The Journey

After you've done a couple of startups (whether successful or otherwise), you quickly learn whether this is in your blood.

I'm not sure for me whether its thrill, risk, challenge, opportunity, or belonging that is the strongest motivator. After speaking with many other 'tribesmen', its pretty clear that all of these play a part in the decision of those of us that stay 'in the game'. For most of us, its something we were born to do.

But let me make distinction :- I think startup entrepreneurs are made, not born. I believe we are the product of our environments, and are a breed apart from the freedom seeking (but structure requiring) traditional entreprenuers, like a typical small business person or franchisee.

There are similarities, yes. But substantial differences too. The franchisee seeks a brightly-lit highway to follow, whereas for us, a dim, hardly-trod path is enough.

For them, the pre-existing tools, the certainty of outcomes, and the mechanics of the process.

For us, like the explorers of the new world, a glimmer of opportunity, a faint light of hope, and the stories of the path ahead from our fellow travellers, is often enough.

Small wonder that many of us never quite make it to journey's end. And yet, that is part of the promise - that we could succeed where others before us have failed.

"Everything we enjoy in society is a direct result of the accumulated learning derived from millions of mistakes. No mistakes, no progress. Yet we still look at making a mistake as embarrassing, wrong, an act bordering on sin. If you're making mistakes, it means you're doing new things, taking risks, stretching yourself. You're growing, learning. And isn't the journey, the experience, not the destination, what life is all about?." -Robert White