5 “ifs” to encourage you to think big as an entrepreneur
We invited Angel Sahagún, CEO and co-founder of albo, to discuss his startup founder journey. He shared with us how a specific mind frame helped him overcome obstacles and set himself on the right track to creating a successful business.
This time around, I had the pleasure of hosting the program. It was fun.
As you might have noticed from the first episode, our goal is to provide useful advice and focus our conversations on specific topics relevant to startup founders. Although we narrate the origins of the guest startup and its founders, there’s always a moral at the end of every story.
During the second episode, we talked about the importance of thinking big and never getting complacent. Les Brown once said, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you may land among the stars.”
If you’re trying to launch your own company or business venture, then I’d recommend keeping this analogy in mind. Also, take a look at the following five tips for “thinking big.”
If you don’t like the world you live in, dare to change it
Being an entrepreneur means having the ability to take advantage of big opportunities. Interestingly enough, though, people usually don’t realize the huge responsibility that comes with that, too.
Some people don’t approve of the way certain things are done yet they won’t try to solve the problem themselves. Instead, they wait for somebody else to fix it for them. Honestly, that’s pretty sad, but I understand not everybody has an entrepreneurial spirit.
Take, for example, big names like Daniel Ek from Spotify, Elon Musk from SpaceX and Travis Kalanick from Uber. What do they all have in common?
All three of them didn’t settle for less. Instead of complaining to customer support or just saying “Oh well, I guess technology isn’t ready yet,” they took the lead to develop innovative solutions.
If you don’t feel challenged, it’s not grand enough
Boredom. That feeling when you don’t feel stimulated enough. Personally, I feel like that’s one of the worst states of self-sabotage. Without challenges, we wouldn’t grow as people. Moreover, we wouldn’t even grow as a civilization.
If you’re thinking about launching a venture but feel like you can achieve it without even blinking an eyelash, then you might not be living up to your full potential. And that, my friends, isn’t admirable in the VC or startup world.
Not only may you regret your lack of motivation later on, but it would also prevent people from seeing your full potential. With challenges come innovations, so investors want to see how you think and act during stressful times.
If you have haters, that’s a good sign
If you’re not making people angry, you might not be doing anything worthwhile, at least in my opinion. Wallflowers, for example, may be excelling in terms of avoiding the public eye and criticism. Nonetheless, that may also mean that they’re not achieving anything worthy of public attention.
People are going to talk if you’re doing something newsworthy or admirable. Just remember that it’s going to be quite challenging to make everyone happy, but that’s part of the job.
If you don’t persevere, talent will only carry you so far
I’m a firm believer that discipline and perseverance will outperform talent in the long-term – assuming the talented person doesn’t perform to company standards.
Just imagining things won’t suffice in this game. That’s to say, thinking big won’t get you anywhere if you don’t execute operations in the same manner. With that said, the talent must be on the same page and just as motivated as the founders.
If you hit a home run one time, it outshines your ten previous strikes
Failure is part of most entrepreneurial journeys, and daring to think big means you need to be prepared to face some adversity along the way. However, failure is never absolute until you actually throw in the towel. Before that, it’s only a partial failure. All of this is absolved once you reenter the ring.
As Aaliyah once said, dust yourself off and try again.
If you stand your ground and push through all of those partial setbacks, you will most likely reach your goal. In the end, this will outshine your previous unsuccessful attempts. That very same spark of hope should be your motivation to get through less than desirable circumstances.
Having the courage to think big is no easy task, and certainly, it isn’t for everyone. Ultimately, though, rewards await those who dare to dream and act big.
-VC
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