rebelutionary / 2.0

The Entrepreneurial Pendulum / 2006 Nov 15

Four years ago I read a book (apologies to the author, I've forgotten which book it was - it's on one of my bookshelves in Sydney) which introduced the concept of the 'entrepeneurial pendulum' in the foreword.

It has since become one of my favourite reference devices for one's own personal moods.

Sultans Of Swing

The idea is that entrepreneur's mind is a pendulum that swings between two states - ? and ! - but most of the time they're at one of the two extremes.

? is the state of internal questioning

Thoughts run through your head along the general lines of "Oh my god - we're fucked.", "We're going to get crushed.", "Why the hell did I decide to start on this crazy idea?", "We're going to be bankrupt.".

You lose a deal, your competitor release a product, something goes wrong, someone leaves your fledgling enterprise.

Fear, paranoia and uncertainty take hold.

! is the state of exclamation

You're going to change the world, crush the opposition, release a world beating product, become a billion dollar enterprise and do it all, in style, with one hand behind your back.

You win a big deal, a customer raves about your product, you connect the dots and suddenly 'see' the way. You can do anything.

Inspiration, self-confidence and complete fired-up-ness are the order of the day.

Using The Pendulum

In all, I think the pendulum is healthy as long as you're aware of it and you know how to channel it.

The speed at which you vacillate between the extremes can be truly scary at times. On Thursday at "Web 2.0" I think I went from ! to ? and back again within a matter of hours. In my mind our company went from world beater to the technology scrap heap and back again in the space of one day. If you're not aware of it, the swings can drive you crazy.

Simply put - if you spend more time operating at the ! end of the pendulum, you have far more chance of success.

So how does one do that?

In short - always be aware of your current position, and learn how to shift back to ! when the ? is looming.

Here are a few of my techniques when you need to get yourself back to ?:

• Lean on your business partner. He or she is the most likely person to be able to remove the 'fuzz' surrounding current events and put things in perspective for you. I couldn't agree more with Paul Graham's assertion that a single founder is one of the critical startup mistakes.
• Inner strength! This doesn't so much require strength as the ability to think rationally about your situation. Has so much changed since yesterday? Your products are still great right? Try to focus on that and put the ! swing into perspective.
• Girlfriends, boyfriends, husbands, wives, friends and significant others. These people are your rocks. Explain the concept to them (mine are probably sick of me talking about it) so that you can help them understand where your head's at.
• Know your motivation sources. For me it's things like movie and books. Watch them, read them, listen - think big thoughts. Use them to fire yourself up again. If Tom Cruise can graduate from Top Gun, why can't you shouldn't the best enterprise wiki on the planet?

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