- Letter to a Friend
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- Billionaire's essential skill for startup success
Hey Friend,
Today, I have a question for you: What is entrepreneurship?
A lot of people would say it’s basically sales. If you define entrepreneurship as founding a company and needing to both sell a product/service and perhaps lead a team, then this seems like a strong contender.
I myself was looking at sales training programs to "prepare myself" (to the extent that one can) for entrepreneurship just a couple weeks ago.
However, since then, something has come up that has made me doubt this...simple...answer.
But before I get into that, I want to tell you a story that I think may lead you to similar doubts.
Let's get into it.
What I Learned From a Billionaire Entrepreneur
I took a class at Babson College (the "#1 entrepreneurship school") that I (and many others) believe was the #1 class for entrepreneurship. It was called the "Ultimate Entrepreneurship Challenge," and it was taught by successful entrepreneur (not academic) Len Green.
The general consensus was that he was something close to a billionaire, given his past companies and the fact that he flew in on his private jet once a week just to teach the class.
Regardless, he had been teaching this class at Babson for over 20 years and been an entrepreneur for over 50.
50 years of entrepreneurship experience. He probably knows what's important, right?
Well, if our earlier estimation was correct (that entrepreneurship is basically sales), then it should have resembled a sales class, right?
It was anything BUT a sales class.
Instead, it was the most ambiguous, open-ended, wild, and downright fun class that I have ever taken.
And if I were to break it down into one core skill that Len was trying to instill in us and get us to practice, it was this: Creative problem solving.
There was a negotiation exercise or two, and in some way we were always "selling" our ideas, but it never came in the format of writing out a sales script and presenting it.
Instead, some themes were: Non-conformity, attention-grabbing, "outside of the box" thinking, and communication.
This is what Len, after 50 years of entrepreneurship experience, decided was most important to "teach" to his students.
And I'm beginning to understand why.
Why Not Sales?
Here's a thought experiment: Can you be an incredible salesman AND a poor entrepreneur?
I think yes.
Fore example, what if you can sell anything, but you can't come up with an idea for what to sell yourself?
What is that core skill that is missing?
Creativity. Unconventionality. Opportunity-spotting. Problem-solving. Risk-tolerance. This is what Len was trying to teach us.
I remember asking him in the context of founding a tech startup, "What do we bring to the table? The coders are the ones building the thing. Why do they need us?"
His answer, in essence, was, "creativity."
Just because you have the skill set to build something, doesn't mean you know what to build. That's why a lot of engineers end up working for entrepreneurs.
(That, and the whole "risk" component. A lot of engineers are quite risk-averse in my experience.)
How Do You Practice This “Creativity”?
Maybe you agree with me, but you might say, “this sounds a lot less straightforward than learning sales…”
Well, here's an exercise for you to practice: Think of someone who you think you have no chance of getting in touch with, and try to get in touch with them.
I'm stealing this straight from Tim Ferriss, another successful entrepreneur who taught students and assigned this particular task, believing it would best set them up for an entrepreneurial life.
Why?
Ferriss: "I believe that success can be measured in the number of uncomfortable conversations you’re willing to have. I felt that if I could help students overcome the fear of rejection with cold-calling and cold e-mail, it would serve them forever."
“I participate in this contest every day,” said Ferriss. “I do what I always do: find a personal e-mail if possible, often through their little-known personal blogs, send a two- to three-paragraph e-mail which explains that you are familiar with their work, and ask one simple-to-answer but thought-provoking question in that e-mail related to their work or life philosophies. The goal is to start a dialogue so they take the time to answer future e-mails – not to ask for help. That can only come after at least three or four genuine e-mail exchanges.”
(My guess is that this skill set was rather important in his building an interview podcast with 1+ BILLION downloads...)
Notice, it's sales, but not brute-force "buy-my-product" sales. It's relationship-building.
It forces you to practice sales to some degree (certainly to face rejection), but also to be, you guessed it, creative.
What if they don't respond to your email? Do you give up? No, you find another way and keep finding other ways until you get to them.
Creative persistence.
Conclusion
That's it!
This is on my mind because I'm currently applying for a job in which this would be my main job, and it's really exciting.
Get paid to be creative and come up with bizarre ways to get in contact with people? Yes, please.
I'll keep y'all updated on the status, but until then, I hope you enjoyed this one.
As always, if anything in this email piqued your interest, shoot me a reply. I’d love to chat about it with you and see if we can’t both grow a little wiser.
Until next week,
Much love,
Ryan
P.S. Favorite Discoveries
What I'm reading:
The Republic by Plato. This one has SO much in it that it is impossible to describe it in a short blurb. However, as with most Plato, Socrates is trying to find out what virtue, particularly justice, is. In a way, trying to define entrepreneurship is reminding me a bit of this same endeavor.
It’s fascinating, albeit dense at times. I’m not sure if it’s the first Plato I’d recommend to someone, but it’s a classic for a reason.
A favorite quote:
“The heaviest penalty for declining to rule is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself.”
And…
“I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.”
What I'm listening to:
I’ve mentioned the Founders podcast many times. David Senra is the host, and here he is being interviewed on another one of my favorite entrepreneurship podcasts, My First Million.
They are both very bullish on podcasts, not just from a business perspective, but in terms of personal fulfillment, too.
This may or may not have been an influence in my doing something that I’ll let y’all know about next time…