Like a Snail
As part of my job, I follow entrepreneurship-related publications, webinars, and online events. I don’t know if other entrepreneurs are also digging for defining their entrepreneurship? I do. I try to do it in my way.
Is it founding your own business? Do you desire to be your boss? Is it a race to reach an exit & making good money, then stop working? Raising your living standards with cash, maybe buying a sailboat, and hang around? I’ve heard a lot the conversations among startup founders. Exit and the sailboat curve is the most popular:-) I gladly saw that a few entrepreneurs don’t care about any of these.
I may say entrepreneurship is a belief & love. It is falling in love with the problem and the solution. Believing to solve the problem with different point of view.
I want to give two examples of the highest tone. Elon Musk and Steve Jobs.
Elon Musk earned millions of dollars at a very young age. He spent all of his money on projects such as Tesla and SpaceX. He could not pay the house rent for a while and moved in to a friends house in the Silicon Valley. He did not keep some of his money aside, buy a sailboat and continue to stay at the comfort zone. Instead of buying a sailboat, he is going to sail on Mars.:-)
As for Steve Jobs example, he founded Apple Computer; he created Apple products. Then, he was dismissed from Apple with significant compensation. Has he retired, bought a sailboat, and stuck? No. He had a strategic retreat, he founded the ‘‘Next ’’and later became Apple’s head again, he didn’t give up. He followed his faith and love, left a mark, made a dent in the universe.
Leaving a mark! Yes!!! Entrepreneurship is leaving a mark, too. My brother Ahmet Coka always comes to my mind when I think about to leaving a mark. He is one of the most excellent designers I know. He always says,‘‘ You have to be like a snail. Because snails leave their marks as they move forward.’’ To give a brief example in his story, he quit his professional life, sold his car, bought a bicycle, biked 900 km from Istanbul to Bodrum (Southwest Turkey). He settled in Bodrum, established his new life. He continues to produce and leaves his mark like a snail.
As seen from these examples, this is a journey of faith, love, and leaving a mark. It has a philosophical side. Let's think more. What will I do if our startup have a great valuation ? Will I buy a sailboat, stop working? Every entrepreneur should ask and answer this question honestly. Perhaps VCs are or should be asking this question to entrepreneurs as well. Is it money that excites the entrepreneur? Let me tell you another story; One of the well-known Angel investor once told me; ‘‘Listen carefully, now we will proceed as follows, it will be like this, then we will exit, when you achieve this you will have the biggest pleasure you ever have in your life. ’’ I didn't react. At that moment, I was unresponsive as I realized that I was listening to the wrong Angel. The Angel was surprised, “Aren’t you excited about this? What a man you are, I do not understand you. ’’ Actually, I understood a lot. It was an excellent lesson to take, and I thank him now.
I don’t know where our startup will go, but at least we believe, we make difference to our users. This thought reminds me of a well-known starfish story:
One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.
Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?”
The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up, and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”
“Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make a difference!”
After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the surf.
Then, smiling at the man, he said…..“I made a difference for that one.”
(Original Story by: Loren Eisley)
We are happy if we make a difference, even for a user.
Wherever we go on the journey, our experiences are written to our plus house. In his youth, Henry Fonda works on a farm, takes care of animals, and did hard work. Many years later, he said, “In life, they can take away my business, take away my assets, but no one can take away my experiences, including what I learned while working on that farm.” What we have experienced positively or negatively, will not be wasted.
One day, I was invited to an Agtech pitching event in San Jose in June,2017. At that time, I was at the Runway incubation in San Francisco. I thought I probably called to the event by incubation link. I went to the pitching event; that day, I had at my best. A month later, we were selected as one of the five startups to the Food System 6 accelerator in Silicon Valley for free training. I met first with Peter Hertz that pitching day, who called me and supported me to apply to the accelerator after the presentation; he is one of the people who touched my life. I appreciate him. Actually, there are lots of people to thank in our journey. The training was one of the events that changed my whole perspective. When I later asked the incubation whether they led us to that pitching event, they said they had no relevance with this. Then, who recommended us to the pitch there? I found out after a long time. The person who led us to that presentation was Ozan Sönmez, whom many people know in the startup ecosystem. I only know him from a start up event back three years ago from the pitch and did not see him since. But someone you don’t expect can also touch your life. I am grateful to him.
Is there a post-entrepreneurship phase? What will you do next? I answer this question for myself. First, we will develop our product, we will work to make it go as far as it will go, but our experiences will remain in our hands, and we will share them with young people and support them, we will continue to leave a mark like a snail. Of course, you don’t need to be an entrepreneur to leave a mark. Doing your job well and touching people’s lives makes you leave deep marks.
I can say that entrepreneurship is a belief, love, leaving a mark and moving forward that goes far beyond making money and starting your own business. There are a lot more to learn; there are many chapters a head. Let’s see how these experiences will change or approve what I think.
