The Startup Story I Want To Hear | What To Fix

Been listening on my iPod to Andrew Warner interview a ton of founders. Wow, I think he’s up to over 600 now? He said something the other day about having some criteria for people he spoke to: he only wanted to talk to people who had made it big, who had a powerful story to tell.

Likewise I also spent last week at #Microconf 2013 down in Vegas. What a great experience! Some folks have called it the best conference they’ve even attended. Beats me, this was my first, but I had a blast. Lots of people who had successful startups taking the time to share what they knew with the rest of us. Last year they were sitting in the audience. This year they’re making 5-digit profits or more each month.

But there’s a type of story I want to hear that I haven’t heard yet. I understand that startup success is a mix of many factors. Some factors I can control; others I cannot. Luck plays an important part in it. After listening to a zillion stories and reading books, I’ve had enough. I’m not buying into the idea that startup stories need to have a hero and be dramatic. I’m separating the “self-help” part of this genre from the nuts-and-bolts part. I’m not buying into the idea that some part of Mark Zuckerberg is “magic”. Yes, he had the execution nailed, but he was also the right guy in the right place at the right time. No business porn for me. I want struggle, not Disney.

I want to hear the opposite of the traditional startup story because I think it speaks to many more of us.

I want a story about a person that struggled for many years. That made lots of mistakes. That learned lessons the hard way. That eventually combined the right idea with the right execution in the right market to make a living. Not buy a boat you can land a helicopter on. Not conquer the world with iPads. Just make a living. The real startup story that most people live.

In the startup community, we keep emphasizing the dramatic, the kids out of college cashing in on a billion-dollar IPO. But hell, that’s not the story that any of us who are actually doing the work are actually living. We need more realistic success stories if we truly want to help each other out.

Tell me more of those stories. Please.