Something
Ventured:
September 29th, 2000
By Brent
Holliday
"The
most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win
but to take part, just as the most important thing in
life is not the triumph, but the struggle. The essential
thing is not to have conquered, but to have fought well.
"–
Baron de Corbetin,
The Olympic Creed
Never
afraid to lay a metaphor on too thick, I wanted to talk
about entrepreneurs and what it takes to compete and
win. I sat at the 2000 BC Entrepreneur Awards tonight,
thanks to my good friend David Pais at Ernst &
Young, and I was inspired to rehash a common subject:
What makes an entrepreneur? I have done the standard
checklist. Two years ago I told you what the ingredients
might be for a
successful entrepreneur. Traits like leadership,
vision, tolerance of ambiguity, risk taker... all
textbook stuff.
As
I drove home, I thought about being an entrepreneur in a
more fundamental light. When you strip away all of the
generalizations, the entrepreneur, like the Olympic
athlete, is driven by one basic need: The thrill of
victory. There is an emotional high ground that is
reachable only through achievement. That surge of joy.
The unmitigated, "Yeeeesssssss" with optional
fist pumping action. The tendency to ignore all decorum
and hug the nearest stranger or high five everyone in
the room. The beaming smile that doesn't go away for
days. The warmth of satisfaction that you don't get
anywhere else. Get your mind out of the gutter. I'm
serious. Jimmy Pattison (an actual real live billionaire
without a NASDAQ IPO) said it tonight in accepting his
Lifetime Achievement Award, "I haven't found
anything better to do than business." If you are an
entrepreneur, you just said "Right On, Jimmy!"
to the screen. If you're not, then you think Jimmy is
one warped dude. I'm somewhere in between. I added,
"other than golf".
I
really believe that the common thread of entrepreneurs
is that they are "peak emotion" junkies. In
the quest to get their fix, they run through walls. They
endure great hardship and long, long hours of
preparation for those moments. This is why entrepreneurs
are passionate people. This is why it may actually be
true when you hear entrepreneurs say it is not for the
money. The money is the medal. It's the trophy to show
that you succeeded. The real goal is the ultra slow
motion replay by CBC as you cross the finish line first
or clear the highest bar or lift the largest weight.
Along
the way to success, the entrepreneur has many highs. The
first money raised. The first successful prototype or
trial. The first paying customer. The first profitable
month. Blowing the doors off the revenue expectations.
The Entrepreneur of the Year. These are all reasons to
get out of bed in the morning and all good reasons to
celebrate. Each entrepreneur's market or industry has
its equivalent of the Olympics, where the best will
meet. This will play out over years and not in a ten
second foot race. But the rush of meeting and exceeding
expectations along the way is what drives the person.
The
Olympic Creed is a nice way of saying winning isn't
everything, it's playing the game that counts. Getting
in game shape to be able to participate is an
achievement, no question. But ask for a real honest
opinion from and athlete or an entrepreneur and they
will give you the standard Tiger Woods answer: "I'm
here to win." Put another way, I'm here to do my
best to get that winning feeling. And finishing fourth
just doesn't cut it.
Not
everyone feels this way. Only true entrepreneurs do. My
sister won two bronze medals at the 1987 Pan Am Games in
swimming. I have her picture taken at the exact moment
she turned her head to see that she had won the bronze
in the 400M freestyle. It is a peak moment that is
captured forever by that photo. She described the
athlete's village as the most incredible meeting of like
minded people. She said everyone thrived on each other's
energy. The place buzzed with excitement and even if you
lost, the voyeuristic appeal of being close to those
that won helped you feel better. You were able to enjoy
their high, almost like you were family. That's the
feeling I had tonight at the BC Entrepreneur Awards. We
were in the athlete's village of BC's business builders.
Jim Pattison in the same room as Julia Levy. David
Sutcliffe, Ross Mitchell and Bill Hunter were some of
the other tech entrepreneurs with that smile I talked
about. I even saw Kevin Benson, ex-CEO of Canadian
Airlines. Given his travails over the past few years, he
might have been there to get some of that excess
"high" oozing from the others. I'm not being
schmaltzy here. I think we have a lot of confidence in
the province right now and I really felt the energy
tonight. Hell, we've had enough lows, let's celebrate
the peaks!
