David Cummings on Startups

Entrepreneurs are Patient and Impatient

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David Cummings

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One of the more common refrains I hear from entrepreneurs with a working product is that sales aren’t where they had hoped. Peeling back the layers, the real issue is that entrepreneurs are impatient and want to see results immediately.

Now, on the other hand, entrepreneurs are patient in that it takes a tremendous amount of time to see a pay-off for all the risk, if they have any success at all. It takes years to get a business off the ground and in a position that’s sustainable and predictable. But, of course, during the process of building a business, most entrepreneurs are super impatient. Here are common issues:

The product is taking too long to build.

The suppliers are too slow.

The sales people can’t close deals fast enough.

The potential investors take too long to make a decision.

Impatient, impatient, impatient.

Being impatient is a healthy attribute as it’s correlated with pushing hard and constantly seeking results. Overall, it takes a unique person that’s patient with a long-term horizon and impatient with short-term results. Entrepreneurs are an unusual breed.

What else? What are your thoughts on entrepreneurs being both patient and impatient?

Comments

2 responses to “Entrepreneurs are Patient and Impatient”

  1. Stephen Ashworth Avatar
    Stephen Ashworth

    As an entrepreneur, I can appreciate that being impatient might be perceived as a healthy attribute, however, be careful not to try and accelerate the acceptance of your concept too quickly. There is a learning curve for the ‘general public’ to absorb your entrepreneurial venture and therefore pushing to hard for validation of concept-could limit your long term success.

    Reply
  2. Berkobin Avatar
    Berkobin

    Great question … given we are a sum total of our experiences, I recently joined SherpaDesk at ATV with a rushed mentality (plus – I’m innately impatient). At my previous job (start-up as well), the notion of anything taking more than 48 hours was damn near unacceptable. Anything being defined as dev work (I’ll spare the sales and marketing drama) … ‘now, now, now’. Candidly? As an employee, I found it to be alienating, stressful and experienced the ‘overdraft effect’ (no deposits to balance the withdrawals).

    I agree with you; it’s important to bring patience and impatience to the table. Having the aptitude and/or experience to understand where and when each belong will allow one to exceed where others do not.

    In summation – Louis CK’s ‘Miracle of Flight’ phenomenally depicts what has happened to our patience (and appreciation for accomplishments) as a society. It’s worth a Google.

    Reply

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