Collaboration and Entrepreneurship

I’m here in London with 6 other amazing entrepreneurs, and a counterpart at Unilever asked me a really interesting question.  He asked what it was like working with this group- we’re working together, but really at the end of the day we’re competing against each other.

And I realized that it felt like nothing but a collaborative effort.  At least I didn’t feel a single bit of… meanness.  I think this is true for lots of people who are truly passionate about what they are doing.  I’ve read other entrepreneurs talk about this too.  Get a bunch of entrepreneurs in a room together and cool things happen.

I guess it’s also pretty indicative of WHY you’re doing what you’re doing.  The entrepreneurs that I get along with are the people that are doing what they are doing, mostly because it’s really cool, and they think it should exist in the world.  (Read: not the people whose main purpose in starting the company was to sell it in 18 months and make a 3x multiple on it- now don’t get me wrong if that HAPPENS, that’s different- but I don’t really jive with the people who go in with that motive).

I think the biggest high for the entrepreneurs that I hang out with, is working with others to create something that was never there before.  It doesn’t really matter who gets credit for it, as long as you know you were part of that creation process.  I guess I’d call them…artists. Creators.  We’re all very creative people, just in a different sense of the word.

And really, the most creative people, in any space- be it business, art, computing, design, tend to be collaborative.  Because the best things happen when great minds come together

At lest that’s what I think.  And I love working/hanging out with smart people. Gives me nerd chills.