Superstar Entrepreneurs

I went to a seminar not long ago entitled, How to be an Entrepreneur Superhero. A panel of entrepreneurs answered questions in front of a room full of reverential novice entrepreneurs, dispensing the usual homilies on how to be successful: perseverance, focus, obsessive, attention to detail, etc. One had sold his web company for $85 million a few years ago, which lent his platitudes an air of credibility even though he had no real insight into why his hard work was so well rewarded. It made me wonder why we all attend these events. No one has a formula for achieving, much less duplicating, success. For every smart, hard-working, persevering, focused, successful entrepreneur, there are tens of thousands with the same qualities who don’t succeed. Of course we all know this but it doesn’t stop us from trying, which is a tribute to human nature but it’s also a little insane.

Let’s face it, success is the relatively rare combination of hard work and favorable circumstances, (sometimes only the latter). Luck plays a huge role in any tale of success. Perfect timing, having the right connections, tapping into some viral, crowd-sourced new paradigm…

Listening to the panel got me thinking about how obsessed our society is with success and superstars. Anything less than the ultimate in wealth and fame seems like a defeat. The tech world is no exception. Its superstars are highly visible, very wealthy and their companies’ products and services are used by millions of people.

The problem is that, statistically, your chances of becoming a superstar entrepreneur are, for all intents and purposes, basically nil. Most web startups don’t even get funded and most of the ones that get funded go bankrupt. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with pursuing your dreams. Where we go wrong is in our expectations. We all want to be the next Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg. We end up being so goal-oriented, we forget to enjoy the proverbial journey. Of course, if you’re not goal oriented or a dreamer to some extent, you’ll never attempt anything worth doing. On the other hand, if your measure of success is unrealistically high, you’ll never be happy. We all have to learn that the process of striving and being engaged is its own reward. It only took me half a lifetime.

I just worry that our media-saturated world is going to make it harder than ever for our kids to keep things in perspective.