Startups are ipso facto a high risk but high reward setup. This isn’t entirely obvious to the world at large just yet - inquiries into whether I drive a Mercedes S class or a BMW series 7 when I mention I’m building a web startup are still common. Late echoes of the heydays of the web 1.0 bubble, I guess.

Thus, startups form a big unknown. You could in theory be driving around in a McMerc releasing tons of funding off the street cred that comes with selling your first startup for big bucks, building every great idea you’ve ever had….

… but things sometimes turn out differently.

It’s not only difficult to convince yourself to take that risk, but often family and friends think you’ve got a few screws loose. Annoying, and my guess is that a lot of that hesitation and reservation stems from a basic fear of this unknown factor. After all, if the success story hypothesis is a virtual guarantee, there’d be a lot more people in this business.

Thus, we come to the gist: A way to turn that ‘fear of the unknown’ thing around to help you move in the right direction. It can help convince yourself and potentially much more useful; It helps get friends and family on your side as well, and it goes a little something like this:

If I don’t give this a try now, the opportunity will not rise again, and for the rest of my life I’ll be thinking about what could have been. If I do this now, even if I fail, at least I’ll know.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 8th, 2007 at 13:49 and is filed under pitch.