Entrepreneurship is clearly fashionable and initiatives to promote it have multiplied in recent years. I can only encourage them. In fact, I have been involved for a long time, without counting the hours, in several of them. However, I sometimes have the impression that we are diving head first without asking ourselves essential questions. What do we want as a societal model? What types of businesses do we want to promote? As a society, what are the inspirations and directions that we want to give to our children and future generations?
These are questions that I ask myself and I want to offer you my answers, hoping to contribute to a more global discussion.
1. What type of entrepreneurs do we want to promote?
We will always need typical role models, “champions” and messengers who know how to breathe life into the flame. As parents or adults concerned about the future of the next generation, what do we want them to aspire to? For some, it may be “the millionaire”, “the serial entrepreneur” or “the dragon”. These are figures that we regularly see in conferences or on our screens. They are the entrepreneurs who “have succeeded” ( read here who make a lot of money ) – and who today are involved ( investing ) in several startup projects.
What about their journey? What challenges did they face to get to the top? We rarely focus on the process and the collateral effects associated with this success. For example, is there a difference if the entrepreneur in question is recognized for discovering a vaccine for cancer or if he developed a technology to optimize casino profits with their slot machines in third-world countries? Isn’t there a story that we prefer and that we would like to see shine more? And even, that we would tell our own children?
I think that the journey behind any entrepreneurial figure is much more important than the result. We have the luxury of choosing the most interesting, diverse and lithuania telephone number data relevant paths. For my part, I think of people like William MacAskill , Jason Fried or Tristan Harris . I am convinced that there are equally inspiring entrepreneurs in Quebec, but that we don’t talk about them enough.
2. What are the success indicators that we want to put forward?
Right now, the number one indicator of spk specimen: the sparkling maude success is still too often money: a company’s revenue, its number of employees or the fortune of an entrepreneur. If this is the ultimate aspiration that we want to radiate as a society, I find that very sad. In my opinion, this single indicator only symbolizes one dimension, that of the economy. However, other aspects are just as important. What about the impact of a company on its employees and their families, its customers, its suppliers, its community?
I would never want my children’s primary motivation in choosing a career to be solely to make money. Success should be based on a more comprehensive measure that includes, for example, the amount of vacation time a person takes, their quality of life (are they on their phone every night?), and the time they spend doing things other than work. Of course, the financial aspect should not be ignored, but I am convinced that it should not be the most important variable in the equation. There are hundreds of ways, often very inglorious, to generate a lot of money. Is that really what we want to reward?
3. What legacy do we want to leave?
After success, what is left? If triumph is selling your company to the highest bidder, is that really what deserves to be highlighted? Shouldn’t we talk more about the sustainability of the models developed? The Californian glam that emanates from the famous Snapchat, Facebook, Uber and Airbnb are, in my opinion, models that only benefit shareholders. Mind you, I’m not saying they shouldn’t have profits, but I am convinced that it is unhealthy for this to be the most important impact sought in a company.
In my opinion, when you start a business, you should hope that it will still be around in 100 years. Let’s stop promoting disposable businesses. Our children should dream of businesses that they are proud of, that represent their values and that make a real difference. Otherwise, we too often fall into mediocrity and uninteresting.
4. Should we prioritize speed or slow growth?
Who has never read the famous story of the entrepreneur who made millions at lightning speed, who sought venture capital and sold his company less than 5 years after its creation? Prioritizing these cases is sending the message that things must be done as quickly as possible and, above all, generate as much money as possible. Honestly, what is the societal value of a company hyper-financed through venture capital? Once again, the value mainly comes back to the shareholders. In my opinion, the financing model focused on rapid growth is wrong. Moreover, the privilege of taking one’s time is to allow oneself to analyze the choices of others and learn from their journey.
The obsession with speed doesn’t come with a guarantee of industry leadership. It’s been said before: better execution is worth more than the initial idea . A case in point is MySpace, which had a large user base and capital long before Facebook. Yet Facebook dominates because of its scale.
I believe there is a lot of value in promoting an approach that relies on taking the time to do things well, at a steady pace, but never wasting our resources . Let’s promote the right pace, organic growth, and put forward strong values that make us proud as entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship is a marathon, not a sprint!
And what do we do?
On the SPK ecosystem side, we are implementing concrete actions to promote what we believe in. For example, through programs, incubators and accelerators that adopt much the same approach, our Apollo13 startup support program has as its first criterion shared values of sustainability, while the initiatives of the Academy component motivate students from various educational institutions to create companies that embody the change we dream of.
It is possibly the fact that I will soon be a father that leads me to share these thoughts, but it is definitely these values that I would like to instill in my son. The “fast food” spirit of startups since the 90s does not work from a societal perspective. Quebec is in a position to offer greater value.
I am aware that my post leaves you with a good number of question marks.
That is kind of the goal. Beyond these questions, there are as many possible answers as there are people who can get involved in the debate. I often say it: work occupies too big a place in our lives for us to ignore the values attached to it . If we want to build a new generation of promising entrepreneurs, we have a duty to promote different initiatives that reflect our convictions. As Einstein said: “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Finally, I know very well that my positions cannot rally everyone and that is good. The strength of a rich and vibrant ecosystem is its diversity. No single model can suit everyone. However, it is important to value this diversity, whether we are parents, teachers, media representatives, business leaders… we have the power to influence each budding entrepreneur by offering different perspectives.