6 Things I learned from VFA Bootcamp
1. There are no original ideas--embrace the competition.
Most people who want to be entrepreneurs can relate to the experience I’m about to describe. You think of a great business idea, and you think it’s the one. It’s the most brilliant thing you’ve come up with yet. You get out a piece of paper and start writing all of your thoughts down, and the idea keeps getting better and better. You start daydreaming about the possibilities, and your excitement continues to grow. Then, you open up google and start doing some searches. Shit. You get a sudden sinking feeling after finding out that there’s already someone doing this.
I know I’ve experienced this at least ten times. The truth is, no matter what you come up with, there is probably someone out there trying to solve the same problem. At VFA bootcamp, I finally realized how to apply one of the most prominent anecdotes in entrepreneurship--”It’s better to have a B idea and an A team than an A idea and a B team.” While many people can have an idea, at the end of the day, the spoils will go to the team that executes it the best.
Now, when I see someone else trying an idea that I came up with, I see it as both validation and an opportunity. Jason Tarre, a member of the VFA team, helped me realize this during a challenge. My team came up with an idea, and when I explained to him that there was a company out there already doing it, he responded, “well, just means it’s a good idea.” If someone out there is doing it and being quasi-successful, that means it’s a viable business. It also provides you with an opportunity--you can look at the existing players, see what they’re doing wrong, and figure out how you will do it better and out-execute the competition.
2. You need to be willing to take on many roles
We always hear about how entrepreneurs and employees at startups do a little bit of everything. I had no idea how true that actually is. In my five weeks at Bootcamp, I had the following job descriptions: cartoon animator, web designer, public speaker, art curator, script writer, salesman, teacher, and the list goes on and on.
It’s important that you’re willing to do jobs that you’ve never done before and that make you uncomfortable. If there’s some task you’re afraid of, take a “journey into your incompetency”. One of my most rewarding experiences at Bootcamp was when I was testing an alpha version of an idea that enabled VFA fellows to teach and learn from each other. At first, I was looking to my peers to teach other fellows about certain topics, as I didn’t feel like I could teach anything. Then, I just said “fuck it”, decided to do it myself, and taught 8 other fellows how to use Twitter for networking purposes. This enabled me to gain a deeper understanding of how this idea would work from both a teaching and learning perspective, and if I had not done this myself, the idea would be dead in the water.
3. The Animal Spirits are back
People always told me I should get into the stock market. I would try, but it never really clicked. I would always say, “it’s not real business--it’s based on human emotions.” Well, I came to the harsh realization that I better find a way around my emotional ineptitude, because emotions are the key to good design.
Quick side note: for all of you logical thinkers out there who think functionality matters and design doesn’t--you’re wrong. That’s how I thought 6 weeks ago
We heard from a few design experts, including Gary Chou (Union Square Ventures) and IDEO. One of the most fascinating things Gary told us was “think about how you want people to feel; let that lead the design.” In addition, Fred Dust, partner at IDEO, told us to focus design on “that moment” when the user experiences the most emotion--giving the example of Apple’s patent on iPhone packaging. Have you ever opened up the iPhone packaging? You feel like weeping tears of joy.
There are books that elaborate on the importance of design, so I won’t do that here, but the key takeaway here is DO NOT underestimate the value of good design.
4. You need a mission and a singular voice
If you were to boil down any company to two questions, they would be “what do they do?” and “how do they do it?”. In my opinion, the answer to the first question is the mission of the company, and you need that to be one unequivocal voice. “How do they do it?” refers to every other part of a business--the business model, team, product, marketing, etc. The “how” gets messy, but a mission can be a compass for all of the questions surrounding that mess.
To revitalize American cities and communities through entrepreneurship.
To enable our best and brightest to create new opportunities for themselves and others.
To restore the culture of achievement to include value-creation, risk and reward, and the common good.
Any decision that VFA makes in regards to recruitment, expansion, or any other key activity will get made with that mission in mind. This way, all decisions are in alignment.
A good example of having a mission came when my team was building a website. Early on, we decided that the “mission” of the website is to tell the organization’s stories. This influenced every element of the design, and as a result, anyone viewing the site could tell that this was the theme.
Marian Salzman, from Havas PR, explained that this is prominent in Social Media. She let’s any of her employees handle the twitter account, because there is one singular mission/culture, and she knows regardless of who tweets, it will be consistent with the personality of Havas PR.
David Tisch also alluded to the importance of a mission, when he told us “you’re not going to do a job, you’re joining someone’s mission.”
If you don’t have a mission, you don’t have much at all.
5. You need to come up with your own beliefs
There. Is. So. Much. Noise. This is particularly true in the startup world. So many people blog, tweet, and speak about best practices and how-to’s (yes, I appreciate the irony here). The truth is, not everyone can be right. We had a few speakers at Bootcamp that directly contradicted each other. While it’s important to listen and learn, at the end of the day, there’s some advice worth heeding and some that is not. I’ve gotten more startup advice in the past 5 weeks than most people get in a lifetime, but I can’t do everything that everyone says. This is one of the reasons I enjoy blogging; it helps me think critically about the things I hear and filter it all down into my own beliefs.
6. Most importantly, allow yourself to be inspired.
In my 5 weeks at bootcamp, I met some of the most interesting, weird, and brilliant people. So many of these people challenged my perceptions of what an entrepreneur looks like, and when you face these challenges, it’s easy to shut down and close yourself off to new interpretations and experiences. However, if you remain open-minded, you enable yourself to be inspired by others, become more creative, and do things you otherwise wouldn’t be capable of doing.
We were split up into teams at the very beginning of bootcamp. My group later became known as the “hipster” group. If you know me at all, you’d know I’m the antithesis of a hipster. Needless to say, my teammates had very different interests, personalities, and attitudes than myself. While I’m more of a “get shit done” pragmatists, the rest of my group was more interested in creating something cool and exciting. There was a point where I felt tension from this difference, but once I opened myself up to the team, I was inspired to come up with much more artistic ideas than I’d ever generated. This list includes an art collective that curated and sold art created by RISD students, as well as design oriented iPhone charges that could be placed on bar-tops.
This is just one example, but here’s the key takeaway: if you’re surrounded with incredible people, let yourself be inspired, and you’ll be better for it.
While these are few of the many lessons I learned from VFA bootcamp, I’m sure I’ll be inspired to write about some others as I use them.
