Viewpoint from the Netherlands

"Balancing focus with opportunism is a continuous challenge."

Nothing changes
This morning I woke up half as smart as I was yesterday; that is, if it’s true what they say about ‘information doubling every 24 hours’. We are exposed to over 1,500 brands every day making our attention one of the more scarce “goods” of the future. In choosing what company to support and which one to decline, we demand clear messages, intuitive products and transparency about their “way of doing things”. Even if brands manage to get through to us with their new product or service, we don’t often bother to read the accompanying information. It seems that the gap between technologies and markets increases and established companies find it difficult to counter that. There is no lack of great ideas within those companies but speed is of the essence, and they need to add entrepreneurship to their business. Then they start to understand the power of ‘Open Innovation’ - established firms collaborating with small third parties and entrepreneurs. However, living in a changing environment is nothing new at all. The challenges facing young entrepreneurs over the next ten years and beyond will, in my humble opinion, be the same as today; get started, trust your intuition and stay foolish. 01
Get started Let’s redefine success as ‘going for something that really triggers you.’ This means disconnecting the process from its result. The great advantage is that you can already consider yourself successful right after you’ve got started. Nevertheless, it is a far bigger challenge than it seems. The longer you wait, the bigger the hurdles become. McKinsey identified that in the Netherlands, of the three million people that think about starting their own business, only 3% do so. Shell LiveWIRE International helps counter these statistics, having supported 5 million entrepreneurs develop their business ideas in over 20 countries worldwide. Me being one of them. Trust your intuition The decision to start your own company is however not based on a ratio, but on a desire deep down inside of you. From then on finding the right people and balancing focus with opportunism is a continuous challenge. I’ve had many decisive moments where multiple rational arguments were up against one tiny voice in my head. These arguments usually won! However, later it was the inner voice that appeared to be right. Trusting your instincts is frightening but it’s an essential thing to learn and live by. 02
Stay foolish With four out of five small businesses failing within five years, the statistics are against you. However, the advantage young entrepreneurs have is that (and I quote), “victory is usually for those green enough to underestimate the tremendous hurdles they are facing”. Part of being this “foolish”, is having the ability to imagine your company’s success so vividly that it feels like you’ve travelled through time and seen where it all leads to. Then the only question remaining is not if you are going to make it, but how to get there.

Siete Hamminga Waleli, The Netherlands 03

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