantly reminded as I talk to friends in different industries. Don’t pitch ZocDoc as a technology company, it’s a healthcare company.