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š” Young Founders Must Start with Why
Hi everyone,
Welcome back to the bi-weekly GENESIS newsletterš
If youāre new around here, this is where we share some stories, advice, and resources for GenZ entrepreneurs in the GENESIS community - and plug our events too :)
In todayās editionā¦
š¤ Start with your WHY
š¬ Quote of the Week
āŖ Recap
š Upcoming Events
āØ Asking the Community
š¤ Start with your WHY
Iām a big supporter of spending some of your precious time as a founder reading. One of the books I read recently is Start with Why by Simon Sinek. Yes, I know, itās all over the place, itās probably been recommended to you a million times.
Thereās a reason for that. Let me put it in the context of a young founderā¦
The core thesis of the book is that people donāt buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it.
WHY does your company exist? WHY do you get out of bed every morning? And WHY should anyone care?
You donāt choose Apple just because itās better, but because you identify with the changemakers, misfits, creatives, and luxury buyers who use Apple.
Thatās the most important contribution of Steve Jobs. When he was an early founder just starting out, he knew very little about running a business or building a computer. But he knew what he stood for, and what Apple would stand for ā rejecting the status quo.
And knowing your WHY is the most important job of a founder.
Once you have the WHY figured out, the WHAT will come. It will also shift, just like Apple shifted from computers to phones to watches to media to glasses and beyond.
If you donāt know your WHY you will not be able to convince potential cofounders. Or early employees. Or customers. Or investors. Or yourself, when the going gets tough.
In my mind, having a solid WHY is what separates a side hustle ā which can earn you some cash but wonāt change the world ā with a company/brand.
And funny enough, all companies, organizations, governments, nonprofits, and brands all start from the same place: the WHY. Itās just the route to getting there that differs.
If youāre a young founder, itās easy to get so bogged down with minutiae that you forget the big picture. The big picture being: you have a lifetime of opportunity ahead of you, what impact will you have on the world? Donāt just aim to start a business and sell it right away. Aim to start the next Google or Disney or Apple. Inspire generations to come with a timeless WHY.
A friend of mine put it this way. Imagine youāre in GTA playing free roam. Itās an open map. Nobodyās telling you what to do or how to play the game. So what do you do?
Iāll let you brood on that over the weekend š Highly recommend reading the full bookā¦
š¬ Quote of the Week
āMake decisions that your 80 year old self and 10 year old self both approve of.ā
By the time you're 80, the decisions you make now will have had time to compound and produce crazy results. At 80 you'll be happy if your current self made decisions with that long term view in mind.
And when you're 10 years old, you mostly care about having fun in the here-and-now. Which is just as important.
Life is a delicate balance between acknowledging the past, living in the present, and looking towards the future. Entrepreneurs making 5-10+ year commitments in the present moment must carefully set this balance.
āŖ Recap
thank you Google NYC for lending us the spaceš we had an amazing panel with three successful founders talking about their journey when they were young
weāve been hosting dinners for young founders/investors across the country. reply to this email if you want to try hosting one yourself š weāll help you out
š Upcoming Events
Chicago founder/investor/exec friends ā> we have two more private dinners before this year comes to an end, on Nov 15th and Dec 19th. If youāre interested in joining one of these please drop a reply to this email. Thanks!
āØ Asking the Community
We have something exciting cooking for January 2024 ā one of the largest startup/VC events the Midwest has seen to date ā but we need your help.
No spoilers yet :)
If your firm (or a friendās) would like to sponsor an event with 300+ young founders, a VIP investor lunch for the most prominent VCs/angels in the Midwest, or an afterparty with 200-300 GenZ changemakers in Chicago, please drop a reply to this email.
Weāre open to partnerships with consultancies, VCs, legal/accounting, startup service providers, GenZ focused brands, platform providers, etc.
Thank you for reading this edition of the GENESIS newsletter! See you next soonš
~ Toni Witt