You are here on a holiday because you believe something. What it is you are not sure you can articulate it. But you know that you know something. Maybe you are right or maybe you are crazy, honestly you are not sure. What you do know is you have to try and do something about it. Because in the off chance, just the slim, one in a million chance that you are right, it is going to change everything for you forever. I know exactly how you feel.
I said this before a few days ago, but it helped, so I will say it again. If you believe you can do it, you're right. If you believe you can't do it, you're also right. But if you think you can achieve this without putting in the work, you're absolutely wrong. You have to do more than believe. You must make a decision to do the work. You need to visualize doing the work in your mind. I'm not talking about wishful thinking or manifesting something out of thin air. Only action gets results. The right action gets the right results. That's not just a Buddhist thing; that’s an indisputable reality. Natural Spirituality teaches that your brain is a navigation organ. Therefore, to get the result you want, all you need to do is take the right action, and what you need to know is how. That means what you want doesn't come to you. You have to choose it, get the know-how to know how and navigate toward it. It doesn’t matter what religion you believe in or not. The simple truth is Right action comes from right thinking. You must make up your mind to change the makeup of your mind. No reservations. No conditions. You became a founder, the one who goes first, because if you do what others won't, you'll live like most people can't. If you truly want to do the extraordinary, then it begins in your mind. Remember, to decide means to deny everything else. Deny the doubt. Deny the distraction. Take action.
The mantra "Build, Demo, Measure, Learn" isn't just a startup strategy – it's a life strategy. It's unreasonable to expect others to visualize your vision. You need to make it tangible. You need to manifest it. You need to build it, demo it, measure the response, and learn from it. Let's delve deeper into this.
Consider this: you have an idea and you pitch it, believing that if you converse with enough people, someone will catch your vision. But you're asking people to use their imagination to perceive your product or solution and make a decision based on that. This isn't a fair ask. Here's why.
Humans, by nature, are driven by negativity. They instinctively move away from what they visualize in their minds because, in an effort to protect themselves, they often imagine the worst-case scenario. This is why negative content tends to garner more engagement than positive content – a fact that Facebook discovered and news organizations have known for a long time. It's a biological response.
Ironically, Most people are visually driven. They gravitate towards what they can see and find desirable. These are the hard facts. So, if you want someone to be drawn to your product or solution, stop merely talking about it. Build it, demo it, measure the response, and learn from it. Otherwise, you'll find yourself stuck in a cycle of stagnation. This is why you're here at UF – to build a demo. If you want someone to understand, to believe, then show them. Show yourself. Otherwise, you're simply battling against human nature.
Now, you might be inclined to challenge this idea. Maybe because you're hesitant to put in the work, or perhaps you're wary of the risk, or even due to a lack of resources. You don't want to be true. Some of you might even argue, "But Doc, isn't the ability to imagine and see potential where others can't precisely what makes a venture capitalist, especially an early-stage one, successful?"
Indeed, successful VCs often have a background as founders themselves. They possess a that "particular set of skills" and an instinct for recognizing potential in others. However, many so-called "investors" or VCs are more akin to golden retrievers – if they find gold, they retrieve it for investors. They're intermediaries who know someone with money and are trying to find a promising venture to present to them. They're not decision-makers, and they often struggle to recognize a good idea even when it's staring them in the face. They follow the crowd and have a knack for smooth talk. I can see some of you nodding, recognizing this scenario. These individuals are often even more risk-averse than the average person. They're not just trying to avoid making a mistake or feeling bad about losing money; they're also concerned about maintaining their image. They don't care as long as they don't "look bad". So you are wasting your time and money chasing them. You are, spending time and money trying to convince that person to "imagine what it would be like if" and write you a check. It didn't work because it was never going to work. I can see you are all doing the Homer Simpson thing now right, "Doh". Yeah, the light bulb just went on.That's why the mantra "Build, Demo, Measure, Learn" is so crucial. It's an insight, a lightbulb moment. You need to build a demo and show it. Even if they dismiss it initially, insisting they don't need to see it, show them anyway. Now you understand why. BDML or fight human nature your choice.
97% of all startups fail. Only 40% of the survivors become profitable, and a minuscule 0.0001% ascend to unicorn status. So, what we're setting out to do here is, by all accounts, impossible. We're the underdogs, like Cassius Clay predicting the outcome of a fight before it even begins. Call it arrogance or insanity, your choice. But once we pull it off – and we will – they'll be writing books about us.
I've never been one to shy away from the seemingly impossible. It's not blind faith or baseless optimism that drives me. It's a deep-seated belief, honed from my life experiences, that nothing is truly impossible or unchangeable. I've never been awestruck by the 'impossible' or the 'extraordinary'. For me, it's always been a question of 'how', not 'if'. The concept of impossibility is for lesser minds. After all, if one human can do it, why not another? I accept that the truth is evolution is the driving force of all life and change is the only constant in the universe. So no matter how established or how big something seems, it can all go away just like that. Nothing is safe from disruption.
Disruption doesn't bow to the status quo. It doesn't ask for permission. It doesn't wait for an invitation. It doesn't need approval. It kicks down the door and demands to be seen. Ask yourself, who truly disrupted retail - was it Walmart or Amazon? Who revolutionized television - was it CBS or YouTube and Netflix? Who transformed transportation - Uber or Hertz? Who redefined hospitality - Airbnb or Hilton? Who changed the face of mobile technology - Nokia or the Apple iPhone?
The most seismic shifts, the most groundbreaking disruptions, they didn't come from the establishment. They came from the challengers, the dreamers, the ones who dared to think differently. Remember the launch of the iPhone? A Nokia executive held the new device in his hand and scoffed, "How much market share do they have? Zero!" But look at where we are now.
Nothing is impossible. Transformation doesn't come from maintaining the status quo. It comes from challenging it, from daring to dream, from daring to disrupt. Evolution is not for the many who are content with the way things are. It's for the few who dare to imagine how things could be. What seems impossible is actually elementary if you have the courage, the the know how, and the will to make it happen.
As a founder, you're here for a reason. You're the trailblazer, the one who goes first. You're willing to do what others won't, because if you succeed, you'll live a life most people can only dream of. The Unicorn Factory was built specifically for people like you. You're here because you believe something – not about me, but about yourself. Don't ever lose sight of that. You have a conviction that resonates deep within your core. What you got from UF Lectures is the know-how to know how. You learned the formula for how to articulate it. Now, you've learned how to give that belief a voice, a form, a presence. That does not mean you have the power to impose your will on reality, that is not how it works. You can't make others believe. They have to witness it. You have to show them. You have to make them feel it, see it, touch it.
Here at UF, we're all about the Build-Demo-Measure-Learn (BDML) approach. It's not just a concept, but a profound insight and a way of life. It's the heartbeat of innovation, the rhythm of progress. When you truly understand and embrace this, you'll 'get it'. You need to break free from the realm of ideas and step into the world of tangible, impactful reality. They will believe when they see, when they witness the tangible proof of your vision.
A startup is a value proposition in search of proof, a hypothesis in search of a business model. The day you can demonstrate that proof, that is, your, independence day.
Happy fourth.