July 12th, 2007
Special relativity and the startup paradox
The laws of Newtonian physics work well to describe the motion of apples falling from trees and much of the world of business, like insurance sales and car manufacturing. The motion of rocket ships and startups must be analyzed under a separate set of rules.
A result Einstein’s theory of special relativity is the twin paradox. The twin paradox states that if one twin zips off into space, traveling near the speed of light, he will return to find that his earth bound brother has aged much more than he has. The startup paradox works the same way. Xobni might as well be traveling at 300,000,000 meters per second. I fear we’ll step off this rocket ship five years from now and find that our world, friends, family will be at a different place than we left them.
We will get back and not only will we look at things differently, but our world will have genuinely changed. College friends will be responsible adults and Bush will finally be out of office.
Dedicating so much of your life to one ambition (read startups) inevitably precludes you from giving as much attention to other aspects of life. You must engross yourself in your work to accomplish something great. However, what are you missing?
The scariest part of living a startup is that you are gambling with your time. As PG would say, “you are trying to cram a 40 year career into 3 years.” The hope is that you can create 40 years worth of value in 3 years, which will allow you to live the other 37 years with much more freedom. Most people have the same ambitions for that free time: travel, art, music. However, not everyone comes out with a win. You either have to try again or start putting in your 40 years.
Great blog, can’t wait for my Xobni killer app.
mark, on July 13th, 2007 at 12:44 am