A Real Entrepreneur: By The Men in Black

So, you are an entrepreneur. You work your ass off in order to create a product, a company, a dream...

But people do not understand you. You are smart!, they tell you. You could make a big career working for this or that company, they insist.

Others come with metaphors, like: "Before you build the house, you need to build the basement". Meaning find a job, work for years and years in something you don't like with the sole goal of saving money and then make this "hobby" of yours a full time job...

So you are alone, however, you need to work with somebody else. You cannot do it yourself. So, you find this guy. He or she has the spirit, has the knowledge. But what do you say? How would you convince him/her to join your team? To take a risk? You are not IBM, you are not Oracle, you are not Accenture, you are just a guy.

Here you have what "agent K" (Tommy Lee Jones) tells "agent J" (Will Smith) in Men in Black, in order to convince him to be part of a secret organisation that will take over his life. I saw the movie again a few days ago and I thought that it is the best representation I've seen in a long time, to the feeling and the challenge of being an entrepreneur.

Agent K: Here's the deal. At an given time there are around 1500 aliens on the planet. Most of them here in Manhattan. Most of them are decent. Just trying to make a living.

Agent J: Cab drivers?

Agent K: Not as many as you'd think. Humans for the most part don't have a clue. Don't want one. They're happy. They think they have a good bead on things.

Agent J: People are smart. They can handle it

Agent K: A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals, and you know it. 1500 years ago, everybody knew the earth was the center of the universe. 500 years ago, everybody knew the earth was flat. And 15 minutes ago, you knew that people were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow.

Agent J: What's the catch?

Agent K: The catch? The catch is, you will sever all human contact. Nobody will ever know you exist anywhere ever.

Agent J: Is it worth it?

Agent K: Yeah, it's worth it. If you're strong enough.

You have this idea growing inside you. You know you can make it work. You know that with the right team and capital the idea will make millions. You feel it inside. It does not matter how many times people tell you otherwise or try and make you feel like you're alone on this planet.

You must be strong and go on - It's worth it!

Comments

[Jim]

If the point is that there are constantly people telling you and giving you advice, that's absolutely true. Being an entrepreneur means you have to be comfortable with your own direction.

Jim
http://www.neocontext.com