Investing In Treps Who Go Into The Scary

Super sad about one of my co-founders getting robbed tonight in his home country, Tunisia. They took his cell and wallet. Thankfully his life is saved. Wael is a brilliant young entrepreneur and the world needs him. He is going to continue to do good for humanity.

Passdown has three founders now. Wael, Jie, and I. Jie is from China. Being tomorrow is the American holiday Thanksgiving, I cannot tell you how thankful I am with these developers wanting to be apart of Passdown. Not only are we three but a fourth developer wants to join. WOW, that's saying something to me. Even though the idea of Passdown could change to be something completely different once we build the mvp and test it. I am so thankful that people want to join me, a crazy entrepreneur who sees beyond the comments that place doubt on the original idea.

I am constantly slung doubt statements regarding Passdown. But you see, building a startup is actually starting with an idea, and the collaboration with others squeezes out the hidden gem. It's sort of like mining. You might be seeking silver in the mountain but you find gold. Or, as most startups end, you find nothing and you are a failed startup. Yet we must always seek.

That is what makes building a startup an adventure into discovery. It's minds seeking. We dig, and we find treasures that we can shape into gifts for people. Be it, the road is ridden with rejection wrapped in kindness, a cruelty of demoralization that leaves the trep wondering if they ought to continue. Yeah, this doubt of others can twist in the entrepreneur's mind into a self doubt that wrenches the soul to the point of insanity. This is why I am always insane. 

Casting doubt on me constantly fucks with my mind. I see something in the far off distance, and three others are interested in seeking into this unknown startup forest with me to find it. Will it be the original idea? Most likely not. It will be what we are to discover together. 

My hope is that all the investors who look at us and judge the idea to be bunk, to please remember that, the idea is the open passageway to the idea no one saw coming. Sometimes all the current ideas on the market are what investors judge us by. I can't blame them for doing so. We do need some kind of criteria to judge a new startup. I think that's why many accelerators say "we invest in people" not the idea.
Truly that is the most solid decision they can make. Investing in that unknown thing I see in the startup forest is kinda risky. But investing in my team and I, well, that is a certain solid business decision. If you see people who are willing to be bashed down into smithereens with doubt slingers, then you have found people who are willing to go into the dark deep scary parts of the discovery forest. People who will ascend into the mine risking oxygen deprivation, risking ever coming out again. If you find entrepreneurs like that, I'd say invest in them. 

A true entrepreneur will always have another idea. Maybe the one you met them on isn't the one, but the next one could be. We will always have a next one. 

My team is going into the forest to find the scary uncertainty.