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Hey there Innovator.
Did you know that ‘Mr. Bean’ has a degree in electrical engineering?
You heard right. Rowan Atkinson, the funny british guy from the movies (pictured above) got his degree from Newcastle University in the 70’s. He even pursued his Master of Science degree at Queen's College at Oxford and became an Honorary Fellow in 2006.
We know him for his hilarious acting and funny face on the big screen but he was pursuing what he believed to be his passion at the time. It was until he did a cameo in a friend’s film that he was introduced to acting and movies. He found a new passion and pursued this newly paved path. Yes, things can change from one moment to the next ladies and gents.
It’s ok not to know where your path is leading at first. Once you accept this reality you will feel better. The most exciting part of life is the journey itself. As Entrepreneurs we sometimes feel an urgency to solve an enormous problem or create something NOW. The reality is that innovation takes time. We might even get lost in this never-ending chase for success. I’d suggest doing something enriching that you are passionate about and eventually something will come to you. Instead of focusing your energy on ‘finding’ your calling, go out there and ‘DO’ something instead. CREATE something new, experiment with something you like. As NIKE's motto says, “Just Do It”. You’d be surprised at the results.
I have some very exciting stuff to share this month and it’s all because of you. Thanks for sending me feedback and ideas. Keep up the hustle.
Your Neighborhood Friendly Entrepreneur
Irving Torres
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How You Can Defeat Giants and Triumph
The story of David and Goliath is pretty well known all over the world. If you haven’t heard it, it’s a biblical story about a small shepherd boy named David who defeats a giant warrior named Goliath in battle with a sling and a stone. It’s shared among all sorts of people (religious or not) because it’s the story of how an underdog defeats (against all odds) the obvious champion.
This is how I was introduced to the story growing up. David used his intellect to triumph over brute force. He was known as the hero. From Michelangelo’s statue of David in Italy to the painting by Caravaggio of David holding Goliath’s head, he has always been admired and revered by people.
Malcolm Gladwell says that David was no underdog.
In his book, “David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants”, Gladwell explores the truth about this story and applies the lessons learned to the way us humans deal with adversity, struggles, and how we find ways to hack the system. It’s valuable to analyze this as entrepreneurs because it teaches us a lot about assumptions and the hidden strengths we might already have.
The Cold Hard Truth about David
According to Gladwell, the David and Goliath story indeed starts with a battle at the Valley of Elah in ancient Palestine where the Kingdom of Israel and the armies of Philistines face off. The Israelites set up camp along the northern ridge of the Elah, the Philistines along the southern ridge. No one wants to climb down into the valley and advance because it would give the other side a competitive advantage from above. After a while, the Philistines send down their best fighter down into the ravine. He is a giant man who seems to be part of the infantry unit. The infantry units are known to be big warriors who specialize in hand to hand combat and wear heavy armor to protect from swords and other weapons.
This giant then calls out to the Israelites and challenges them to send down their best warrior to settle the dispute man to man. This was a valid way to settle a deadlock in ancient times.
When it’s apparent that no one wants to go down, a feeble voice is heard among the Israelites. Someone wants to volunteer to fight the giant. It’s David, a simple and small shepherd boy who comes forward. Everyone is bewildered because they think they will surely lose the battle. He doesn’t seem like he’d be a champion. King Saul even tries to talk him out of it but David is set on his choice. He refuses to take any armor as he runs down the side of the mountain and picks up a few flat stones. He has with him a long stick, the stones, and a sling.
Goliath sees someone approaching and starts yelling, “Come to me, that I may give your flesh to the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the field!” When he sees the stick that David has he says, “Am I a dog that you come to me with sticks?”
David stays silent. As he approaches Goliath he starts to speed up and takes out the sling from his pocket. He places a stone in the leather strap, swings it around, and launches the projectile right at Goliath's forehead. The rock strikes with a deafening *CRACK* and Goliath falls. David swiftly grabs Goliath’s own sword and cuts off the giant’s head.
He has won. David has actually defeated the giant warrior. The Philistines are terrified upon seeing this and immediately flee, leaving the Israelites the astonishing victors.
How the ‘Underdog’ Won
It might be shocking to hear the outcome of the story after hearing it for the first time. How did a small shepherd boy beat the biggest and baddest warrior with only a stone and a sling? He surely was the most disadvantaged in battle. He had no armor, no strength, and no experience.
It turns out that this conventional way of thinking might be wrong.
Gladwell starts off by explaining how David’s sling is actually a devastating weapon. It is one of the most feared weapons in the ancient world. The stone that is shot from this sling can have a stopping power of a 45-caliber handgun. This is enough power to kill someone on impact. Not only this but David wasn’t just a mere shepherd. He was a warrior. He would defend his herd of sheep against wolves and other predators with his sling and bare hands when needed.
In ancient times, he would have been part of the projectile warriors. These warriors are known today as artillery and included archers and slingers. Slingers had a small leather pouch with two leather straps at each end. They would place a rock in the middle strap and swing the weapon until it gathered enough momentum and they would then release the stones at the enemy, taking down a good number of them in the process.
