A couple weeks ago, I had the pleasure to speak at Startup Camp in Montreal. During the Q&A to an audience of mostly first-time entrepreneurs, I described entrepreneurship thusly:
Imagine you’re at Disneyland. It’s August. The California sun is hot. You’re in line for the Space Mountain ride and you just know it’s going to be great. You’re eating ice cream, which seems nice, but the sun is melting the ice cream faster than you can eat it and sticky, milky stuff is running down your arm and making you pretty uncomfortable.
The line moves and you go from too bright sunlight into the dark entrance of the ride. You’re not exactly sure where you’re going, but it’s getting exciting. You stumble along until you get used to the dark.
Then, it’s your turn. You scramble into the roller coaster and just as you expected, it’s thrilling. The anticipation of the climb, the rapid drop, another climb. In a matter of minutes, the ride comes to an end.
You get out of the car and throw up.
The next day, you do it all over again.
That is what it feels like to be an entrepreneur.
