RE -1. What is Radical Entrepreneurship?
[On the ongoing urging of a number of my friends in the VC and entrepreneurship world, I’ve been slowly pulling together my thoughts on starting and building companies, in book form.
And, seeing that, at my current rate, my grandchildren will be drinking with me at the release party, I’ve decided to take the unorthodox approach of posting the draft here as it comes together, both to spur me on towards completion, and to get the ideas off of my hard drive and into the hands of people who’d actually be able to put them to good use.
I’ll be posting up the first three chapters over the next few days, with the rest to follow intermittently, mixed in amongst the regular inane ramblings that, for reasons I’m still not entirely clear on, seem to draw a sizable readership.
While the book is primarily targeted at current and would-be entrepreneurs, I’m hoping it’s a reasonably entertaining enough read to keep everyone following along. As ever, your feedback and thoughts are most appreciated. So, without further ado, Radical Entrepreneurship, Chapter -1. What is Radical Entrepreneurship?]
The word ëradicalí is an odd one, as it means two wildly different things. Coming from the Latin word for root (radix), it initially referred to the juice in fruits and vegetables, and, by extension, to the very essence, the core substance of things. Then, as the word evolved, ëradicalí took on a second meaning: extreme and unusual.
Given those two opposing definitions, ëradicalí is a great word to apply to the style of entrepreneurship laid out in this book.
On the one hand, Radical Entrepreneurship is about the core tasks of starting up a company, the simple steps, small details, and nitty gritty of actually making a company work.
On the other, because so few people talk about these things, really lay them out in careful detail, some of the ideas presented may initially seem rather unorthodox.
Still, most of the strategies and tactics in this book are of the ëhow did I not already think of that?í variety. I know, because I didnít think of most of them myself, at least when starting my first company. (Or, in come cases, even when starting my second or third or fourthÖ)
Instead, I learned them the hard way, one mistake, and one subsequent climb back to success, at a time. Itís an ugly way to learn, but it works.
Along those lines, thereís a great story about a young man who goes to a very prosperous older man to ask for advice:
ìWhatís the most important thing in life?î the young man asks.
ìGood judgment,î replies the older man.
ìAnd how do I get that?î the young man continues.
ìExperience,î replies the old man.
ìBut how do I get that?î persists the young man.
ìBad judgment,î concludes the old man.
That pretty much sums up this book. The things I present here arenít armchair theories that sound good, or business school textbook truisms; theyíre the things that actually worked for me in building and selling companies, the good judgments I learned through years of bad judgments.
As most of the successful entrepreneurs I know seem to have made many of the same bad judgments, Iím hoping that by reading this book, and by putting the advice it contains into action, you can avoid making those bad judgments yourself.
That way, youíll be free to pioneer new and wildly creative bad judgments instead. Which is basically what entrepreneurship is all about.