“He who feared he would not succeed sat still.” Horace
Pollenizer is a firm proponent of the Lean Startup Methodology as a way to systematically de-risk startups. Recently however, Pollenizer has taken a different approach to de-risking their startups: Instill fear in the co-founding team. How? By giving the co-founding team a small but not insignificant chunk of “sweat equity” in order to generate a feeling of ownership and responsibility, while also aligning co-founders with the success or failure of the business.
Fear through Ownership
I should clarify that Fear (of failure) is my interpretation of Pollenizer’s new ‘secret ingredient’. It could be said that Dedication, Commitment and Ownership are the secret ingredients that Pollenizer is attempting to invoke by giving equity to the co-founding team, but I prefer Fear because it’s a stronger motivator than nearly all other emotions. One could also argue that Passion is key, but I disagree – there are many passionate people who lack focus or dedication to achieve an outcome. Fear (of failure), however, forces you to Focus, to Dedicate your time and completely Commit to achieving the desired outcome. Fear trumps all.
Fear of Failure
All of us hope that our actions will lead us to succeed, but we’re more concerned about NOT failing. To use a football analogy: If I know that running hard to get the ball might result in my side winning (success), I’ll run hard to get the ball. But if I know that if I don’t get the ball, my side will lose (failure), you can bet I’ll run hard and then some to get that ball. Striving to succeed is one thing, avoiding failure is something else.
Fear can be a powerful motivator or demotivator. Fear made me fly to New York to pursue my career. I knew nobody in New York but work was drying up in Sydney and I needed to act. I went to New York because I was afraid of failing at my career. In this case, fear forced me into action. When I arrived in New York, everything was great for 2 months then it all fell apart. It would take me another 7 months to finally launch my “startup”. I had no idea how long my runway was, all I knew was I had $15k in my bank account and that it had to last. With less than $200 in my bank account, I finally got my first big paying customer. While the attributes I mentioned before (passion, dedication, commitment) all played a part, it was really fear that drove me to succeed. The fear of running out of money, or more correctly, the fear of failure.
“He who feared he would run out of money, worked his ass off. He who feared he would fail, found a way”.
NOTE: Belief in one’s own ability is required.
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