True conviction is rare. It takes an incredible amount of bravery to develop and throw yourself behind an idea or belief. Harder still if it's based on first principles thinking. But as with all things, there's a fine line - absolute conviction can limit breadth and put on blinders but can also be an enormous driver of momentum. This is something I think about and struggle with often.
When I'm asked if I will ever be a founder, my answer is usually a rough arrangement of the following:
- I don't think I'd make a great founder because I'd start a company for the wrong reasons.
- I'd need to find a problem I really care about first.
- I don't have a good enough understanding of reality or first principles thinking. I need to understand the world better first.
The main thing stopping me from starting a company it seems, is lack of conviction about the problems in the world and my own desire to commit for 10+ years solving that problem.
But a while back, a founder mentioned something interesting to me.
Their company had raised a 5 million seed round from a Tier-1 VC fund. On the surface, the product is quite mundane - it's in the B2B identity space.
Interestingly, this was not company or idea they started with. Instead, it was the first thing that worked. Then, over time, as they continued to explore, build and get feedback, they came to love the problem and the product. It is a technically challenging problem, and the startup became an opportunity to build exciting technical solutions with good, talented people. They learned to conviction and passion for their company. Not the other way around.
I see this alot in small business owners too. Take my family's industry (Scrap Metal Recycling) for example. My father and his business partner love what they do. But to an outsider, who would want to go into scrap metal recycling? It's dirty, hard and unforgiving work. My father entered the business because it was the first thing that he was able to make a living off of after immigrating to Canada. His business partner inherited the family business.
But over time, as they grew their companies, their networks and got good through experience, they learned to love their work. They feel like they have no equal in their fields and that brings them great satisfaction.
I wonder if I could do the same. Live through how the work makes me feel, without really caring what exactly it is. Maybe that's all that really matters...