Start-ups are about flow
Why are start ups all the rage, especially with the millennial generation?
Why is the lifestyle so addictive?
Because it gives us a natural high and pushes us into flow.
People love talking about start-ups. I engage in conversations and recount the intense challenge of discussing our founders agreement with my teammates, the twilight pitch practices before meeting with investors, securing money to build our business only to have it fall apart, and the process of reinventing myself. They follow by sharing a budding idea they have for a business and how great they think it would become. I can feel the spark of excitement in their voice and see the twinkle of curiosity in their eyes. I am left awed.
I just recounted a story of highs and intense lows and they still crave it. The couchsurfing, self selected homelessness, and creative -but cheap- banana and pasta based diets seem to be filler.
They cling to the idea that they can manifest a dream…
Which is exactly the same reason I embarked on the start-up quest.
When I speak to some nonbelievers, they are baffled. They recognize entrepreneurs are different, but usually don’t get it. We will trade stability, security, and the conventional house, car, kids, and a dog -or at least delay it- to chase the dream of building the next Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Tesla. But I believe if they tasted it, there would be no going back.
The entrepreneurial life pushes us into the zone — or flow. During the positive mental state of flow we experience an intense focus and are pushed to perform at our best. After reading The Rise of Superman where the author Steven Kotler, I had an greater understanding about this enhanced state of human performance. He tells stories of extremely sports athletes entering the flow state while setting new records for deep water deprivation, height of waves surfed, mountains climbed and more. Although he did not cover it in the book, my hypothesis is,
the same ‘flow cycle’ that occurs for extreme sports athletes, artists, and musicians occurs with entrepreneurs and is what makes this world so enticing.
Brainstorming with your team, writing code, designing a product, or selling to customers, ends up pushing individuals to flex their creative muscles. When you enter a competition, get on stage to deliver a pitch, or you are hustling to make a few more dollars to secure the next milestone -and the rent- the pressure is on.
During these moments we are linking thoughts from different areas of the brain into a single idea, taking risks, and being exposed to novel experiences. All these activities trigger our body to release chemicals that heighten our performance (e.g. dopamine, norepinephrine, endorphins, anandamide, and serotonin). This lures entrepreneurs to engage in this path again and again.
These high moments inevitably come with moments of failure. You don’t secure funding, the product launch timeline slips, your conversion rates are not budging, new users/customers are not jumping on board, your cash is dwindling quickly, teammates leave (or are let go) that have been there since the beginning, or you yourself get pushed out of your start-up. This is normal and the trade off that comes with the territory. I have ended several start-up projects, let people go from projects, and have been pushed out myself. The struggle comes with the high of victory and you can’t have one without the other.
To those on the cusp, considering the start-up journey. It is not for the faint of heart, it will wear you. For every success you hear of, there are statistically at least 19 others with the untold story of failure.
But without taking the leap, there is no possibility of success. Not only personal success, but success in solving a critical problems that society needs to be solved, in creating jobs and opportunities for others to join the cause.
We need you.
The world needs you. Get in the game. Leave the world better than it was when you entered.
Jump.
Share if you believe.
