Your startup idea… sounds neat.
It is reality. In the early days, before anything is launched, and certainly before you’ve recruited anyone to join you, it seems nobody is ever as excited as you are about your startup idea. When you tell friends and family about it, your idea rarely gets the reaction you think it deserves. In some cases, the reaction is much worse. And the harder you work on your startup, the harder it is to absorb the lukewarm encouragement.
And that’s OK. I’m sure at an intellectual level, you know these tepid reactions don’t mean much (even though you’re completely paranoid the guy at the next table is listening in on your conversation so he can steal your idea, develop a product, build a company, raise venture capital, and dominate your market, even before you have time to cobble together a prototype.)
So, here’s an exchange you’ve no doubt been through a couple dozen times. Stand in your friend’s shoes this time, and maybe you’ll feel a little better:
Entrepreneur (circa 2004): Me? Oh, I’m working on a startup.
You: Oh cool. Tell me about it.
Entrepreneur: It’s an internet startup. I’m building a website that helps you stay in touch with your friends.
You: Like email?
Entrepreneur: No… instead of using email, you get all your friends to sign-up on the website.
You: I get everyone to use your website instead of email?
Entrepreneur: Um, yeah… and then on the website you can leave updates about what you’re doing. And all your friends can see it.
You: What I’m doing? Like, if I want to invite everyone to a movie? Is it like eVite?
Entrepreneur: Sure. You could use it like that. Or you could tell your friends you just made a nice cup of herbal tea.
You:
Entrepreneur:
You:
Entrepreneur:
You: Oh.
Entrepreneur: And, uh, then your friends could click a button and say they like that update. Or maybe post a comment about it.
You: About my tea.
Entrepreneur: But it will be cool because your old friends from grade school can find you on the website. So you can keep in touch with them, too.
You: But how would they find me?
Entrepreneur: Well, people would have to use their real names. On the website. And upload their picture.
You: My picture??? People can search for me using my real name? I can’t just use my internet handle?
Entrepreneur: What’s your handle?
You: Madman128
Entrepreneur:
You:
Entrepreneur: Yeah. So with this, everyone uses their real name.
You: Huh. That might seem a little weird…
Entrepreneur: Well, yeah. I think people might do it, though. Because all their friends are already signed up.
You: Right, all my friends are signed up. But wasn’t I the one who got them all to sign up?
Entrepreneur: That’s how it will work.
You: I see. So how many people are on there now?
Entrepreneur: Oh, not really very many. We’re just kind of getting going.
You: Cool. Well, good luck with it.
Entrepreneur: I’ll let you know when it’s live. I’ll send you an invite.
You: Totally. It sounds… neat.
