Get In The Game
Why you should listen to me: I work at Lucid, the world’s largest platform for human answers. If MacGyver worked at a tech company, he’d do what I do. I’m the CEO’s right hand man. I see everything and execute on most things.
When we first met, I told you to stop reading startup porn. Then I let you know that executives actually care about your future. Now let’s talk action — get up off the bench and get in the game. This certainly means something different to everyone, and I recognize that being an entrepreneur is not for most. However, if you want to grow with your organization, be a founder/CEO, or simply come into a 20 person team and contribute you have to get up and be aggressive.
There’s a proverb (fancy word for meme) that says: “Don’t ask for permission, ask for forgiveness.”
How can I get in the game if I’m working for someone else?
“Andrew, first of all, great insights. You are a gentleman and a scholar.”
Why thank you.
“However, if I do not care to become an entrepreneur, how can I get in the game?”
Great question. In many ways, you have the easier road. Your organization already exists and you don’t have to worry about taking some harebrained scheme and creating a structure that people depend upon for their livelihood. All you have to do is find your niche, dig your heels in, and execute. Sounds easy, right? Wrong. You may be working on something that is fundamentally flawed. Products suck, strategy may be wrong, targets may be too aggressive, or the wrong people may be hired. If you intend on working somewhere for a considerable period of time, not only must you really understand that business, you have to insert yourself in places that may feel uncomfortable. You must ask questions that you probably shouldn’t ask. If you are just executing your quarterly targets with no understanding of what your company is supposed to be, you will always be looked at as a replaceable drone (I mean this in the C-3PO sense, we all loved him but there are other protocol droids out there).
Nobody Cares about your idea
If you are like me, then you know that your days working for someone else are numbered.
I actually have a different piece of advice for you. Go in that notebook, find that idea you are terrified to share because it is so ground breaking, and make it into a reality. Patrick has told me repeatedly, “Nobody cares about your idea, they care if you can execute on that idea.” This is probably right. No, it’s 100% right. The idea of an electrical engine is better than an internal combustion engine, but history has proven that the latter is much easier to execute (read: scale) on. The QWERTY keyboard is not intuitive at all, yet here we are. People still have fireplaces, and if you are in the bathroom you never think, “Damn that fireplace is doing its job.” Focusing on creating the perfect idea will rob you of valuable real world experience. Nobody is going to give you anything, go out and take it (If I were a white man in 1872 I’d say, “MANIFEST DESTINY!” However, I’m a learned gentlemen and we don’t tolerate those absurd ideals).
You Can’t Succeed Unless You Start Failing
Yes Zuckerberg, Spiegel, and others knocked it out of the park at an early age. They are far from the norm. I have a birds eye view of my company, and to say that it’s complex robs Lucid of a fair bit of nuance. I previously stated that your idea is not special (it probably is shit, unless your idea was Zest Tea, that was a good one), nonetheless, you need to try and make it work. The thought behind my position is this: actually missing shots and failing forces you to approach your idea from new ways each successive time. In your head, there are no issues with production, your clients are all cordial, you don’t have to walk on eggshells around sensitive competitors, your financial models are always intuitive, your pitch is always met with a standing ovation, payroll is always on time, nobody ever quits, the market is always predictable, your competition graciously accepts defeat, and you are always profitable. See how absurd this sounds? Lessons accompany these scenarios, and the only way to learn them is to live through them and really understand that failing early and often prepares you for your success. I know you’re probably used to being praised as talented for maintaining the status quo, but take it from a normal guy: break some shit, it feels good.
Internal thought: What if I never succeed? Well at least someone will pay me handsomely for my so-called experience.
Why you shouldn’t listen to me: I haven’t even been at my company long enough to qualify for our retirement plan. If you primarily work remote, are you even a real employee?
