Read less about startups

Here is a fine little story told by Anthony de Mello SJ that illustrates how concepts encapsulated in language fracture reality:

“When they were drawing up the Russian-Finnish border, a farmer was found to live right on top of it. Officials asked him to decide whether he wanted his farm to be in Russia, or in Finland. After a long time, he said he wanted to be in Finland. Offended, the Russian officials came to him and wanted to know why he wanted to be in Finland. The farmer replied, ‘It has always been my desire to live in Mother Russia. But at my age I wouldn’t be able to survive another Russian winter.’”

Next time you fly over a country’s border, look down. There is nothing there. The concepts of the nation-state, its constituent elements of people, geography, and controlling power, exist purely in our heads! And yet this is a mental concept that people are clearly willing to die for.

Cultural conditioning at a startup is problematic because it keeps you from seeing reality. Business school graduates are well-versed in the language of business — customer acquisition costs, lifetime value, conversion rate. They speak well with other business people (buzzword bingo!). Engineers are well-versed in the language of technology (nerds!). Bridging these divides is one of the reasons company culture is so important.

By its very nature, language is composed of concepts. Concepts fracture reality. Compare the English home to the Spanish casa. Their difference in meaning is subtle, but enriching.

While necessary for cognitive simplification and essential for communication, concepts encapsulated in language can blind you to reality. One of the worst things you can do in this respect is read a lot about startups, but think little about what you have read. This applies to both entrepreneurs and VCs, and most of all when you have little operating experience. There is, after all, a ton of crap written about our industry.*

The actual Finnish-Russian border. Brrr.

* And thus we attempt recursive self-deprecating humour.