Canadian Entrepreneurs: We're The Crazy Ones.
Our startup and small business landscape is currently atrocious. But new Canadian startups keep on spurring up with founders with new big ambitions.
On paper, this doesn't make sense to experienced industry directors.
Why take on risk when you can walk on a path of the system already lined up for you?
"The biggest risk is not taking any risk. In a world that is changing quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks." - Mark Zuckerberg
Having expertise in maintaining and growing something at scale is a completely different skillset compared to the need to build something zero to one.
Quibi was a great example of experts failing at building something from the ground up.
And through the underground founder stories, there are many more examples just like Quibi.
It takes a special kind of ambitious talent to venture out and build things net new.
Unfortunately, in our Canadian market, there are more ambitious talents who are too cautious through the fears of judgment, action, and uncertainty in expertise.
But that's a preceived illusion.
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Imaginary Boundaries
Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. - Jean-Jacques Rousseau
What makes an expert an expert?
It could be by lived experiences, maybe it's also a balance between innate talent and skills.
it's certainly not by credentials and perceived image.
The biggest fallacy of every specialized industry is that specialization is a destined path that's outlined from the natural order of nature.
Specialization is a human-made design of optional restraints to standardize processes in the current snapshot of the world. It's designed by innovators and crazy ambitious people.
Culture, Environment, and Establishments are fixed and at a constant change.
The rest of the variable factors are imaginary boundaries of limiting beliefs.
Expertise Anxiety
Between 2000-2022, "imposter syndrome" have increased by +15500%
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An increasing demographic of oversubscribed systematization results in more root causes of inaction:
Maybe this contributed to the rising spending in education:
In an increasingly lonely Toronto, finding a truely connected professional community matters more than ever (we're also doing our part to help change that.)
Great things from zero to one are built with partnerships and dedicated communities. Rarely with specialization and expertise.
Comfort in Agnosticism
It takes a special kind of optimistic personality to be comfortable in the grey areas of failure or success (whatever metrics or definition of that you've placed on yourself.) Being able to enjoy the process means being able to handle agnosticism.
And not in a loose way of hoping with inaction.
This personality needs to be able to see the path of opportunities that take the least resistance based on their pre-disposition.
Reversible actions, few resources to execute, and high impact are what these high agency people filter for and execute on.
Knowledge has its limits (objectively based on epistemology principles.) Finding stability in agnosticism is a necessity for action.
Babies learn to walk eventually, without the need of "industry best practices" and "benchmark processes".
Currently, Canada needs small businesses to simply execute:
Subject matter experts have their role and purpose in providing guidance, but their guidance should not be taken as set in-stone direction or boundaries for you to pursue what you need to pursue.
"Maybe I'll start when the economy is better"
From the perspective of an economist, recessions are one of the best times to build a venture because the equity you build through R&D and development will grow in value as the market turns upwards:
It's crazy to say that we're here to partner with Canadian founders to help develop and grow the next big thing. Because so much of the stats are showing us that's irrational.
But we're optimistically contrarians in our thinking.
If you need ideas, we have plenty.
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Co-Founder & CEO at Synoptech
2 个月you gotta love the crazy ones! ??
Brand Strategy Consultant | Transforming Visions into Irresistible Brands
2 个月?? Interacting with passionate founders in Canada over the past five years has been a fantastic experience. I agree that the resilience needed to succeed here is substantial, but it's undoubtedly rewarding. Excellent post, Runda!
Building Autonomous Technology to help people @ Hover | Techstars '23 | FreshFounders | Dragon’s Den ‘23 | Ironman
2 个月:((
I build companies and communities | CEO and Founder | Director Non-Profit - Aceocial | Co-Chair - Toronto Tech Fest | Techstars LA '21
2 个月Stay hungry, stay crazy ??