He was angry. Very angry. I was in a selection panel for an entrepreneurship program in Colombia and he had just pitched his idea. This angry and defensive entrepreneur was hoping to qualify for the program. However, as his pitch and consequent questions progressed, dark clouds came up over his head and he became more and more aggressive towards the panel.
To this day I still do not have a clue about his startup idea, actually. He didn’t want to share the value proposition, because it was too complex to explain and too innovative to share. His customer segment was ‘anyone and everyone’ because of its innovative proposal. His team didn’t want to lift a finger without payment and he was expecting to receive some funds to be able to get to work. In other words, in his imagination we (the selection panel) were the gatekeepers to his success and even to the progress of innovation itself.
Also, this angry entrepreneur was expecting to receive funds – the entrepreneurs in our program wouldn’t get any cash exactly. They would get something that would turn out much more valuable for most: access to mentors, expertise, guidance on technical and marketing aspects. Finding out there was no cash involved, only made him more angry.
How could we, and how could we even think that innovation could even exist without cash investment!
What can we learn from the angry entrepreneur
Now off course this was an extreme case and fortunately, very sporadic. Still, the mindset that our faith depends on other people is a limiting mindset that is quite frequent. If only, we would meet person with the contacts we so desperately need, somebody would pump money into our ideas, somebody who understands our ideas, etc….. we let our success depend on that.
Now beyond a doubt the right person at the right time can add a lot of value to your projects, whether they do that through investment, expertise, or through their network. Even so, I am convinced that putting your faith in somebody else’s hands is never a good idea. Good ideas and good entrepreneurs will find their way, maybe even more so when encountering resistance.
So what can we do about it? Experiment a lot, don’t let a disappointing or negative reaction set you back. Be prepared for that. Just one try is usually not enough. Improve your ideas time and time again, until you create more and more enthusiasm. Take responsibility for your words and deeds. It takes a little bit of guts and lots of play to get to very exciting projects!
Take a look at our board game to go about entrepreneurship in a more playful way.