Your “Oh sh*t” Moments: Thoughts for Founders - Seven Jacobs
Our Founders Live London city leader, Seven Jacobs, helps founders see their accomplishments in a new light that offers immediate motivation:
Imagine this.
I’m sitting at a table during an event, out of the way and in a quiet room, where the booth I was staffing was situated. While I’m working away (because it’s super quiet and no one is there), someone walks in. Quietly, looking tired, and probably just looking for somewhere to rest for a moment away from the event, she turns to me and we start chatting a little bit.
It was an entrepreneurship event, so we get to talking about her business and what she’s building. And with classic signs of a tech entrepreneur - an incredible background of experience, mentions of whole weekends spent working, and hints of “imposter syndrome”, amongst many other signals - and I could tell she was holding back.
So I asked how things were going right now and what challenges she was facing.
And eventually, we got to something that is super common amongst entrepreneurs (especially those who want to change the world for the better, and those who really know their industry (but not the startup industry).
It was that she wasn’t sure about the value of the startup. Not because it’s not valuable - it sounds SUPER valuable - but because she was likely undervaluing it. And though we didn’t discuss it, I know that what is without, is often a reflection of what is within. Some doubt in place where confidence and strength should be.
Some entrepreneurs are super humble – and I don’t think that’s bad, at least not on its own. But we must also be able to recognise the value and the greatness of what we create and its potential impact on those that we serve. So we then discussed what was going well.
And she could name several HUGE milestones: incredible achievements, powerful recognition, and masterful industry experience - all very positive investable signals.
Moments that upon reflection, made her go “Oh, sh*t.”
This is happening. This has legs, has traction, has value. So what’s the problem?
Despite that, the unhelpful thoughts were still present. So I looked in her eye and said “How many more ‘oh sh*t’ moments do you need?”
Her answer: “Zero”. A confident and powerful answer that I expect, and hope, will truly shape her business going forward and reflect the value she will create.
So now I pose the question to you:
How many more “Oh sh*t” moments do you need, before you step into your full power, potential, and value?
To your success!
Seven