There Are No Lifejackets On This Boat

October 22, 2007

In the movie Jaws, the character Quint has an amazing monologue where he describes how his ship had just delivered a nuclear bomb (that would be used on Hiroshima) only to be torpedoed by Japanese submarines. The ship sank quickly, and eleven hundred men were stranded in the water. And then…the sharks came. Quint goes on to describe how the men formed tight groups in the water to fight off the sharks, sometimes successfully, sometimes not.

Near the end of the story, Quint says, “I’ll never put on a lifejacket again.”

shark attack

A couple weeks ago, in a post titled, Living on Loyalty, Trust and Big Ideas, I talked about lifejackets too, although not in so many words. Time to clarify a bit…

“Startup teams can’t succeed without immense amounts of loyalty, trust and faith in big ideas.”

Mat Balez questioned my point about “faith in big ideas”:

“I’m 100% with you on the first two: trust and loyalty – I’m not sure about the big ideas part. Who doesn’t have big ideas? I’d swap that for “unbelievable execution”, because ultimately that’s more important.”

There’s no doubt that execution is critical. You can’t have a successful startup without execution, regardless of the idea. It’s why copycat companies can still succeed by executing better and faster than their predecessors.

But for a startup to succeed each and every team member has to be a believer.

Otherwise, it won’t get off the ground. Let’s hope the founders are believers (if not, you might as well jump off the ship now), but when hiring employees, it’s essential that they get 100% on board. There are lots of reasons why you might want to work at a startup, but the most important one is this: You believe in the startup’s idea.

Startups don’t have lifejackets. There’s nowhere to hide in a startup, and if you’re not sold on what the startup is doing, you’ll drown…and take everyone else with you.

When faced with employees who are secretly trying to blow up dinghies underneath their desks, you have two choices:

  1. Work with them and convince them to buy-in and put everything they’ve got behind the project; or,
  2. Let them go.

Firing startup employees is very hard. With a small team it can have a big impact seeing someone let go. Even if it’s the right move, it will prove shocking and disconcerting to those remaining.

But, it can prove equally frustrating (and much, much worse) if the impassionate employee stays. Try and resolve the situation; talk to the employee in question, figure out what’s wrong, offer solutions…just be ready to get out the plank.

In a startup, each and every team member is essential to the startup’s success. Startup teams are simply too small for people not to carry their full weight. And so there can be no lifejackets. No lifelines, no hedging one’s bets. You’ve gotta believe. Big idea, small idea, it doesn’t matter. What’s important is that everyone believes in the startup’s chances of success – and more than that – they’ve foregone their lifejacket in order to make it happen.

As for Jaws…I’ve seen it numerous times and it doesn’t get any less frightening. As a result, I haven’t gotten into the shower since Friday night. So I’m preemptively apologizing to the guys at the office: Sorry guys!

photo by LucyInTheSkyWithDiamonds

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Comments
  • More and more, I'm thinking of myself as a nonprofit entrepreneur. Although we are hardly a startup, new projects often feel like what you are describing here. We assemble a small team of consultants under one inhouse person. Every consultant has to believe, like you said. We gauge their level of belief based on their initiative. The more they believe, the more initiative they show.

    It's so tricky, though, because our teams are always built out of consultants. Sometimes it feels like they aren't even on the same boat.

    Any thoughts on how to manage a team of consultants effectively? Or is my analogy hopelessly flawed?
  • You are absolutely right. Execution is very important and I do not for a moment underplay it, but if your employees did not buy into your big idea, they would not have joined you in the first place. To keep that enthusiasm alive is the greatest job the entrepreneur has to perform.
  • Ann
    I think that you are right. And it is very difficult to find dedicated start-up employees, ones that are willing to stick it out through the good and bad. Thanks for posting.
  • You have some great insights about business.
  • @Mark: That's a tough one. Just the other day I was speaking to someone (a consultant) and said, "The problem with being a consultant is the lack of ownership." Really, most of the time, you're building equity and value in something for someone else. With employees, you can give them ownership (in the form of equity / stock options, etc.)

    Consultants - at the end of the day - are mercenaries. And there's nothing wrong with that! (I do my share of consulting work, and have in the past.)

    But I'm not sure you can motivate them in the same way as you can startup employees, even if you're trying to build a small, S.W.A.T-team like atmosphere for them. That's something I have to think a bit more about.
  • Thank you to everyone for commenting, so far...

    @Ann: You're absolutely correct. Finding dedicated startup employees is hard. Very, very hard. I have some ideas on HOW to do it right (which is in part why I started Standout Jobs) but it's certainly not easy!
  • John Johnson, the founder of Ebony and Jet magazines and other businesses, came from very humble beginnings and was quite aware of the need to keep a positive attitude in a startup.

    Early on in his entrepreneurial life, he actually fired an employee after he remarked that he didn't think they would succeed

    http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1365/is_...

    That may seem drastic, but as an entrepreneur I can understand why he did it. Once you set out to do something, you suddenly become much more aware of how severely negativity and risk aversion are holding others back.

    Negativity is something that, as an entrepreneur, you must fight every day, both externally and internally. It's an enemy never to be taken lightly!
  • The best thing to do is to make sure you chose the right team members. If you chose non believers it is eventually going to lead to your downfall. I agree aswell with what Mark Goodyear and Ben Yoskovitz said. Keep up the great work, nice article.
  • There's another option for startups that many people believe to be a great idea: pooling skills, knowledge and resources in a partnership style of business.

    Those who don't go the way of employees and who don't want to start a venture alone partner up with a friend, an old co-worker or a family member. People who pool funds might also become partners.

    This isn't the greatest idea.

    While partnerships can be great, they usually fail very quickly (for a variety of reasons) and the results aren't pleasant. Arguments, bickering and in worst cases, the business dissolving are all potential scenarios.

    You might want to discuss this type of arrangement at some point.
  • I couldn't agree more. Last year I took a course through my local Small Business Center with respect to starting your small business. Even within that course I could look around the room and see which people were serious and dedicated to making it work and which weren't.

    If the owner isn't dedicated and excited about their business how can they expect their potential employees to be?

    A great reminder even as established business owners to regain our excitement and watch what it does to our employees!!
  • @James: Many people will say that the best # of people to start a company is 3. It gives you the chance to bring in a good enough mix of talent, etc. and always leaves one person to break ties.

    Going solo is hard. You don't necessarily have the resources, contacts, sounding boards, etc. that you need. Going solo as a consultant is different though than starting a business in the way I'm describing.
  • This is a great article Ben. Firing people is indeed very tough, especially when people are really "into it" but just aren't competent enough. It's hard to say that to someone!
  • Carl - Yup. It's one of the more unpleasant aspects of running a business. But, you learn over time that it's a necessity when things aren't working well.
  • Just an update for everyone. I met with the consultant team over the past two days and explained this discussion to them openly. Then I was very clear about expectations. Exactly what I needed, how much time I thought it would take, and how much we could pay for that time.

    They appreciated the candor and gave me strong verbal commitments to the project!
  • Mark - Glad to hear it. Congrats on getting through to the consultants!
  • I am new to your site and have to say pretty impressed. I have a business and yes no life jacket. Great post I have been looking for a great entrepreneurial blog. Thank you
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