Why do most people stay in the "idea stage" forever? I see it all the time—talented individuals who have a brilliant concept but never actually ship anything. They are stuck in a cycle of constant evaluation.
There is a saying I live by: "Shake the tree and see what falls". Your job as an entrepreneur isn't to calculate the exact velocity or trajectory of what might fall if you shake a branch at a certain angle; your job is to just get to the tree and start shaking.
The Talker vs. The Builder
The biggest divider between a "talker" and a "builder" is the fear of qualification.
Talkers ask themselves, "Am I qualified to do this? Do I have the right degree? Do I have 1 crore in the bank?". These are all self-made excuses that don't actually exist in the real world. Builders, on the other hand, focus on one thing: Do I want to do it?
I am currently working on a space project, yet I am not an aerospace engineer. I simply hired the engineers I needed because that is what I wanted to build. You don't need 100 employees or massive funding to start; you just need to stop answering 6-month-later problems today and focus on what you can do in the next 24 hours.
The Potter Experiment — Quantity over Quality
There was once a study where a class was split into two groups.
- Group A was judged on the quality of a single pot; they had to make it perfect.
- Group B was judged on quantity; their grade depended on how many pots they produced.
The results were clear: Group B produced the perfect pot. Why? Because while Group A was theorizing about perfection, Group B was rapidly iterating. They learned from every mistake and every experiment.
If you want perfection, you must first have the courage to produce a high quantity of "bad" iterations. Perfection is a byproduct of doing, not thinking.
Advice for the 18-Year-Old Founder
If you are young and liabilities like home loans or medical bills aren't tying you down, now is the time to take risks.
- Stop asking for permission: Don't ask anyone if you can be a CEO. Just start.
- Pretend: If you don't know how to lead, pretend you are already the CEO of a massive company. Ask yourself, "What would a high-level CEO be doing right now?" and then go do that.
- Use the tools: Today, you can build and validate an idea in an hour or two using modern tools. There is no longer an excuse to wait months for a "perfect" launch.
The gap between idea and execution is filled with action, not calculations. Stop worrying about the pitfalls and start shaking the tree. You might be surprised at what falls out.
Fin.
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