When I’m not hearing “How is entrepreneurship a major?” I’m asked, “So what’s your startup idea?” To this I reply: “The Entrepreneurship Club is my startup.”
I’ve mapped out a few ventures, but I’ve never gone all in on anything. I’ve done customer discovery and built MVPs for a few ideas as part of my classwork. I felt insecure about not having a business until I listened to Episode 1 of Stanford’s “How to Start a Startup” class.
Dustin Moscowitz’s wrong reasons for starting a business:
- Glamour
- You’ll be the boss
- Flexibility and freedom
- Make more money/have more impact.
(For more on why those are bad reasons, see this post.) After hearing this, I had no idea why I would ever start a company. Until he revealed the only reason you should ever start:
“Because you can’t not do it.”
Weird wording, but it’s the best way, I promise. The only reason to start is because you’re doing it anyways. You’re loving the process. You’re seeing a solution so obvious to you or you’re just so drawn to solving this problem. You wouldn’t be able to rest if you weren’t working on making this solution.
This is a big mindset shift.
You have to be crazy passionate about something in order to fulfill this criteria.
A startup is simply too hard to be worth the money, the “freedom” and the glory alone.
While this originally was uncomfortable, I adopted this philosophy.
I know that when the time is right and the desire is there, I will be willing to make the leap. For now, I can’t not do my best to improve the Entrepreneurship Club. I care deeply about helping students see they have career options beyond corporate jobs. I want to open people’s minds, break down silos and encourage those around me to be themselves. I think about these things before I go to sleep. I read books about creativity, entrepreneurship and innovation hoping to take some of this information back to the club.
I’m a strong believer in leverage. I want to use my brief time on this planet as meaningfully as possible. Right now, I believe the biggest impact I can have on this world, this University and my peers is through leading the Entrepreneurship Club.
If you haven’t started a business, don’t worry. Keep caring about the world. Find a cause and explore possibilities. The time will come. My time is here and I thank each and every one of you for being a part of something far greater than yourselves. The world is quickly changing and those who will be able to take advantage will be the ones who can think differently.
What’s interesting is that I wrote this post many months ago and never ended up publishing it. Now, I’m no longer the President of the Entrepreneurship Club. So the question is: “What’s next?” And to that I reply, “We’ll see…”
Zack
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