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Are We Growing or Just Getting Fat?
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Does Startup Success Validate Us Personally?
How We Secretly Lose Control of Our Startups
Should Kids Follow in Our Founder Footsteps?
The Evolution of Entry Level Workers
Assume Everyone Will Leave in Year One
Stop Listening to Investors
Was Mortgaging My Life Worth it?
What's My Startup Worth in an Acquisition?
When Our Ambition is Our Enemy
Are Startups in a "Silent Recession"?
The 5 Types of Startup Funding
What Is Startup Funding?
Do Founders Deserve Their Profit?
Michelle Glauser on Diversity and Inclusion
The Utter STUPIDITY of "Risking it All"
Committees Are Where Progress Goes to Die
More Money (Really Means) More Problems
Why Most Founders Don't Get Rich
Investors will be Obsolete
Why is a Founder so Hard to Replace?
We Can't Grow by Saying "No"
Do People Really Want Me to Succeed?
Is the Problem the Player or the Coach?
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The Value of Actually Getting Paid
Why do Founders Suck at Asking for Help?
Wait a Minute before Giving Away Equity
You Only Think You Work Hard
SMALL is the New Big — Embracing Efficiency in the Age of AI
The 9 Best Growth Agencies for Startups
This is BOOTSTRAPPED — 3 Strategies to Build Your Startup Without Funding
Never Share Your Net Worth
A Steady Hand in the Middle of the Storm
Risk it All vs Steady Paycheck
How About a Startup that Just Makes Money?
How to Recruit a Rockstar Advisor
Why Having Zero Experience is a Huge Asset
My Competitor Got Funded — Am I Screwed?
The Hidden Treasure of Failed Startups
If It Makes Money, It Makes Sense
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$10K Per Month isn't Just Revenue — It's Life Support
The Ridiculous Spectrum of Investor Feedback
Startup CEOs Aren't Really CEOs
Series A, B, C, D, and E Funding: How It Works
Best Pitch Decks Ever: The Most Successful Fundraising Pitches You Need to Know
When to Raise Funds
Why Aren't Investors Responding to Me?
Should I Regret Not Raising Capital?
Unemployment Cases — Why I LOOOOOVE To Win Them So Much.
How Much to Pay Yourself
Heat-Seeking Missile: WePay’s Journey to Product-Market Fit — Interview with Rich Aberman, Co-Founder of Wepay
The R&D technique for startups: Rip off & Duplicate
Why Some Startups Win.
Chapter #1: First Steps To Validate Your Business Idea
Product Users, Not Ideas, Will Determine Your Startup’s Fate
Drop Your Free Tier
Your Advisors Are Probably Wrong
Growth Isn't Always Good
How to Shut Down Gracefully
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Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught?
How to Pick the Wrong Co-Founder
Staying Small While Going Big
Investors are NOT on Our Side of the Table
Who am I Really Competing Against?
Why Can't Founders Replace Themselves?
Actually, We Have Plenty of Time
Quitting vs Letting Go
How Startups Actually Get Bought
What if I'm Building the Wrong Product?
Are Founders Driven by Fear or Greed?
Why I'm Either Working or Feeling Guilty
Startup Financial Assumptions
Why Every Kid Should be a Startup Founder
We Only Have to be Right Once
If a Startup Sinks, Founders Go Down With it
Founder Success: We Need a Strict Definition of Personal Success
Is Quiet Quitting a Problem at Startup Companies?
Founder Exits are Hard Work and Good Fortune, Not "Good Luck"
Finalizing Startup Projections
All Founders are Beloved In Good Times
Our Startup Culture of Entitlement
The Bullshit Case for Raising Capital
How do We Manage Our Founder Flaws?
What If my plan for retirement is "never retire"?
Startup Failure is just One Chapter in Founder Life
6 Similarities between Startup Founders and Pro Athletes
All Founders Make Bad Decisions — and That's OK
Startup Board Negotiations: How do I tell the board I need a new deal?
Founder Sacrifice — At What Point Have I Gone Too Far?
Youth Entrepreneurship: Can Middle Schoolers be Founders?
Living the Founder Legend Isn't so Fun
Why Do VC Funded Startups Love "Fake Growth?"
How Should I Share My Wealth with Family?
How Many Deaths Can a Startup Survive?
This is Probably Your Last Success
Why Do We Still Have Full-Time Employees?

