Glory vs. Happiness
Why do people want to be entrepreneurs?
Wanting to make money is a perfectly fine reason to become an entrepreneur. Having other motivations or desires is perfectly fine, too. The key is to do it for the reason that you want, not one that anybody else has imposed on you. You need to be driven by your wishes, not what other people think is best for you.
Wanting to change the world is fine. Wanting to make money is fine. What’s not fine is confusing the two, saying that you want to change the world when you really just want to make money. Being honest about that—with yourself and with others so they know where you stand—is what lets you get the right feedback.
To create an incredible ecosystem, we need both kinds of entrepreneurs, ones who want to change the world and ones who want to make money. At The Family we’re looking for that second category simply because it’s the nature of our business model, it forces us to be disciplined and help only those who have the potential to make enormous amounts of money. Since we at The Family will only have 1% (after dilution) at the moment a company has an exit, the company needs to be worth $1B for that to be significant. This isn’t a question of vanity - it’s simply an economic constraint of our times.
Making that happen isn’t an easy job, and there are definitely lots of excellent entrepreneurs who don’t fit into that model. And I don’t think that should bother them—after all, if you bootstrap a company up to $10M without all the hassle, without needing to bring in anybody else telling you what to do, that’s an extraordinary achievement. Tons of entrepreneurs can only dream of getting to that point.
It’s just that like anything else in life, there are tradeoffs. Creating a giant company means taking giant risks. And risk, unfortunately, is not linear. Making something that’s 10x bigger isn’t just 10x harder, it’s much, much more difficult. That’s why it’s exciting. Startups are fun, not because it’s the easiest way to make money, but because it’s the most exciting way to make money.
Just make sure you aren’t striving to reach the dreams of anyone other than yourself. That’s why The Family isn’t for everyone, and not everyone needs The Family.
Feel like you fit what we’re looking for? Apply for our next batch that starts in September! And if you want to meet other ambitious doers, come out to Be My Cofounder this Thursday 😻