This past weekend a bunch of IntelliGraders met in New York for a big weekend of meetings and strategy planning. At one point as we came down the stairs, on our way out for a late night bagel (fuel) BS’ father asked us how we were doing to which we responded, ’We’re pretty beat. All this work is really starting to burn us out.’ BS’ Dad looked at us and said:
’Well, if starting a company was easy, everyone would do it, right’?
Thinking about it later that night“ BS’ Dad was exactly right. All weekend we had listened to people saying how difficult such and such was going to be, or how this or that might not work. But the fact is“ this is how starting a company is supposed to go. You’re supposed to get kicked around. Some days bring new highs and some days bring new lows. For example, today we lost one of our best designers to family issues. We were ’ bumming. But then an hour later we heard from a school that was really interested in getting us in to talk with them. That’s just how it goes. Start-ups are fickle things, and IntelliGrad is no exception. We’re including a link to an article by Marc Cuban (Owner of the Dallas Mavericks and founder of MicroSolutions) in which he blogs about how sweat equity is the best equity. We respect Marc because he’s a guy who went from selling garbage bags and bartending, to building a company worth billions of dollars.
While the billions of dollars is great (congratulation to YouTube.com) what motivates us most at IntelliGrad is that we are actually doing something that we BELIEVE IN. Every time we hear from someone, a student, an alum, a parent that we were able to help“ that’s reassurance that we’re doing something truly worthwhile. It sounds cheesy, but the companies that define success only by money are the companies that fail. Guy Kawasaki has a great take on this, and it something we listen to often. The Dude Abides.