I was reminded yesterday of a blog post that I wrote a while back about True Grit, the persistent, relentless push forward quality that I see everyday in Entrepreneurs who get it. I have been talking to some of the institutional investors who have been interested in participating in the “Alternative Asset Class” that is the name used by Banks, Pension Funds and other financial institutions if you did not know. Almost all of them ask me what is criteria for me to invest in companies, I cannot emphasize enough about the quality of Grit, someone how has the Chutzpah, the gump, the courage to boldly continue on when all the natural things begs you to stop. I really got inspired reading the latest article by Mark Suster “One of My Most Frequent Pieces of Advice: Be Politely Persistent“. I am sure there were some Entrepreneur who was being pissed off or arrogant about not getting to an yes with Mark. That happens a lot. Nice thing about Iceland is that there are not that many venture investors that you get only a few Nos :), the important thing is obviously to continue on your journey. But as Mark says in his post don’t be bitter about it or arrogant or be an a#$h%&! about it. The best way to get to a yes, is always hard work, focus on what matters and your circle of influence and move your circle of concern away from what needs to get done.
The above advice by Mark is a classic and comes at the right time, Jason Mendelson one of the Managing Directors at Foundry Group and who attended Startup Iceland last year (Have you bought your tickets yet! we are going to have a sold out event, do don’t wait till the last minute get your early bird tickets) was interviewed by xconomy.com about “18 ways to kill as startup: Bad Teams and Ideas, arrogance…“, do you notice the pattern? Arrogance is one of those attributes that an Entrepreneur needs to let go, you cannot be arrogant in a sphere riddled with high uncertainty and low data. You need to be positive and continue on your journey. I also like the post Brad wrote a while back about an “Entrepreneurs Math:(.9)^10=1 “, you need to be in the deterministic world and not the probabilistic one if you are an entrepreneur. If you do the odds, it will tell you how small of a chance you have for success, but that should not define how you go about doing things. You need to believe that you will succeed despite everyone showing the odds of success at your face. That is how you get to Yes! quiet, polite, persistent, relentless focus on the next step… May the force be with you!
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