The Blade

What does it take to be successful starting an innovative company? While writing The Hockey Stick Principles, I identified five fundamental elements of what I’ll call the “entrepreneurial spirit” that seem to be those that are most important in allowing founders to make it through the confusing, chaotic building process:

1. An undying curiosity and sense of joy in the knotty challenges of problem-solving. 

While successful founders may vary a great deal in terms of their idea arising out of a deep personal passion, they have a real passion for the problem-solving of the process. Founder of Schedulefly, Wes Aiken, is a fairly laid back guy who likes his leisure time, but he threw himself into creating his program with everything he had for months and months. Founder of LendingTree, Doug Lebda, was challenged by the funder who gave him his first $10,000 with three key problems to solve before even that $10,000 would be invested, and rather than balking, Lebda relished the challenge. Founder of Revel Systems, Lisa Falcone, fell completely in love with the problem-solving at the heart of the process. Successful company builders don’t rely on formulas to solve their problems for them; they love the challenge of figuring out the way forward themselves.  

2. A tough skin and resilience when encountering failure that enables them to bounce back and persevere. 

I think one reason entrepreneurs have so often been characterized as “crazy” people is that they keep plugging away even through so many setbacks, and even humiliations. To those not committed to the task, it’s hard to fathom how they can keep going. Successful founders don’t let others define the terms of success, and they tend to see what to others, who are not engaged in the struggle, appear to be failures as learning experiences. This is not to say that setbacks aren’t painful; they can be excruciating. But the point is that for those who succeed, they’re not crushing. I think this is in part because they are not fixated on predetermined notions of what constitutes success, such as ideas about the timeline for launch or the speed of customer acquisition. 

3. A flexibility of mind about their plans, both for themselves and for their company, that allows and even welcomes the inevitable changes the plan will require over time. 

A great deal has been written in recent years about the need for entrepreneurs to pivot when an original concept isn’t working. That’s for sure vital, and you’ll see the founders in my book do so time and again. But I think it’s important to highlight that the process requires making all sorts of “micro-pivots” all the time, and not by any means just regarding the product itself. You may have to take on a partner when you wanted to go at it alone. You may have to pursue an entirely different market from the one you planned on. The company or product name you wanted may be taken. The sales model you thought would be best may have to be abandoned. You can’t get fixated on what you’ve planned.  

4. The combination of an inventor’s heart and skills with a good mind for management, or the good sense to recognize that they don’t have a business-management mind and must partner with someone who does. 

A good deal has also been written about how those who are good at starting companies aren’t good at managing them once they’re off and running. I’ve seen that some entrepreneurs do in fact combine the talents. But it’s also true that many founders are not strong on management skills. What I think is true of successful founders generally, is that they understand whether they are good at managing or not, and they find people to complement their own managerial skills if that’s required. Just following the lead of an aversion to tight management is flirting with disaster.

5. An attitude of hope, which is not blind to the obstacles or delusional about setbacks, but which fortifies them with a persistently positive outlook about ultimate success.

A few years ago, I published a blog about the role of hope when starting a new firm. It could be said that the whole notion of innovating a new product or service is fundamentally an act of hope, and one of the most striking characteristics I’ve seen in successful founders is that they’re generally optimistic about their prospects for success. But this is not a quixotic optimism; it’s wide-eyed. They don’t look the other way about obstacles; they acknowledge them and then figure out how to work around them. 

I hope you’re feeling optimistic about your own business idea, even if you’re confronting some nasty surprises. You’ll inevitably see yourself and your challenges more in some than in others, and you’ll find yourself more drawn to some strategies and tactics pursued than others. That’s key to my purpose in sharing these five commonalities — I want to help you think through what exactly you want for, and from, your business, and the way you want to build it. 

Many thanks to Emily Loose, who helped me write this post!