I am perplexed. Yes, I am. I am perturbed and perplexed by perpetually vexing problem of how to invent a new future.
After years in “Cube farms” [euphemism (!) for organizations 🙂 ] that discourage, stifle employee engagement and, as a result, strangle innovation, one very fine day I said “Duh! No more cribbing. Enough is enough”. And I moved on to invent a new future….
And inventing a new future has not been and will never be a “mission accomplished” phenomenon, rather it’s a life-long process.
But this is not what bothers me. I know that it is truly hard to predict future, and one commits mistakes along the way. What exactly bothers me that I am not doing anything different, nothing to talk about much, and, not getting much traction. What gnaws me constantly is that I too am among a bevy of startups doing almost exactly the same thing, minor variations on a theme. And I am not a technical startup in a strict sense of term.
But, yes I am paying heed to VC stalwart like Paul Graham , I am trying to start with deceptively small things [Empirically :)], which has some resonance in Brian Clark‘s vision of creating a successful startup with a minimum viable audience
[I solicit your attention to myTill then I keep my fingers crossed for my futuristic decision. A decision to invent a new future. But “How” is the big question.
I have set out on a journey like Columbus (Right Paul!), “heading in general westerly direction”. I too believe that my current roadmap is “almost certainly mistaken” since I have yet to meet my “first customer”, and along the way I may have certain corrections, iterations and “pivots” (Courtesy Eric Ries)
Am I heading towards a cliff??
Here comes Paul to my rescue:”The popular image of the visionary is someone with a clear view of the future, but empirically it may be better to have a blurry one.”
Thank you Paul Graham for giving me reasons to smile. Reasons to continue my journey to invent a new future.
Guys, it’s time to croon:
My heart is small, small is my desire
Desire to touch the moon and stars
Desire to fly in the sky
(Of course a loose translation, dude)
At least, there is nothing wrong in keeping your morale high.
