Be crazy! - My startup journey / Part 12
whoever says Life is short is wrong, though they have something right to say! Life is short if you compare it with the whole evolution of mankind, the planet, the universe or the whole creation of the world (I don't want to challenge the word Creation, since I don't believe in! I mean the existence of the world)
"Life is short", is right in comparison with the outside world, but it is and it will remain, the longest path and journey everyone living or lived it, will experience.
Are you still crazy at your 40s?!
I'm not giving you life hack, like 30 Things You Must Do When You’re Still Young. read it, it's useful, it's fun to have a bucket list of things you MUST or you SHOULD do, before you die!
From the given article for example, I prefer these:
- giving yourself a priority
- enjoy things, especially the free ones! like kissing, hugging, hanging out etc
- take risks; risks are measurable and so, they are manageable
- worry less! this is very difficult, even with the help of pills!
- learn, study, read and obtain wisdom
- master in something! it helps your self confidence
and the most loved one is:
- do crazy things!
the last one is a master piece! Do crazy things, and the most crazy thing in the world is:
do a startup!
Remember, if you are not quite mad, you won't fit right in!
pack your things up, we are leaving here!
Everything in the ecosystem is mad, and the only fuel to madness, is remaining crazy. take some examples:
- growth, growth, growth! it's all about it!
isn't this crazy? it seems to be unsustainable. and it can be. but it's a must for startups. startups with consistent speed of growth, will become dead or normal businesses. running at a fixed speed takes you no were on a treadmill! startup ecosystem is like a treadmill. everyone beside you is running. if you want to get anywhere, you should run faster, or even crazier, running opposite, and still faster! - Unicorn!
all startups are aiming to become unicorn... but do they exist?? yes! only in the startup world they DO exist! if your mind is so rational and resists unrealistic terms like becoming a unicorn, you better put off!
Congrats, you fit in!
The parody
Many people in IT segment, especially in developing and less developed countries and societies, think they can implement an already developed idea as startup, and become successful. It is possible to become successful with copying others' success story, but it's not startup anymore. Startups are a tough target for parody, exactly for the reason nothing is crazier than them!
Copying others' acts, is like playing chess with a master, and do exactly what he does. you will lose, simply because you are one move behind!
I understand ecosystems are not that integrated and connected, geographically for example, and some communities seem to be isolated, so many local Ubers and Airbnbs are forming everywhere... but I challenge the term success about them. however, even simple changes and differences can deliver real success for these startups. that's considerable, while it shouldn't be mistaken by copycat projects.
a very small innovative difference can make something a totally genuine thing. that's the good news!
The free ugly craigslist, is a very good example. creating an ugly website seems crazy! no one would believe in it except Craig Newmark. the crazier thing is to keep it running with the same ugly look since 1995 till now, and still make roughly a billion USD revenue annually.
Craig was crazy? well, The Cheshire cat says:
Crazy is the new sexy!
All the successful ideas are crazy in my opinion. You might say, no! well, crazy is the new GREAT then! or... have you heard of GameCrush?
GameCrush was a finalist at the latest TechCrunch Disrupt, and raised a $700,000 seed round, a gaming social media, which lets you play console Live games with girls... and you rate them as hot, flirty and game skill.
So maybe... crazy is the new SEXY!
Not enough crazy examples?
what if I'm 20-something, asking you use your insecure AOL and Yahoo email addresses to pay someone else real money, backed by a non-bank... well, I have to add, I've got a cute name beside my crazy idea: www.paypal.com
Image sources:
To listen to the audio version of this article click on the play image.
Brought to you by @tts. If you find it useful please consider upvoting this reply.