Last week I was more honest in a talk at The Residence Coworking Bishops Stortford than I had ever been before.
Not because the story isn’t worth telling – but because the bit that matters most wasn’t the headline. The bit that matters is what happened after.
The headline is easy: NorthPoint Communications, NASDAQ, May 1999, $2.3 billion float. KFC and Veuve Clicquot to celebrate (it works, don’t knock it).
What nobody talks about is the emotional rollercoaster of entrepreneurial journeys and lifestyles.
I used this diagram in the talk. Most people recognise it immediately – the euphoric start, the grinding middle, the dark swamp of despair. What the diagram doesn’t show is that you go round it again. And again. The IPO wasn’t the end of the journey. It was the beginning of a very different and far harder one.
Three things worth sharing:
1. Challenges are just opportunities in disguise – but only if you decide they are. A terrible boss, a victim mindset, internal complaints: I had all three early in my career. Viktor Frankl’s idea of the gap between stimulus and response changed how I thought about every one of them.
2. Building with exit in mind applies to everything. Startups, charities, careers. I didn’t apply it to TheGivingMachine Charity early enough, and it probably cost us years. The goal isn’t to leave – it’s to build something that doesn’t need you to survive.
3. Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it does. If you don’t like the results, you have to change the system. That’s true of businesses, teams, and – if you’re honest with yourself – your own habits and behaviours.
The talk was for a private audience and there may have been the odd swear word, so I’m not publishing it. But if any of this resonates and you’re running a business that feels like it’s running you, I’m always happy to have a conversation.
And if you want to support nearly 1,000 community causes across the UK while you’re at it – the GivingLottery is £5 a month and worth a look