Drama-Free Business Success is Mostly Absurd
Who ever heard of a breakout business success story that didn't have some sort of drama attached to it? There are many exceptions, but a great majority of published success stories tend to have some sort of major conflict, founders having beef, or competitors relentlessly fighting to drive a nail in the coffin of a promising startup. Name any one major business success story and I can give you an example where they had some kind of conflict or drama before reaching stable ground and pay dirt.
We know the Facebook story and have seen the drama filled movie about it, we heard about young Bill Gates and Steve Jobs losing friendship over the early PC race, and heard about Pinterest getting clobbered with potential lawsuits from copyright owners. There's no shortage of drama laced stories.
This topic rared up last week when an Erookie reader vented their frustration about a slackoff startup partner who wasn't pulling his weight in the company they started. The drama wasn't about disagreements, but rather why the slackoff wasn't marketing, promoting, and helping to monetize the idea he originally came up with. He did original legal paperwork and the business plan, but that was it. The current active partner and supporting managers are at a breaking point contemplating whether or how to kick him out.
Every new business has major growing pains, how you manage the stress and drama all depends on your sense of cool and urgency. The few businesses that get successful without worry, yelling, cursing, or fending off haters and vile competitors are few. Somehow drama seems to play a role in the growth of most. Most business personalities feed on competition and fierce competition in turn is a major source of drama, law suits, and other headspinning business happenings, but often mostly healthy success.
Comments
Thank you Montrell. It's unfortunate this happens in so many startups. The drama at the top of management often trickle down to the employee level eventually creating an unstable working environment with doubts about the longevity of the company. That's why so many startups have such high turnover rates in their first few years. Each founding member of the company has to put in equal effort.
I seriously can't stand laziness of any kind, especially in business. I was taught when working with other people to respect their time and effort and they'd do the same for you. If they don't show you the same respect then they're not ideal working teammates or partners. I try to avoid conflict at all cost but sometimes you just have to confront it to try to diffuse a dramatic situation.
Great article Wade. I have encountered drama at every turn dealing with startups. From partner and investor feuds to who is going to handle what responsibilities. "This topic rared up last week when an Erookie reader vented their frustration about a slack off startup partner who wasn't pulling his weight in the company they started"
I think this happens in most startups, which often have laxed company structures initially. Possibly, at the beginning when there were two collaborates equally sharing the yolk it seemed like each was doing 50%. As the reader commented, he now has a team of 5 people and that could have been all the cover his partner needed to slack off. Personally I have experienced this as well and wish I had really focused on the "Roles and Responsibilities" section of our operating agreement.