A lot of entrepreneurs hate big companies. But if you hate them so much, why are you trying to build a new one? The truth is, as soon as a startup has any kind of success whatsoever, it will face big company problems.
Interpretation
Entrepreneurs often criticize large companies, yet they aim to create successful businesses themselves, ultimately facing similar challenges.
This quote by Eric Ries highlights the paradox within the entrepreneurial community, where there is a disdain for large corporations despite the fact that startups, upon achieving success, encounter the same issues that plague established companies. It suggests that rather than viewing big companies as adversaries, entrepreneurs should recognize that they will inevitably face similar challenges as their own ventures grow. This reflection encourages a deeper understanding and a more constructive approach towards the business landscape.
In practice
During a business conference, this quote can be shared to inspire new entrepreneurs about the realities of success.
There's nothing wrong with raising venture capital. Many lean startups are ambitious and are able to deploy large amounts of capital. What differentiates them is their disciplined approach to determining when to spend money: after the fundamental elements of the business model have been empirically validated.
Building the right product requires systematically and relentlessly testing that vision to discover which elements of it are brilliant, and which are crazy.
The grim reality is that most start-ups fail. Most new products are not successful. Yet the story of perseverance, creative genius, and hard work persists.
The reality is the Lean Startup method is not about cost, it is about speed. Lean startups waste less money, because they use a disciplined approach to testing new products and ideas.
You get a culture of entrepreneurship after you have successfully changed the accountability system so that people can use a better process. Process drives culture, not the other way around, so you can't just change the culture, you have to change the system.
Learning to see waste and systematically eliminate it has allowed lean companies such as Toyota to dominate entire industries. Lean thinking defines value as 'providing benefit to the customer'; anything else is waste.
No young kid growing up dreams of someday becoming a businessman. He wants to be a fireman, a sponsored athlete or a forest ranger The Lee Iacoccas, Donald Trumps, and Jack Welchs of the business world are heroes to no one except other businessmen with similar values.
If your goal is anything but profitability - if it's to be big, or to grow fast, or to become a technology leader - you'll hit problems.
If you can tune into the fantasy life of an 11-year-old girl, you can make a fortune in this business.
In business, if you realize you've made a bad decision, you change it.
Industry is the soul of business and the keystone of prosperity.
In the Machine Age, the company itself became a machine - a machine for making money.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.