3 reasons why you don’t want a startup in 2023
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So… This was me. In 2013. I was in full swing connecting scientists all over the world, mostly computational social scientists, to work with Science Rockstars the company I cofounded in 2011. Our slogan was: “Data Driven. Human Obsessed” (🙏 Pepijn Rooijens) And yes, I was in a skatepark, with BMX-ers jumping over me. It all looked very cool, and luckily it was for the most of it.
Two weeks after founding the company in 2011 we were featured in WIRED. Eli Pariser wrote an essay Welcome to the Brave New World of Persuasion Profiling that explained the research by Dean Eckles & my cofounder Maurits Kaptein both PhD students at Stanford University at that time.
Our launching customer was Booking.com and that created desire in the market. It was the perfect startup story. And although I loved it at times, I would not do that kind of startup ever again. Here are some reasons why I feel so strongly about that.
First startups suck.
I come from a normal family without an history of entrepreneurs (or academics for that matter). My father worked as a photographer at the city archives of Utrecht and my mother worked in a children’s daycare. I knew absolutely nothing about entrepreneurship.
And that meant my first real startup was very much a learning experience. But because I didn’t know exactly what I needed to learn and how to go about doing that, it wasn’t even the best learning experience.
Only after selling the company end of 2014 I understood what had gone wrong. And it took much longer for me to understand just how many rooky mistakes I made. Some highlights: we had 5+ founders. We were not developing our product, or doing customer development. Neither of the two original cofounders took the role of CEO. I believed our engineering team. And I was busy with something else than what we actually were: a data profiling company.
The larger point is that IMHO you need experience in 2–3 startups to learn how it’s done. And you either need to understand yourself what you need to learn to get there. Or find yourself a great mentor. I’d love to start a fund at some point that gives people with a non-entrepreneurial background the chance to learn to become a founder by running a company several times (in the ground).
In more priviliged environments this is actually a common approach.
If you have 1 chance, and 1 chance only. Don’t bother with a startup.
Get rich first and do good later?
So there we were, we grew till about 15 people. Angel investment was secured and we were getting closer to making it for real. At that time I knew I had to make some changes. I actually wanted to do good with the company and start a foundation that focused on financing meaningful research and development on the edge of data science and behavioral science .
But there was not enough money or stability to do so. So I moved my focus. What about first getting in money for whatever we were doing now? Data profiling customers. Get rich. And with that money start doing good. If that sounds a lot like Effective Altruism speak than I see what you mean. Coming from modest upbringing, where we have seen our share of money stress, I thought I needed to make money first to do good later.
I ended up doing not great work for little money (that could totally be a startup mantra) to realize this didn’t cut it for me. To get richt, a startup is probably not the most effective choice of spending your time. But that’s not even the point. If you want to do good, start by doing good, is how I now see it. Yes, get a decent living wage. But try to find something where you can do good at the same time. And focus on doing good every day, and every minute. In all that you do. At least that gives me the most satisfaction, and hopefully this is how I do the most good.
Startups don’t change the world.
Okay. This is my Xth startup. Check. Not my first. And this time I am only doing it to change the world. Not for the money. Or not to get rich at least. Because that’s what startups are about: Changing the status quo.
No. Normally not. Can you tell me about a hugely succesfull startup that is truly changing the world. Drop it in the comments and surprise me.
Financial incentives to keep a company going, or the drive to make it more valuable will pull towards keeping the status quo or being part of it. Being bought by a large existing company is seen as a great exit. And there are very few startups that become the status quo. But by then principles went out the door and focus on shareholders is more and more important.
So. I recently cofounded a startup. Jars See photo above. I really did found a startup again.
How does this add up?
If I’m not in it for the money. And I know there is little chance I will create some real impact. Why bother?
Happy holidays and see you in 2023!
