(This is a classic rap video from 1993 by KRS-One that is generally SFW. KRS was one of the first rappers to focus on social issues and has rallied for non-violence his entire career.)
The video above is worth watching. A) It's hysterically irreverent B) The lyrics are worth paying attention to- really. In 1993, hip hop was roughly 10 years into its nascence and entering into what connoisseurs like myself consider its "golden years", before really crappy artists driven by marketing & promotion (not real talent) began to get radio play and become extremely commercially viable. KRS is considered one of the great artisans and legends of this art form, and probably has made less money in his entire career than lil' wayne makes in a month. Real talent and sometimes even raw talent still dominates the success stories of startup nation. I don't know too many folks that are actually trying to "strike while the iron's hot" in entrepreneurship- but the number is growing, trust me.
Today is my first day at a coworking community in downtown NYC where the long haul of the research and work will get done for the startup I am working on. Instead of hopping around from
office to office to bang out some work, I'm firmly putting my ass-in-seat here every day until the day comes that I make hires or fire myself and go beg the vampire squid for a job (never happen). There are some advantages to working in a community like this which make it worth the $400 a month to sit in a big room. And no it's not the free "organic fair trade coffee" (I don't touch the stuff) or the 125 free copies I get. The advantage is being around other like-minded, startup professionals. We have our own internal facebook like app so we can stalk each other and post jobs, events, etc. So I just did a 360 head turn and I see a couple dozen expressionless attractive men and women slumped over lap tops earnestly doing their work. And the question that comes to mind is: "Do you ever think about when you' outta' here?"
No this is NOT a shot across the bow, don't even go there. But, it's a big question that I gotta ask myself, constantly. It's something very few people I grew up with and more definitively around on Wall Street may not have ever considered. I have seen men make more money than I could imagine in a year in a single day been rendered professionally obsolete within a year's time. This isn't about how they spent all their money and how they're nothing and alone in the world. That's a story that shouldn't make you feel good and it's a story that's a bit played out. But did they consider what might happen if their trading careers might have a shelf life what they'd do next. I sure didn't, and now, here I am, admittedly not knowing what I'm doing in a room full of people who may or may not either. I'm perfectly willing to acknowledge that I'm the most useless schlub in the room right now; I'm not a lawyer or a designer or a programmer. I can't really help anyone here in a technical capacity. So without a conventional job- this freedom comes with big responsibility. I gave myself the freedom to create this year, and in the entrepreneurial world, there's a pervasive spirit not of competition but collaboration. I want everyone in this room to succeed, but we all won't.
We guys and gals in the thousands of startups in this country, with our own money, wearing whatever clothing we want around, using as much or little patience as we please, wielding very very powerful, management level advice that we may not be really prepared for with the most important thing we've got-- our time and energy-- to possibly create something that will most likely not work. It's a major responsibility. We know we're earlier into the game than the many folks who are going to be rendered useless by their industries, and it's being derided as a bubble more and more every day so this means we're going to have more people on their asses when the funding dries up. There's no overseer to keep eyes on the back of our head for so we should look busy. We drive ourselves. We are working for something bigger than ourselves.
No comments:
Post a Comment