Don’t Talk, Don’t Plan, Don’t Wait
Do, because most others don’t. The reason that Israel sets itself apart from most other countries is that people here don’t understand what it means to be ready. It is a true innovative ecosystem and demonstration of entrepreneurial character, and frankly speaking the best in the world. The Israeli ego and personality is one that portrays perfection across all fronts. The iron dome missile defense system is a great representation of that reality coming to fruition.
Israel is one of the only countries in the world to have implemented a MVP (Minimum Viable Product) into direct military action. The system was still in testing mode, and finalizations still had to be made in addition to regulations needing to be passed
. Today, the system is responsible for saving the lives of thousands of citizens and millions of dollars in damage. The message is, sometimes in life you need to just do. In the field of entrepreneurship, the message is the same. If you sit around waiting for things to happen, or change, or until you are ready, then it is already too late. As a serial entrepreneur in Israel we met put it, “starting your own business is a lot like getting married. You will never be ready for it, and if you sit around waiting until you feel like you are, then you’d have already missed the chance.”
For Babson students, this message can be best applied through two different outlets. The first, starting your own business. Everyone at Babson has thousands of business ideas floating through their head. We are basically wired to think differently, and solving problems is almost second nature after succumbing to the process we call FME. What most students don’t do however, is act. We spend so much time thinking, and talking, and drafting, and comparing our ideas, seeking one another’s approval that what we don’t do is the most important – act! There are many others in the world with ideas, some revolutionary, some life altering, most horrible – but the ones that get funding, change the world, and make money are those that escape the idea process and are actually implemented.
The two most common reasons why entrepreneurs fail to act on their ideas are the following.
1. My idea is so good that if I tell people or don’t start working on it the exact right way, someone else will steal it.
2. I’m not ready to launch my idea; I don’t have a lot of time, resources, or motivation to start my own business.
The solution? First, your idea is not that good. The most successful startups in the world operate under the assumption that there are three teams around the world doing the exact same thing you are doing right now. Even if that isn’t true, if your idea really is that good, and you can’t patent it, once you launch, others with more resources and a better team will seek to compete with you anyway. Second, you will never be ready, and the longer you wait, the more time is wasted from you being successful. Even more important is the data. Purely based on the fact that most people are like you, and don’t think they are ready either, means that statistically you are more likely to be bought out or grow to be a large company because of the few ideas that actually do come to exist out of ideas.
The takeaway from this message is simple. Whatever you have been longing to do, thinking about, absolutely craving and dreaming about – do it.