5-4-3-2-1 Countdown for Entrepreneurs (3/10/22)

Written By Adam McGowan

4
Insights from movie directors for my founder friends

​Martin Scorsese:
“I can never get the film that’s in my head up onto the screen. Reality imposes its limits.”

David Mamet:
“You can’t just say, ‘I’m the boss.’ You establish your authority in rehearsals and it carries over to the set.”

Joe Berlinger:
“Critics have power disproportionate to their talent and labor, but they’re a fact of film-making life... Just welcoming them to the screening and telling them why I made the film, humanizes me. It’s harder to savage someone you’ve met.”

Sidney Lumet:
“I always call ‘Action’ in the mood of the scene. If it’s a gentle moment, I’ll say ‘Action’ just loud enough to be heard. If it’s a scene that requires a lot of energy, I’ll bark it out like a drill sergeant.”

3
Quotes from SciFi authors that inspire entrepreneurs

Arthur C. Clarke: “Every revolutionary idea seems to evoke three stages of reaction. They may be summed up by the phrases: 1- It's completely impossible. 2- It's possible, but it's not worth doing. 3- I said it was a good idea all along.”

Ray Bradbury: "If we listened to our intellect we'd never have a love affair. We'd never have a friendship. We'd never go in business because we'd be cynical: ‘It's gonna go wrong. Or ‘she's going to hurt me.’ Or, ‘I've had a couple of bad love affairs, so therefore…’ Well, that's nonsense. You're going to miss life. You've got to jump off the cliff all the time and build your wings on the way down."

Isaac Asimov: “It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.”

​2
Speeches that stirred the world of business

Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford Commencement address. In his famous speech, the CEO and co-founder of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios shared three stories from his life, urging the graduates to view obstacles as opportunities to learn and grow. He said, “The only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”

Bill Gates’ 2007 Harvard Commencement address. In a profound speech, the founder of Microsoft, investor, and philanthropist, answered a question he had posed to himself: How can you do the most good for the greatest number of people with your resources? He explained that he changed his approach to business to develop creative business models that would produce profits and solve problems. “Humanity’s greatest advances are not in its discoveries — but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity.”

1
Idea about Customer Discovery

Here’s some advice I posted on LinkedIn:

Most startup customer interviews are totally useless because humans are terrible at seeing the future. And we interviewers are doing it wrong: We’re always asking people what they "would"...

- If this product solves a problem, would you buy?

- When you buy, what would you pay?

- How often would you use this?

- What feature would you add?

We unknowingly ask everyone to speculate. And we get really unreliable responses but, to us, they sound great. Instead we should be asking what people “did”...

- Did you try to solve this problem yourself? How?

- How much time/money did you spend on it?

- How did that work out for you?

We all love talking about what we’ve done. And in our stories the truth comes out. So, the next time you’re interviewing, quit focusing on the future. Concentrate on the past. Innovation will follow.

 

Stay safe, stay happy, stay in touch!

Adam

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