When one is in a startup, one must eat a lot of humble pie. That's because you initially are of strategic importance to almost no one. Most of us don't like the taste of humble pie, which thins the ranks of aspiring entrepreneurs and, maybe most particularly, serial entrepreneurs.
I've mused about some of the factors that make becoming a successful entrepreneur rather unlikely:
- Business success, like success in any human endeavor, usually requires a fairly demanding combination of talent, hard work, and persistence.
- Luck plays a bigger role in success than the successful would care to admit.
- If you taste business success, your opportunity cost increases. That makes your second venture more risky, because you have something to lose (including your reputation as a successful person).
Even if you overcome the preceding, and even if you are fortunate to live and work in an environment that celebrates entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship, being part of a startup is not necessarily rewarding for those who seek immediate status--or the maintenance of status previously attained. It's often a long slog to earn and keep the respect of customers, supply chain partners, employees, and investors. Nevertheless, cultivating the capacity for persistent humility is more important than I could have imagined years ago.
