When You Create a Startup Based on Changing People’s Lives for the Better
It may seem a battered topic and nonsensical but bear with me a few more words.
Originally published at: Medium
Just Today, someone that I respect and leads a successful IT and Design Company just shared his thoughts about how reading another “Book of Intents” mentioning that “… they have started a Startup to change people’s lives in… (place your target here)…” makes him cringe in the spot.
His take was that what makes a real Life Changing event is not provided by a Tech Startup or based on Programming. It would be more oriented to medical focused projects, non-profit organizations or even political associations or movements. After all, these may impact so much more in People’s lives than a new gadget or a new App that blinks and smiles at you by a pink screen.
The Argument that a profit-oriented Company is dedicated to Change People’s Lives in the process, makes no sense for him.
And if you think it through it makes a good point.
Even Considering to be a Life Changing Company makes you Sick? — Here’s my take on the matter
Writing in any manifesto that we want to help other people just because is trending, or even to feel good about it is really lame because it’s not the primary focus. The primary focus (in most cases) is to make your company grow, pay your salaries and eventually make some good in the process.
However, when it makes sense and the main focus is to really help people or other companies to succeed, it dramatically changes the way we work, we bread, we find energy every day.
When I launched my projects recently, after years of big corporate “big boys” work methods,my goals were really designed from scratch. I was fed up to take the same approach everyday and fight in that large shark tank for the big chunk of food, not caring about what was happening to the little fishes around.
In fact, it was by looking around me after I took a bite at a large juicy peace of “food” that I saw that there were a lot of fishes that hadn’t a clue about what was going on. Just swimming back and forth in random nonsensical path to oblivion.
It made no sense for me to watch that happens without take a different approach. With my resources and knowledge I could be starting a company that would focus on what I was doing to so well and continue to swim with the big sharks and whales. However, it wasn’t something that I would like to see me doing in the future. So, having big profits is good but it wasn’t my main focus. My main goal become to really help the small fishes to understand how to navigate on that same tank and get bigger chunks of the food that was being hoarded by the big beasts. Eventually they would be large enough to swim without help and take steps in a conscious way. Not random swims without any pre-destination in sight.
So, is Life Epic Changing Possible in Tech and Digital World?
I tend to think so.
It can really influence some People’s Epically Life Changing Events if you remove the importance of what you’re doing and think in the bigger picture. If you’re on the goal of Helping other People in some aspect in life, you must remove ego of thinking that it was you (or your company) that has done that and be a part of the ecosystem that really can make that happen.
When you started to read the Headline and thinking about Companies related to this concept of Changing People’s Lives you must thought about someone that was talking about that all the time: Steve Jobs and therefore, he’s baby: Apple.
Obviously, he’s an icon for those that want to Change the World. Yet, one can say that the tools and gadgets that he provided are not so life changing at all.
And here relies my premise: It’s not what WE do as a product that changes someone life. It’s what that person do with what we’ve made.
What I expect to have an impact in people’s lives is by providing tools and knowledge for them to have the same or even better chances to succeed than the big sharks that swim in our waters. There’s no better goal than to help someone fight for their food, providing for their family and make them happy for what THEY have accomplished.
Life Changing efforts and goals can be made in whatever industry, job or country.
What you must think it over is if it deserves to be in your company/startup manifesto as mirror of your business culture indeed or you just playing it to make you feel and look good.
Originally published at: Medium
CREDIT for Primary Photo: MR. RUDOLF GETEL HTTP://FLIC.KR/P/E579QX
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