Yesterday, I got my eyes dilated for next week Lasik surgery and couldn't really stare at the Mac being it was so bright even with me adjusting the brightness. So I basically closed my blinds all over my apartment and decided to turn on my Amazon Fire TV. Browsing movies I saw This documentary called Start Up Kids, watched the trailer and immediately I wanted to watch it. So I pressed play.
This documentary was amazing because it was all Q&A base. Questions were asked to multiple entrepreneurs and it received answers. Founders of Dropbox, Indinero, SoundCloud, and best part is answers from investors. That is what intrigue me a lot. Though there was a section that talked about boot strapping, it plays an interesting thought process in my head while listening and reminiscing on my own past of my own road to entrepreneurship.
What is an Entrepreneur anyways?
Entrepreneurship is the process of identifying and starting a new business venture, sourcing and organizing the required resources, while taking both the risks and rewards associated with the venture.
from Wikipedia
I am not sure if you know my story but around the web when I am asked how I got started, I basically answer I just did because it is such a generic question. Now ask me what drove me to start my own company, I would answer purpose and need. I started affiliate marketing and digital web content because of the environment I was in. I worked 3 jobs to just have an apartment in a neighborhood where I was jumped multiple times. I still stayed because my economics didn't allow me to make such drastic decisions. I needed to leave.
The american dream is what everyone talks about in school and TVs. Is my life currently where I am at meant for me the rest of my life? Is this true reality watching my back and robbing to just stay on point with my rent? I needed a goal and my goal and purpose was to be better. I remember sitting with my friends in an attic BS'in about life and one of my friends stated "if I was able to make 40k a year I would be happy". This statement just amazed me and thats when I decided to just go and do it.
This documentary reminded so much about me in multiple ways. It has tons of passion and reality from various entrepreneurs. For example the founder of SoundCloud, Alexander Ljung, made his platform because of need with his friends. The ability to share audio instantly via the web. He stated once Björk joined SoundCloud he would take a day off. When she did, he said he would take a day off but all he wanted to do was maintain his website.
His passion for his company shows how I was when I first made my first website on AngelFire and Geocities (what happened to those, do you remember tripod?) All you wanted to do was wake up and see your traffic, it was an amazing feeling to see something from nothing.
Again the best part was getting knowledge from the investors view point. They say about 1 in 10 companies they invest in will make them money through the long run, while some will stay stagnant and others are just not making it. Very interesting viewpoint especially since I know I did this with money from 3 jobs and just kept reinvesting.
There are stories from 2 entrepreneurs who were also interesting, Ben Way and Brian Wong. Ben Way made it but lost it all and Brian made it after realizing he didn't know where he would sleep tomorrow. Luck brought people to them and their success. One of the investors says sometimes you have to be there exactly at the right time, for these 2 it worked out great for them.
The movie is 12.99 at their StartUp Kids website. It is free for Amazon Prime members. This is something you definitely you should watch, even just to see how these young minds think and especially how investors think. For the price, the knowledge receive out of this documentary is priceless. I enjoyed this and was glued to the TV making my own remarks as i thought about where I started.
