I’m worried. Maybe I’m worried in that “you’re getting old and grouchy sort of way,” but still I’m worried.
I’m worried that there are so many really big problems to solve. The kind of problems that get solved when you put an entrepreneurial mind to them. I’m not talking about world hunger, profound poverty, or peace in the Middle East. I’m pretty sure there is no app for that.
It’s the other big problems that have me worried. And not the problelms themselves, per se, but the gross lack of entrepreneurial attention they currently receive. Over the last several months, I’ve evaluated business pitches from nearly 1,000 companies. What strikes me most about these business is that they are doing nothing of significance.
Indeed, the collective attention of young entrepreneurs seems be have been hijacked by all things trivial. How many knock-off AirBnB sites does the world need? Or new vertical social networks for niche groups that can’t figure out how to create a Facebook page? Or Foursqure meets Match.com meets World of Warcraft?
Presumably, these proportedly hot startups are endorsed by the taste makers of the angel investor scene. And if you’re an investor, these businesses may be a good way to turn a quick profit – for you, if not the entrepreneur. But, really, where’s the long-term positive impact?
Building a startup, regardless of the target market or customer, is crazy hard work. It can suck the life out of you if you’re not careful. So if you’re going to work that hard, why not work on someting that matters? Solve tough problems, make an impact.
Over the last two issues of this newsletter, I offered up the support of Guidewire Group to any young business that was tackling tough problems in the areas of health and wellness, financial literacy, sustainable energy. Exactly one entrepreneur rose to the challenge. The offer still stands.
Do something. Do something that matters.
This is a great post. I can certainly understand why entrepreneurs would want to go for incrementalism (trying to change the world is difficult, risky and in general probably has a low return on capital), but the world needs people to tackle really big problems. Let’s hope that there will be many who will take up your call.
Spot on, Chris. So much of our culture seems to celebrate solely the financial aspect of a start-up (“Raised $10M!” “Sold for $300M!”) and under-values what I think truly drives the best tech entrepreneurs: tackling a big, meaningful problem and making a difference. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Chris,
Great post. I think that part of the problem is that investors are not only endorsing flavor of the day startups but also actively pushing entrepreneurs to move away from hard problems and towards things that can make a quick buck. I’d love to chat with you. My company Mindblown Labs (Mindblownlabs.com) is using mobile gaming to tackle financial literacy.
Well said! I founded WeMakeItSafer. It’s an angle funded startup that builds web applications… um, ok, that part isn’t very original, but we are solving a real problem. Our applications use algorithms to identify unsafe products in homes and secondary market inventory.
I’d like to think we’d have the drive to keep going when times get tough anyway, but when your goal is to keep people out of the ER, the motivation is baked in.
Well put Chris: http://www.salas.com/imported-20111103233638/2011/11/10/make-it-matter.html
I received this comment via email from Michaek Zisman, who gave me permission to repost it here:
my God, thank you. my mantra to kids in school today is….do something that matters. thank you for stating this so elegantly.
today the most valuable companies are – coupons (groupon) ,games (zynga) and facebook. far away from when the most valuable companies were cicso, hp, orcl, dell, enterprise s/w — people who actually built stuff. apple is the only exception.
facebook, i am pretty certain, is a net negative on GDP (yes, i will do something productive once i get done talking to my friends). i guess it today for real falls into entertainment. like comcast or CBS or Hollywood.
as a country, we do not add to our capital stock with coupons, games and social media. and in the case of games and social media, the people using the products are not adding to our capital stock. kids in s. korea go to school for 220 days, vs. our 180. when they’re home, they study. we play games and use FB. we are now 26th in the world in math skills.
i started a successful company in 1979 – soft-switch, and another company in 2009. this company – GolfTripGenius.com – is in the golf industry so maybe i am part of the problem. people ask me what’s different, and i reply with these 2 points:
1. location does not matter. at all. my developers are in the UK, romania and the Ukraine. they’re brilliant, hard working, articulate and cost less than half of US rates.
2. the world is your mentor. if it’s 2 am and there is a bug, well, just google it and you will find 20 people who had and solved the problem.
So……….we are producing graduates who are not as well educated, and certainly not as hungry, who want to work on stuff that hardly matters, and yet it is easier and easier to hire graduates who are smart, hungry and very well trained. there is very little friction cost in a virtual world, thnx to skype, web ex, git, tender, toggl and all of the other tools that allow virtual collaboration.
we all know the old line about going from rags to riches to rags in three generations. it may apply to nations, as well. very scary.
what’s really troubling is how few people want to even have a conversation about this.
Hi, I read your post and it really impressive, thanks.
Actually I’m Japanese making a web service “PIRIKA” that help clean up entire world.
http://www.pirika.org
Our project is very small now but the problem that we are trying to solve is very big.(Over 4.5 trillion cigaret butts are thrown on the ground around the world each year.)
I promise you to do our best and I’m looking forward to meeting you in near future. Thanks.
I see that this article has been relegated to the proverbial archives. No activity for months. I just stumbled on it and I wholeheartedly endorse the theme – do something that matters and makes a difference. Thanks for putting this out there!
I would like to see if your challenge at Guidewire is still alive. My team at CoreConnex, Inc. has been working many long hours to make our Corelytics Financial Dashboard the premier solotion for small businesses. Corelytics applies predictive analytics to data that lives in company accounting systems. In a matter of seconds the dashboard displays trend lines, future projections, tracks financial goals and shows business owners how thir company compares to other similar companies in their vertical market. It’s build for the non-MBA who knows their business but is not a financial expert. We are addressing a severely underserved market and aim to help make financial management and decision-making clear and relavant. Stacks of numbers don’t cut it. Pictures that tell the story are the key. We believe this is the only way to get the small business management team on the “same page”. Check us out at http://www.coreconnex.com. Now, who do I talk to at Guidewire?
When achieved it become a problem to become small businessman and be successful? The little businessman – like my dad, or at all like me?
Do not let your ego get too near to your position, to ensure if your position gets shot down, your ego doesn’t go along with it.
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I completely resonated with Chris, especially since my own purpose in life has long been to do the greatest good for the greatest number. So I share her outrage, sadness, and fear that so much of our American talent is being wasted on startups that really don’t matter, or worse, further entrench us into a culture of vapidness that has taken distraction to an art form. Neil postman nailed it even more deeply in Amusing Ourselves to Death: You can just read the one page forward, if you’ve read both 1984 and Brave New World, to have your mind blown: http://www.serendipity.li/jsmill/post_1.html. Absolutely brilliant.
So what am I doing about this? A the risk of a shameless request for help or at least moral support and comradery (happy to reciprocate), our own startup, CoupleWise.com just launched in MVP this weekend, and though it does not address the #1 imho preventable cause of suffering–income disparity, i like to think it addresses perhaps #2 or 3: the poor management of how we love those closest to us. Putting it more positively, it will hopefully be the first really successful attempt to use science, art and technology to address the 2nd or 3rd most important predictor of human happiness: How well we love and are loved by those closest to us. And, since it address a basic human need–not only to find love, but to keep it, if it works,it will be big. Then I then hope to be in a good place to address that #1 cause. So to cut to the chase, what we need: Someone to help us get our first 1000 early adopter couples in the next 30 days (ideally) to validate our assumptions. Two of the best tools are to be added very soon. Fine to email me at jobs at couple wise (one word) tot com.