The Blade

I believe most of us are born charismatic and unconventional. As children we are free, confident, silly, risk-takers. But as we grow up, we lose that sense of innocence. The peer pressure to conform to society’s standards becomes too much, and we slowly become boring and conventional. Startups often follow the same pattern as they grow up. They start out as a reflection of their founder’s innocence, but all too often become corporate and so politically correct that their founder’s scrappiness and innocence are washed away.

An exception…

Chick-Fil-A, the fast food restaurant whose TV commercial cows demand we “eat more chicken” is a rare exception. It’s a company that has maintained its late founder Truett Cathy’s innocence—which for him, was built upon incredible customer service and being great to his employees, even if doing so risked profits. Author Larry Julian says: “What impresses me most about Truett Cathy is that he has had the courage to follow his beliefs even though he’s pressured by the world to do otherwise. Even though the business world said it didn’t make sense to take Sundays off, Truett insisted on a day of rest.”

Chick-Fil-A remains “Closed Sunday” so their employees can spend time with their families, a policy for which the company is well-known. Closed Sunday is part of what makes Chick-Fil-A remarkable. And after more than 50 years in business, Chick-Fil-A has maintained Cathy’s vision by partnering only with franchisees who are class acts and fully buy into the original vision created by Cathy long, long ago.

Authenticity matters

There are so many big, profitable companies that have completely lost their founder’s original visions. They brag about how much they help their communities and run TV commercials about how great their service is, but we see right through it because we’ve experienced first-hand their boring, lousy execution. They’re just profit machines that provide jobs. That’s it. There’s nothing special about them. You know those firms—the type that sponsor PGA golf tournaments and whose EVP interrupts the TV broadcast with their sponsor plug, bragging about how great they are for their customers and “communities”—which makes me throw-up just a little. Don’t grow up like that.

Staying true to self

Here are 3 tips for keeping your startup innocent and true to your original vision, and not growing up to become big and uncool.

1. Discover what makes your startup remarkable and stick with it: I recommend the books The Purple Cow by Seth Godin and Different by Youngme Moon in order to figure out what makes you remarkable and different …and then embrace it.
2. Be careful who sits on your board of directors: Cathy Truett once said, “I believe no amount of business school training or work experience can teach what is ultimately a matter of personal character. Businesses are not dishonest or greedy, people are. Thus, a business, successful or not, is merely a reflection of the character of its leadership.” Nuff said.
3. Be careful who you take cash from: Accepting money from corporate-type people (who have amassed venture money) often means you’re likely to become slowly corporate yourself through who they want you to hire and how they want you to run your firm.

I love the iconic Gatorade TV commercial “Be like Mike.” But when my startup grows up… I Want it to be Like Chick-Fil-A.