Experiencing the Entrepreneur Pendulum

It is tough being an entrepreneur. Some days are amazing. While others you just want to crawl under a rock and stay there - forever. I, at the moment, am experiencing what Mark Suster calls the terror in starting something new (On the other end of the pendulum is euphoria).
Working for Yourself

Working for yourself is different doesn’t mean you have to have your own business. It just means you take full responsibility for all your job choices and that you’re doing things because you truly want to do them, not because you’ve bought into someone else’s dream fro your life.
So many people live their life building something for someone else. There’s nothing wrong with that. Not everyone is an entrepreneur. Not everyone can build their own thing. Not everybody is meant to go create something for nothing. But for God’s sake, don’t build something for someone else if it’s not something you truly want to be doing.
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Posted: May 26th, 2011
at 10:52am by mnp
Categories: "ninja",development,entrepreneurship,jobs,life
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Great Entrepreneurs Don’t Blog

As I left that conversation and continued to think about his distaste for this medium, I could not understand how someone so talented and accomplished in our space could be missing the boat on what seems to be such an obvious and valuable tool for young entrepreneurs, and then it hit me. "Keith Rabois doesn’t see the value of the blog as a platform because Keith Rabois is Ketih Rabois." I played back the conversation and listened to him rattle off the top 10 entrepreneurs in the valley, none of whom blog, and it occurred to me that the blog is not a tool for the Keith Rabois’ or Steve Jobs’ of the world, who have decades of history to stand on. It is a tool for those who are making their mark in the present (I would put the Fred’s and Dixon’s of the world into that category). I now see why Keith pointed out the lack of blogging by market leaders on the West Coast…it is because on the West Coast, the market leaders are leaders who have earned that title for work they have done over the past 25 years. They are entrenched, their personal platforms built before blogging existed, and now they rest on those platforms, not needing to amplify their voice of prove that they are equal to or better than those that call themselves leaders. On the east coast, however, I look around at who is leading our market (many of whom blog), who is top of the pack, and they are all entrepreneurs and investors who are "famous" or respected for what they are doing RIGHT NOW. In New York we don’t have a 30 year startup history that defines who is who and who is best. It’s much more of a wild wild west. If you are making moves, changing markets, and better than the noise, the blog is an essential outlet for you to compensate where 30 years of word of mouth don’t proceed your every sneeze. (Source)
Posted: May 26th, 2011
at 10:52am by mnp
Categories: blogs,entrepreneurship,myninjaplease
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iHub

Kenya’s first exclusive IT incubation centre marked its first anniversary amid growing interest in tech start-ups and IT innovation in East Africa, with now 3,036 members and the first wave of iHub-fuelled IT products now coming to market in the region. (Source)
Posted: May 20th, 2011
at 6:51pm by mnp
Categories: business,development,entrepreneurship,innovation,internets,jobs,open source,web
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The Great Web-Reality Divide

A couple years ago Tim O’Reilly invited a Web 2.0 expo audience to "stop throwing sheep" and start doing something worthwhile. More recently, a post with the title America Lacks Meaningful Innovation went so far as to question the ability and willingness of American companies (particularly web companies) to be innovative.
Nearly three years on and today we’re throwing birds instead of sheep. Damn angry ones for that matter. Nevertheless, the point could be made that we’re still throwing animals instead of doing something supposedly worthwhile (as a typical web startup isn’t exactly revolutionizing health care, the energy industry, the environment, or other highly important areas for the future of civilization).
It could be argued however that entertainment is an important part of life. Granted entertainment doesn’t do anything as necessary and urgent as curing cancer, but it isn’t as though the expectation that every entrepreneur should focus on such a noble and almost unattainable problem is there either. Furthermore, innovation can - and does - happen even in places where you don’t expect it.
Posted: May 16th, 2011
at 6:24pm by mnp
Categories: business,development,entrepreneurship,innovation,mnp is for the children,web
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