Verse reads truer in reverse

Last week, in conversations with fellow start-up brethren, I realized how most of us have acted against conventional wisdom to get to where we are.

Right makes might – “Might makes right” has ruled us for centuries; the strong rule the weak, the big become bigger. Lincoln, on the way to presidency and abolition of slavery in 1860, famously said, “Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.” We in start-ups, too, act in reverse. We start with the “right”, the greater good of the world. The ones that do it consistently are unicorns today.

Money value of time – We grew up reading “time value of money”; today it’s the reverse. We are maniacally short of time, always on the run. Vacations are a joke. And a second spent on anything has to be on the most precious thing.

A bird in the bush – We were asked to let go two birds in the bush for the bird in hand. Now, the certainty has no meaning for us. We thrive in uncertainty; the ambiguity is our opportunity to create disruptive value. Some of us would go for even a quarter of a bird.

We’re from the start-up world. We’ve read each verse but we dare to do dream, think and do differently. We are here to prove the verse truer in reverse.