Tennis and the Meaning of Startup Life

, Partner & EVP, Marketing at Tallwave I Author on Entrepreneur.com & Tech.co

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Belief
Look, you’re trying to change the world. Or you should be.
More people than not are going to tell you your idea will fail
Its up to you to persevere.
confidence, not arrogance
you have to believe you can not only hang with, but beat, someone “better” than you

Uber takes on the taxi industry
Airbnb takes on the housing rental industry
Apple takes on Walkmans and all of music
BTW...people are going to think you’re crazy. Ignore them.

Control your emotions
It’s a roller coaster
Daily...deals won...code breaks...investors push meetings…
Or worse...all those things happen simultaneously.
ups down, wins, losses
stay focused
AND DON”T carry losses into your next match - MOVE ON QUICKLY!

You’ll get your teeth kicked in
And youre seling something that doesnt exist
You’ll hear in the startup world “Fake it ‘til you make it”.
One of the truest phrases I’ve ever heard.
I’ve sold vapor and black boxes for a living.
Entrepreneurs jump out of a plane and assemble their parachute/plane on the way down.
Look bigger than you are
Convey confidence you don’t have
The key is the belief that you have the ability to do what you just oversold

Which hits on another emotion...fear.
You have to conquer it.
You MUST take controlled, calculated risks that require bold action. Fear will inhibit that.
You’re down in a match. You want to take a safe serve, make sure you get it in. But the serve you’ve been practicing and can do in your sleep can change the game.
You must clear your head and do it.

Solitary problem-solving
Tennis has no coaches in real time. And not even corner men like boxing. You’re on your own.
Same with starting a company.
You’ll have advisors...but you’re the boss...it’s on you...trust yourself, stay calm, lean on your instincts

Hit to the open court
No brainer right?
Attack weakness.
Or...where the heck aren’t companies looking?
In other words attack the white space. This means market opportunity.
Are you trying to beat an incumbent? How?
Maybe disrupt a whole industry, like Uber?
Where the heck are you aiming?

Winning above all else.

Winning for a startup means user adoption, revenue, etc.

That very likely won’t manifest itself in the way you intend.

You’ll move, pivot, adjust...the key is to keep finding a way.

Mention big pivots

Odeo was a podcast thing.

IBM shifted from being a hardware company to a services company back when that was unheard of. They are the only company to ever have been in the Fortune 500 consistently for 50+ years or something like they attribute that to their pivot

Pixar when it STOPPED selling its Pixar Computing Machine and focussed on storytelling through digital graphics

Flickr was a video game thing (I think) before they became Flickr.

Winning ugly
Guess what....doing things that have never been done is messy.
Making mistakes is normal
You know what makes all the difference? Finding a way to win.
Startups aren’t won on style points

Finish the last point
No matter how long it takes, know when you
3 days!
11 hours
5 minutes
Staying power
perseverance
tenacity
Don’t ever give up

I haven’t played tennis in quite a few years

I’ve taken to another individual sport...one where i get hit in the face…

Stay tuned...

Tennis and the Meaning of Startup Life

Robert Wallace

Tennis and the Meaning of Startup Life