If after reading this, you only need to remember two concepts, here they are:

1. We all have Ideas. The challenge is executing them (and executing them well).
2. If you do well, you will not be the owner of your own company.

Two weeks ago, with my dear friend and partner, Jose Gettas, we were interviewing a new candidate for COR.

• “What I would like the most is to start my own company” said the interviewee.
• “And why don’t you do it?”, we asked him.
• Because I haven’t found a good idea yet.
• You haven’t? What do you like to do?
• I love musical instruments. I am passionate about seeing the newest releases, comparing them… everything.
• Do you experience any problems during that search / comparison?
• Yes, no website lets me easily compare and understand which one suits me best
• How convinced are you of this?
• Very. I have been researching for years and I cannot find any.
• And do you think many people have this same problem?
• Yes, a ton of people over the world have the same problem.
• So… you’re saying you didn’t have an idea? 🙂

Now that you 1) found a problem that you would be passionate about solving, 2) in a huge market, go start your business.

The conversation continued…

• “It is true. It happens that today I want to gain experience and COR is a tech company with high growth where I can learn everything I need to then start my own business”, said the interviewee.
• “And what motivates you to start your own business?”, we asked.
• Being the owner, keeping the profits.
• If you are really looking to start a tech company with the ambition to lead the market in which you operate, it is most likely that, if it goes well, you will need to add new investors and valuable talent. All of them will have shares in your company. And the more you grow, the less shares you will have, but each day they will be worth more. Therefore, if you do well, owning and keeping all the profits is something that will not happen to you. So my advice, if I could give you any, is: if you’re looking to be the owner, your company probably won’t have a massive impact.

Focus on being the best by solving what hurts you and so many people. If you succeed in solving that, you will win. 

If you want to solve a big problem, COR might be the answer. We are proud to have a great team and great investors 100% focused on healing the creative industry worldwide, a very big problem that greatly challenges us.

And I am personally proud that each and every collaborator at COR holds shares of the company… shares that have grown over 2,000% in 3 years.

*This is a true anecdote and as it says, it applies mostly to startups who want to be high growth tech companies.

Those who until now have become rich by offering a personalized service of intermediation between the offeror and the buyer are now scratching their heads, looking for ways to reinvent themselves. New products or technological platforms have come to replace them and their challenge to adapt is, at this moment, brutal. I’m talking about real estate / travel / car rental agents, among other intermediary companies. Will they die?

Those who reinvent themselves will have to maintain the service, but modify the channel, offering consumers a direct solution, where they can access the product from anywhere and at any time.

Suffice it to say that this started years ago, and today there are leading tech companies in all these verticals, starting with Amazon, Zillow and Carvana. But it is worth mentioning that today it is already penetrating every corner of every sector by leaps and bounds.

And those who do not ride the wave will, for the most part, crash. However, there will be room for a few of the old schoolers, whose added value will be an intangible that few can afford.

Does this mean “I need to learn how to code”? Not necessarily. “Do I look for another job?” Not necessarily.

We need companies to reinvent themselves. We need intrapreneurs; that is, entrepreneurs within companies. And we need the concepts of Lean Startup, Design Thinking and Canvas to stop being synonymous only with startups and to be implemented in large or already established structures, even in state entities.

We have to learn to work in a different way. We need to listen to consumers again and understand what they want or need.

We need to rethink what was already proven and begin to validate new paths. It is essential to develop a cheap and fast MVP (minimum viable product) to launch and then continuously improve, focusing on real and big pains. It is important to reformulate again. The faster we do, the less time it will take to correct.

The teams that carry out these projects must be interdisciplinary. The ideal partner for the product developer is the one who can sell the product, whether to customers, partners, investors or employees.

Countless entrepreneurs approach me assuming that they have found the solution to a problem, when in the end it is only their assumption about a problem. Entrepreneurs, as well as intrapreneurs, need to validate and iterate with real customers.

The paradigm has changed and the elephants need to focus on becoming partridges.

Entrepreneurship is not just starting a new business, it is a way of life.