Why Isn't Anyone As Committed As The Founder?

Wil Schroter

Why Isn't Anyone As Committed As The Founder?

It's ridiculous to think that anyone will ever be as committed to a startup as the Founder.

And yet, we're constantly beating ourselves up trying to find just the right combination of great hires, strong incentives, and attractive growth to convert all of this raw talent into the committed, startup-building machine that we've become.

But it's 3 a.m. and we're sitting in bed staring at the ceiling completely engrossed in nothing but the future of this startup. Why isn't everyone else? Is there some sort of magic formula that would convince the rest of the staff to also be sitting in bed staring at the ceiling? (In this scenario we're assuming we'd want people to do that...)

It's time we realize, as Founders, that expecting the same level of commitment from our staff, or worse yet, replacing ourselves with someone else who can achieve the same commitment is a bit of a fool's errand. Yes, people have figured it out, but here's why it breaks 99% of the time.

We Work Out of Fear, Not Just Upside

We sometimes think that because there's a ton of upside at our startup, that our interests are aligned. We figure that everyone has "life-changing stock" (or the cash upside equivalent) and that alone should give us all the incentive that we need.

But what's keeping us up at night and working on weekends isn't incentive — it's fear.

As Founders, we don't just have an upside — we have a metric ton of downside. If one of our employees doesn't work hard, they might get fired. That's as bad as it can get — they'd have to get another job. But if we drop the ball, everyone gets fired. If we botch this up, investors and creditors come looking for us, not them. Generally speaking, Founders don't "quit" their jobs, they lose their whole company. And that's the kind of motivational fear that puts us in a category of motivation all our own.

Our Dreams Aren't Their Dreams

It's not just fear that motivates us, it's also the attachment we have to have birthed our dreams. We had this silly idea that became a thing - and we brought it into this world. Lots of other people had a huge hand in making it real, but the difference is, for many of them, it's just not their dream.

Part of that dream (especially what we've pitched) may be the upside in realizing our dream, but it's not the same as the deep satisfaction that comes from taking something we created from nothing and making it real.

Sometimes our team will adopt our dreams and become surrogate parents of them - and that's awesome. But it's very rare that a dream has the ability to create an inception-level moment that it feels as powerful to anyone else as it does for us. And for that reason — we're willing to go an extra length to create a conclusion of that dream that not everyone else needs to validate. It's just not theirs... and that's OK.

Our Commitment is a Superpower

Instead of beating ourselves up over why we can't seem to get everyone else to drink the Kool-Aid the way we do, we should instead step back and think of our "commitment" as a superpower. It's the reason so many startups and large companies lose their soul when the Founder leaves (Apple, Apple, and Apple anyone?).

Our commitment is a driving force whose power allows us to do superhuman things that others just will not.

Instead of trying to project our commitment onto other people, we should be thinking about our commitment as a special contribution that we get to make. We shouldn't fault others for not sharing that commitment, any less than we should fault our babysitter for not caring about our kids like we do. Instead, we should be proud of our commitment and wield it for the powers of good.

With great commitment comes great responsibility.

In Case You Missed It

Why Can't I Be Happy Where I Am? (podcast) Why is it that as Founders, we feel like we must constantly be chasing something - otherwise we don't feel satisfied? Listen in to find peace within Startup chaos!

Treat Departing Employees like Future Employees While saying goodbye to departing employees isn’t easy, how we handle it is totally in our control and can impact our future professional relationships.

How I Harness My Insane Startup Anxiety. There are two types of Founders: those that admit they are wracked with anxiety, and those that are lying about it. We’re all going to deal with it for the rest of our lives — so why not use it as a superpower, instead of reacting like it’s kryptonite?

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George Sidman

This article presumes that fear is a virtue and a healthy motivator. As FDR once said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." We want our leaders to be fearless, yet our bent culture uses fear as a lever to discuss and worry things that should be viewed as life and business concerns, and dealt with rationally, instead of calling those things fears, and dealing with them emotionally. I do not allow fear in my life or my companies as it diverts energy away from planning and action. Wallowing in fear is the domain of loosers.

Reply4 years ago

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