When
you watch the Olympics, you get to see the one-time
performance. You miss the years of preparation and
success in their own country that gets them to this
level. Watching an entrepreneur win an award and thank
all of his/her hardworking staff seems cliché. But the
sacrifices are many. I heard once that the start-up
entrepreneur needs at least two of the following things
to keep their sanity: sleep, sex or cash flow. It's
probably cash flow that helps you win.
Are
you in the game to win? Do you thrive on the peak
emotions and satisfaction that go along with achieving
your goals? Then keep the flame burning.
Random
Thoughts -
-
Asinine Media Coverage Strikes Again - The
National Post ran a front page story this week on the
new Ottawa. The point of the story was that Ottawa was
now a vibrant, youthful city because of the incredible
growth of the technology community there. Unfortunately,
the point was lost behind some mindless tabloid
journalism better suited for Details or FHM magazine.
The focus of the article was three twentysomethings who
were more interested in what car they were driving and
that their dogs were being puppy-sat for $50 a day.
These ignoramuses sounded more like Howe Street scammers
than cutting edge technology leaders. There was
absolutely no insight from these dorks as to what is
making Ottawa a success. I would much rather hear about
the geniuses building companies than the guy who said
that his friends will come to visit him now because they
can "party from Friday to Monday morning".
Don't get me wrong… I'm a big fan of work hard, play
hard. But the article was over the top in
sensationalizing the few who think that their lives
would be complete if they could be just like Michael and
Marlen Cowpland. I prefer substance over style, myself.
-
Gloating Time - With Book4Golf.com at $1.90, I
felt it was time to gloat. Exactly 6 months ago, I wrote
about the ridiculous over-promotion of this start-up
company by Yorkton. In doing so, I was pointing to an
example of the frothiness of market that was about burst
its dotcom bubble. At the end of the article I said
let's see what happens 6 months hence. As you will
recall, the company just completed a financing at $15 a
share. Bet those investors are happy. The company
actually did deliver its teetime reservation system this
summer. But it will take a long time to build the
consistent user base to gain meaningful revenues. If
your investors are in it for the long haul, they will
advise you to spend wisely now and expect tough times in
the cycle of financing. I'm not sure, but getting Hootie
and the Blowfish to play your party at the Golf Trade
Show might not be a good use of funds if you expect the
market to be slow in adopting your system. My guess is
that these guys will blow their brains out, wildly
overspending whatever they can raise in the next year.
Some other company that is building their business in a
smarter, longer-term focused manner will buy what's left
of B4G's technology and create a winning company in this
space.
Letters
From Last Week -
I
had a verbal letter to the editor delivered to me
regarding the last column where I talked of gloom and
doom in the venture community. To paraphrase:
Brent,
I think you were a little too alarmist with the
predictions of VCs with closed doors. There are certain
sectors where people understand that business models are
not working and there is no money available. But Canada,
especially Vancouver, is experiencing a large surge in
VC activity. This was borne out by the Q2 VC investment
numbers released yesterday that showed 80% + increase in
funding over Q2 1999. Things have never been better for
wireless, optical networking and other infrastructure
companies.
Sam Znaimer
Ventures West
As I said to Sam, I fundamentally
agree that the technology boom has not subsided. I also
agree that Vancouver and the rest of Canada are in a
renaissance period in the economy where technology
companies are starting to dominate. I re-read the column
and have to say that I may have sounded like Chicken
Little a bit. But the reason that many VCs (moreso in
the US) are reluctant to do financing is that they have
stinking dotcom or B2B exchange carcasses that they have
to bury or resurrect. Overall, even with the activity we
are seeing here in Vancouver, the pace of investment
will slow through Q3 and Q4 and then pick up again. It's
not the end of the world, it's just a little breather
after one hell of run.
I hope I paraphrased correctly or I will get another
letter next time...
What Do You Think? Talk
Back To Brent Holliday
Something Ventured is a bi-weekly column designed
to supplement the T-Net British Columbia web site with
some timely, relevant and possibly irreverent insight
into the industry. I hope to share some of the
perspective and trends that I see in my role as a VC.
The column is always followed by feedback (if its
positive or constructive. I'll keep the flames to
myself, thanks).
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