Four things I learned about entrepreneurship from an 84-year old in hospice care

Last year, my grandfather-in-law, Denis Daly, passed away. He lived 84 years, and in many ways had been living on borrowed time for the last 40 of those years, between diabetes, quadruple bypass heart surgery, multiple myeloma and so much more.

But oh, what he did with the time he had.

Although he never completed high school, he was a brilliant innovator. He became both a successful entrepreneur and regionally famous artist in our shared home province of Manitoba. He built and later sold one of the leading design companies of Western Manitoba. He conceived and constructed the Western Canadian pavilion at the legendary 1967 World Expo in Montreal. Later, he served as the head of innovation for the Province of Manitoba for over a decade.

The last six months of his life were spent in hospice care as his core bodily functions, along with his hearing and sight, slowly shut down. And yet, his indefatigable mind and artistic spirit remained intact. His final passion project was re-designing the “Celebrity Edge” – a new cruise ship whose staterooms feature floor-to-ceiling windows that transform into a veranda. To be clear, no one asked him to re-design the cruise ship. He just happened to see the designs, and then he took it upon himself to make improvements. Celebrity Cruises, Inc. kindly accepted all of his hospice-created work and tactfully refrained from mentioning that the cruise ship had already been built.

After Denis died, the family held a rip-roaring Irish wake for him. Recently, we all went on the inaugural voyage of the Edge, and scattered his ashes into the sea.

Learning more about my grandfather-in-law’s approach to life and making things inspired me in my own work. Here are four lessons I learned from him about innovation and building startups (or building anything worth building, for that matter).

1.    Build a product you would be excited to use

Finding a market opportunity and creating a product that solves the need is no small feat.

Denis was an artist, but also a practical man. When he had trouble getting materials for his art, he simply started an art supply store. It was an artist’s business: he grew the company according to the needs of the artists that passed through, and because he himself was a customer, he understood these needs deeply. This eventually became Daly Display, a multifaceted design company capable of taking on the most ambitious projects of his generation, including Expo ’67.

For Denis, the metric by which he judged his products was whether he would be excited to use or experience them. Because he was always his own most demanding and discerning user, he excelled at crafting the perfect customer experience. This extended beyond design elements and encompassed every point of contact, from the moment someone interacted with the company, to the long-term relationship after a sale.

Denis’s products were designed and built with an attention to detail that even the most demanding of customers (himself) would appreciate.

Of course, great products alone are not enough to create a successful business. 

2.    Root product development in financial discipline

Denis had a grand vision for his Western Canadian pavilion at Expo ’67: visitors would be immersed, surrounded on all sides by an experience guiding them through everything that made his part of the country unique. His design included the smallest details, like reproduced fossils in the granite walls, and the grandest efforts, like bringing in full-size ancient redwoods, roots and all.

Correspondingly, the most important detail was the budget to which he was firmly committed. Catastrophe immediately struck when he arrived in Montreal: all of his chosen contractors were rejected in favor of astronomically more expensive contractors who were in collusion with the event’s organizers.

Reminiscent of a James Bond movie, Denis secretly recorded the extortion he was experiencing using a briefcase-sized tape recorder and collaborated with the RCMP (Canada’s FBI) to expose the plot. 

According to family legend, his was the only pavilion to deliver on time and on budget.

To build a great business, it’s not just about building a great product that users love. Doing so within a financial profile that makes sense for the opportunity is equally (and in some cases, more) important. And like Denis, to accomplish this may sometime require extreme (and cinematic) measures.

Otherwise, the grand vision will never come to be.

3.     “There are No New Ideas”

In Silicon Valley, it is often easy to get caught up in the innovation craze and the self-importance that comes with believing that our new disruptive ideas will change the world.

Denis was perhaps the most creative, innovative, outside-the-box thinker I have ever met. And yet, he held steadfast the view that “there are no new ideas” - this from a man who seemingly had a new idea every hour, for every day of his life.

His belief that he was nothing special and that his ideas were nothing new in no way hindered him from pursuing each and every one of those ideas. In some ways, I wonder if it freed him, lowered the perceived stakes. He was never precious about his ideas, just curious.

Having the kind of humility that comes with knowing there are no new ideas is strangely the key to innovation. It offers the opportunity to learn from anyone, anything, anywhere. Indeed, Steve Jobs, arguably one of the world’s best innovators, rarely created anything truly new. Rather, the magic at Apple was repackaging disparate innovations into an easy-to-use and delightful product, be it a computer, an iPod or an iPhone. For Denis, insatiable ego-free curiosity came naturally, and it fed his life of creation and invention.

4.    Giving back

In his prime, Denis ran one of Western Canada’s leading art and design companies. When his health took a turn for the worst in his forties, he decided to sell.

Instead of selling to a few interested parties, he wanted to recognize his employees for their long-term contribution to the business. He agreed to sell the company to them in a management buyout deal. This was pretty novel at the time (and was far from the most lucrative deal) but was a powerful signal to the employees about how deeply Denis valued their loyalty.  

Life is too short to only make money. It is also about helping to make the world a better place, in whatever way we can. For Denis, it was through his products and design, but also in the way he ran his business. A lot of his work, he did for free. He worked with his local recreation commission to beautify his neighborhood. He led a local design council and design institute to help support others working in the industry. Denis was always ready to offer his artistic services, even for the smallest project, like his grand-daughter’s high school campaign for treasurer.

This idea of giving without the expectation of return may seem antithetical to business, but actually is fundamental to entrepreneurial culture in Silicon Valley and other start-up ecosystems. Brad Feld calls it, “Give Before You Get”.

This is how knowledge, ideas and inspiration get propagated. It is also how ideas come to life.

What this teaches innovators everywhere

Denis as a creator, designer, entrepreneur, employer, father, grandfather (and grandfather-in-law) taught me a lot. The last time I saw him, we discussed some ideas he had wished he’d had time to build.

Yet, the most valuable thing he taught me was how to build businesses – including having creativity and a deep focus on customer experience, a relentless focus on managing costs, the humility to pursue ideas with curiosity, and the importance of giving back.

These are many of the qualities I look for in entrepreneurs and which I believe are critical to scaling successful, and impactful businesses.

Special thanks to my wife Shea Loewen Lazarow for her help with this piece.