Do you need a 'lighthouse' or 'a torch'?

Traditional wisdom says that to build a successful startup, that you must put your head down and relentlessly build, create, engage, pitch, compete, push, test, iterate, sell, etc etc, for 3-5 years, until you've achieved some measure of success, and then you can give back to your local startup community.

That is, become a lighthouse - "the shining light on the cliffs", to help others avoid the rocks of their journey.
This premise assumes that most of the people are already out on boats, and 'out to sea', and not walking through rough terrain on the land with no light to guide them. Which is often wrong.

Like explorers of old, entrepreneurs who've already launched their 'ships', have already hired their boats, financed their journey,  assembled their crews, charted their courses on maps, loaded the supplies for the journey and consulted others who've made the voyage before them. They know where they are going, and why.

However, the majority of startup ideas people are still on the cliffs above the shore. They still have all that to do before them. But first, they still have to clamber down through rocky cliffs just to reach the harbour. Most wont make it this far- many will lose their way and become lost in the night. Some will give up and turn back towards home, or lose their grip and fall, with their hopes & dreams dashed on the rocks far below.

Some will end up at the wrong harbour. Others will arrive, with no money to hire the crew & boats that they need; others still will find no suitable boat available, or that the journey they've planned isn't possible, viable or worthwhile. 
(There may be another post in this about pirates, mutinies, and ships lost at sea, but I'll save that for another day).

So I'll come back to this story in a moment.

We are building our startup and you want to do ....'What'?
"Yes, we are right in the middle of the build phase of our startup, and I want to put aside some time to help grow the startup community", was the conversation I had with one of my co-founders.

I had just told him that I had started up, not just a local meetup to help other startups, but also structured it as a 'group anywhere' (to encourage others to syndicate it) AND a LinkedIn group for online collaboration.

In order for our own venture to succeed, we also need as many of our brethren as possible, to reach the harbour, prepared and willing to continue their own journey.

They first need torches to make it down safely from the cliffs, before they need lighthouses.
Not only do we have all the torches we need, but we have torches to share. And to help our fellow journeyman, all we have to hand them out, and light them. (For some of you younger folk, there were torches of a different sort, in the days before batteries).

He looked at me incredulously for a minute..... And then the light went on in him too. 
So are you 'sharing your light' whilst still on the shore, or are you waiting until you've returned from your successful voyage?

If you want to shine your light, and are nearby, join us at Startling Startup Ideas Group Melbourne.

This group is "Q&A for Startups". The first local group (Melbourne) is now live, and we expect to begin planning our first events soon.

http://meetup.com/Startling-Startup-Ideas-Group-Melbourne
It's based around user-driven topics to help you start, launch or grow, so tell us -
-which topics are most important to you and
-which ones that you want first (and suggest others), decided by group voting.
For those of you that are in interstate or overseas locations, there's also an opportunity to join an online conversation, or expand the concept via syndicated meetups, so don't feel left out.
You can join & share the online conversation at http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Startling-Startup-Ideas-Group-6669314
Or, if you believe as we do, and would like to expand the face-to-face concept, reach out to me on Twitter @That_StartUpGuy or visit http://www.meetup.com/Startling-Startup-Ideas/
This is an initiative that is being supported by my newest startup, StartUp Foundation, which is 5 Stage venture Accelerator for experienced professionals. 

At StartUpFoundation.com.au, you can find out the 8 success factors which make the difference between massive success & failure in a startup - and they have almost nothing to do with which 'methodology' you use. Lets help you take your great ideas, and use them to help you break free from your day job and make that 'Leap of Faith'.