Image by Zach Klein via FlickrThere Are Two Kinds Of People In The WorldThis blog post by Chris Dixon has been making the rounds of the blogosphere. It has generated many comments at the blog itself. I happened to see the post soon after it came out, and I was the first or second person to leave a comment. I returned a few hours later, and there were already close to 100 comments. Obviously the post had sparked something.
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One of my favorite Chris Dixon posts is equally short, it is one where Chris is relaying as to how the Internet stands to transform anything and everything.
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So Chris Dixon says there are two kinds of people in the world. My third comment at the post says, yes, there are, one is the rotten kind, wait, what are we talking about here?
Chris Dixon: There Are Two Kinds Of People In The World
You’ve either started a company or you haven’t. ”Started” doesn’t mean joining as an early employee, or investing or advising or helping out. It means starting with no money, no help, no one who believes in you (except perhaps your closest friends and family), and building an organization from a borrowed cubicle with credit card debt and nowhere to sleep except the office. It almost invariably means being dismissed by arrogant investors who show up a half hour late, totally unprepared and then instead of saying “no” give you non-committal rejections like “we invest at later stage companies.” It means looking prospective employees in the eyes and convincing them to leave safe jobs, quit everything and throw their lot in with you. It means having pundits in the press and blogs who’ve never built anything criticize you and armchair quarterback your every mistake. It means lying awake at night worrying about running out of cash and having a constant knot in your stomach during the day fearing you’ll disappoint the few people who believed in you and validate your smug doubters.Wow, 237 comments and counting. This is like of those Fred Wilson posts about Android.
I don’t care if you succeed or fail, if you are Bill Gates or an unknown entrepreneur who gave everything to make it work but didn’t manage to pull through. The important distinction is whether you risked everything, put your life on the line, made commitments to investors, employees, customers and friends, and tried – against all the forces in the world that try to keep new ideas down – to make something new.
In the same vein I am throwing a challenge to Chris. You, of all people, especially after this blog post, should be able to recognize an entrepreneur when you saw one. I am not only claiming I am one, I am claiming I am a big one. When the Google guys started they had this PageRank thing. I am claiming I have something similar but it is not in software, it is in group dynamics. When I say Group Dynamics I mean the offline component to GroupOn, that would be one small example.
I want you to bet 100K on me based on a 10 million valuation for my microfinance startup. I want a one page legal document like you say you like. I want to know if you can recognize me.
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Fred Wilson has repeatedly longed for an iconic tech company to emerge out of New York. Well, I am going to build that iconic company. Come along for the ride. I will compete with Greplin in your world in terms of market value.
Consider this a blog post mail. As opposed to an email. I think this is the most efficient way to communicate. And it leaves open options to meet in person, get on the phone, on Skype, and the like. I can take you out for dumplings, if you like.
Doing Two Tech Startups
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