Feeling great - how do I do this more?

So you’ve had a great experience this Startup Weekend and come across an amazing idea. How do you take the next step and make this real?

Do it now!

There’s never been a better time to do a startup. And I think there are few places better to do it than Portland. So it’s easy right?

Not many places better than... Mt Hood? Er, no, I mean Portland. Of course.

Uh, why not?

You’ve already taken the first step - you’re here after all - stop and savor that feeling in your stomach. Excitement, yes, but also…. fear yes. Nervousness. Wow I don’t know where to begin. Let’s explore that.

Is it really that easy?

I mean we can't all be billionaires can we?

Train Wreck

Doing a startup is really, really hard right?

Get Used To It

Fear drives a lot of people’s behavior, a ton of people. We talk about it a lot.

To be human is to be anxious. That's reality.

Why?

Why does it have to be this way?

Reason #1 Danger Avoidance

It’s relatively easy to be fearless - think of your youth for instance :-) - but there’s a reason why we have this fear - it’s to avoid dangerous & fatal things. fearless == easy to be complacent

Reason #2 Ego

Fear is also tied to ego - don’t want to be seen as a failure, the setbacks, other folks were right.

Reason #3 We know it’s gonna be a challenge

Deep down inside, we know there’s a high risk of failure - some stats on startups - and it’s a lot of hard work. No vacations, no new clothes, lots of long hours, less time with family & friends. Roller coast of feelings.

"Whoever has learned to be anxious in the right way has learned the ultimate. … Anxiety is freedom’s possibility, and only such anxiety is through faith absolutely educative, because it consumes all finite ends and discovers all their deceptiveness."
- Vigilius Haufniensis

"We have nothing to fear but fear itself"
- FDR

Still want in?

:-) You can leave if you like...?

OK, we can’t live with it, we can’t live without it

So how do we own the fear, without it controlling us? Focus on something else: your compass, your vocation.

Why are you even here?

Time between birth, now, death - what kind of human do you want to be? This is your compass. You can go round the biggest mountain and always have your eye on the goal when you have a compass. This is sometimes called ‘vocation’ or ‘vision’. It’s real, and it’s why you are here.

Desire, Hunger

You've really really got to want to do it. Or else, all the hard work will grind you down.

It’s the Hardest Thing

Vocation is very hard to find - it’s like a timid animal in the woods. But you all have it. Every one of you who took part this weekend has a vision in their heads of a better world thanks to your idea.

Top Tips for Articulating your Vision

- Spend lots of time with other founders. Discussion with trusted ones is a form of solitude, working out your thoughts.
- Practice the pitching of your business model. Do as many contests and public fora as you can find.
- Introspection. Meditate, do yoga, whatever gives you quiet time to reflect and get past that tricky ego of yours. Your compass is like a timid animal in the woods.

Some reading

- “Let Your Life Speak” - Parker Palmer
- Jerry Colonna & Brad Feld blogs

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
- Teddy Roosevelt

For Dealing With Fear

It’s not called failure until you stop trying. Find some advisors/mentors/other founders. Practice first (we’re hiring!).

Go out there and do it!

The world is being taken over by folks who can fail as fast as possible, who are psychologically bound up in testing their ideas as rapidly and cheaply as possible. I’m so humbled to among you. You are the future. Go make it happen.