The early stages of any startup or swarm are the period of highest vulnerability. Its when a dream can most easily be killed.
- “Embodying terror networks: how direction creates structure,” PDF, Mitch Stripling, esp. p.6-7
Incubating and protecting a dream from dream-killers is one of the biggest things a VC/mentor can do for any startup.
- Protect it from self-doubt that would abandon the dream. Know when to push and when to quit.
- Provide resources and introductions in order to grow the community. Feed the web first.
- Provide skills and capacities that the team may be missing. Basic admin can be one, for example.
- Protect it from taking on too much. Ship now. (Which simply means, deliver the service now, not later.)
- Protect it from the paralysis of perfection.
Make a difference in the world. Start by widening your dreams.
- Read about a horrific situation: the Horn of Africa famine for example. Google it. Read news articles about it. Dive deep into it. Find journal articles. Find material that’s longer than 250 words. Grapple with understanding it.
- Now, read about Celtic ministries. I’ve linked to them before.
- Read some of what John Robb writes about resilient communities. Compare these to what the Celts did.
- Read everything you can about startups. Find and Follow Robert Scoble’s startup twitter list. Check the book list at personalmba.com and start finding them in your local library (or buying them).
I’m not suggesting that you have to be a businessman or businesswoman to change the world, or that your way of changing the world will be a business.
That said: “Good News” is good news for every aspect of life. It’s holistic. You can learn a lot about startup ministries that change the world from startup businesses that change the world. Do something that, like the Celts, is holistic and touches every aspect of life: from worship to education to food to health to business.
Dream!
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