Microsoft Innovation Center Brussels

Last Thursday night I was in Liege at a cool event for entrepreneurs organized by Nicolas Paris and Philippe Modard – Walifornia (@walifornia). Room was full of engineers, all into startups, all good and ready to start companies.

Two of the three projects pitched had – in my very humble opinion - no chance for success whatsoever in their current form, both for fairly obvious reasons. Third project was definitely interesting and likely feasible, but also astonishingly labour- and capital-intensive, and facing strong competition to boot.

So for an hour or so I kept asking myself… why on Earth would anyone start a project that had so very little obvious chance to succeed? Especially when there are so many outstanding startup opportunities in several industries, especially in the field of Healthcare.

Part of the answer is of course that first-time entrepreneurs tend to have a limited knowledge of the business world. They simply aren’t aware of all the underwater reefs their business will likely run into. But that’s only a part of the answer…

And then – it was getting late – I simply asked one of the founders who pitched the project.

His answer was (in retrospect) obvious.

Entrepreneurs just wanna have fun.

A lot of founders I come across start businesses because they aren’t interested enough in the things they do for a living. They are not driven by desperate shortage of likely jobs or greed – their startups are all about solving interesting puzzles, about meeting their own deeply personal need, or about doing something they find meaningful.

The paradox is that everybody else who deals with entrepreneurs is driven by a completely different interest.

Academia pursues knowledge.

Banks reduce risk.

Investors (most VCs, to be specific) are after multiples of money.

Governments want job creation.

Lawyers are keen on following the letter of the law.

NB: there are of course many notable exceptions – list in a separate blog one day – but still… you know what I’m getting at.

As result, most people who train entrepreneurs bring their own agenda to the table, consciously or not. And because of this they tend to push first-time entrepreneurs to change their business, sometimes too fast and too far.

And then this happens.

During one of the Startup Weekend Brussels a team formed around a project that had to do with automating certain HR practices in SMEs. The team brainstormed for a bit, and then a Mentor walked in. She listened to the discussion and gave some input – and the business was pivoted to take that input on board.

Then another Mentor walked in. He listened to the discussion, gave his input, there was another pivot… and then the third Mentor walked in.

At which point three of the seven team members walked out. All three developers the team had. Why? Because after the three pivots the business was not what they had signed up for. Yes, it was much more likely to work had it been built, but no, it was not fun anymore.

The point I’m trying to make… when helping a first-time entrepreneur create a business, it’s important to understand her motivation. Very often the information available is prepared by practitioners with their own axe to grind – resulting in an unconscious focus on their needs and interests (more jobs, less risk, higher return). Not on the needs of entrepreneurs.

It’s a subtle difference, hard to pin down or describe.

Let me try.

One could advise an entrepreneur on the business model that would make sense to an investor –highly scalable, looking at an enormous market. Or, one could advise an entrepreneur on a business model that would allow her build a business that works for her.

One could tell an entrepreneurs about the methodologies for valuation of a startup. Or, one could advise an entrepreneur on what she should do to maximize the valuation of her business.

Makes sense?

The twist (there’s one in every good blog post, right?) is that eventually the point of view of the first-time entrepreneurs changes due to their experience of building and running a business. They start to see that there’s more to it than solving a puzzle or scratching a personal itch. They learn (some more quickly than others), and they change their business – in three months or in three years.

But you can’t get them there from their starting position. They have to get there at their own speed, through their own experience.

So here’s my personal promise as a Coach for the next edition of the MIC Brussels Boostcamp (starting May 24): I will look at your business from the entrepreneur’s perspective (and make sure all Experts we involve in Boostcamp do so too). We’ll focus on helping you build the business you’d be happy to run – not warp it into something that would be more scalable or more profitable, but no fun at all.

Not that there’s anything wrong with earning a fortune – but that’s not why first-time entrepreneurs start a business, right?

After all, entrepreneurs just wanna have fun.

P.S. Want to join the next Boostcamp? Email your contact details and a brief description of your project to [email protected].