Many medical experts also believe that Goliath had a medical condition known “acromegaly—caused by a benign tumor of the pituitary gland. This caused the pituitary gland to overproduce human growth hormone and it had devastating side effects. Sure he was a giant because of this but one of the most common side effects of acromegaly is a problem with vision. It is then that we start to notice how an attendant led Goliath onto the valley floor. Could he not get there himself? Why did it take so long for Goliath to respond to the fact that David had no armor and that he didn’t intent to fight him in hand to hand combat? Gladwell concludes that it was “Because the world around him [was] a blur”.
At this point the story changes. It is no longer the story of a weak shepherd boy fighting a glorious giant. It is the story of a cunning and incredibly effective warrior who has trained in unconventional ways who is fighting a lumbering giant who has only ever played by the rules.
David’s advantages weren’t apparent. His disadvantages were actually advantages against Goliath yet over hundreds of years they were perceived as weaknesses. Does it ever strike you as odd that when successful people are asked about their path to glory they always talk about what was difficult? It’s these struggles that prepare us for battle and make us who we are. These advantages are cloaked as disadvantages.
The Advantages of Disadvantages And Why Startups Can Be like David
This lesson is easily applied to the world of business and startups. Think about it for a second. The very same things that appear to make a company so formidable and powerful like Goliath (its huge size & massive resources) actually serve as stumbling blocks when they are forced to respond to a situation where the rules are changing. Nimbleness, flexibility, and adaptability are more useful attributes in this new era. Startups are more capable to respond to what consumers want and what the market needs. We are fighting on a new and evolving battlefield. These older corporations are often sluggish and this is what is slowly killing them off. Some are still around simply because they keep on getting bailed out by governments or because they have a lot of political pull.
Embrace Your Adversity
Think about your disadvantages and really embrace them. Analyze them and ask yourself if they have made you stronger or if they have taught you something valuable you never thought possible.
Most of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs are dyslexic or have been raised in single parent families. Many have dealt with bi-polar disorder or horrible family loss. Some have struggled in a racist environment and with little to no financial support. The struggles are real and Gladwell does a phenomenal job of telling shocking stories of how some of the biggest leaders and ferocious minds overcame adversity and became stronger while doing so.
Society falsely labels and stigmatizes those of us who have struggled for our apparent weaknesses when in reality we are nothing close to weak. We should all embrace the David in us and defeat those giants.
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Stuck in the Ivy League Mentality? Go Make Something.
Ex-Yale professor William Deresiewicz has an article on how the Ivy League, and the entire college admissions system for top-tier elite schools, entice superstar high-school students with the promise of affluence and prestige, and then make them insecure, confused, and purposeless. Students become so preoccupied with landing investment banking offers and figuring out their lucrative professional careers, instead of focusing on what college should be for: “to build a self” – to have ideas to be passionate about, to carve out a path of personal discovery... Read more »
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Discovering Creative Hacking: Why it’s ok for you to Copy Ideas.
The moment that you realize you don’t have to do everything from scratch is a glorious day. The day you learn how to perfect this craft is even better.
At first I thought it was cheating when I would trace pictures from books. I felt bad when I would borrow bits and pieces from poems and articles I liked. I thought that I was cheating when I would collaborate with friends over the phone on my boring math homework to get to my exciting reading homework. Sure, I was only a third grader but I would feel horrible and unoriginal when I would base my drawings on my favorite illustrated books.
I don’t remember exactly why I felt this way. Maybe it was because I had heard that doing things from scratch were valid while borrowing was wrong. As I grew up, I realized that having this mentality wasn’t the right way to tackle life. I learned that inventors and scientists BUILT OFF of other people’s inventions and innovated from existing experiments. Leonardo Da Vinci, for example, is rumored to have borrowed a lot of ideas from other great thinkers. Thomas Edison, known as the Wizard of Menlo Park, even had an entire industrial research lab full of scientists in Menlo Park, New Jersey devoted to churning out ideas... Read More »
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Logo of The Month: Cruise
When it comes to startups and companies, a logo is worth a thousand words.
People can get extremely attached to a logo and it makes up the forefront your brand identity. Think of it like the concierge in front of the hotel who greets all of the guests and potential customers. This month, we wanted to highlight an interesting startup and their logo. 'Cruise' is trying to disrupt the autonomous vehicle industry by providing equipment that when added to your existing vehicle let's you go on autopilot on the highway. These guys are trying to beat Google at the self-driving car.
 Their crisp logo embodies a sleek and technologically advanced company. The title obviously alludes to 'cruise' control on a vehicle and we can assume it has something to do with cars. The powder blue stroke of a silhouette embodies a sports car and adds motion to the logo. The viewer can relate the light stroke to the wind flowing along the body of a fast moving vehicle. The thin and spaced-out font that is used shows us that this is a youthful and innovative company. The powder blue is often associated with the coolness of the sky and ocean. It may stimulate feelings of trust, security, cleanliness, and order. Companies use this color to show productiveness and it can be seen on Facebook, LinkedIn, Ford, and Twitter.
 Overall, we applaud Cruise for a sleek logo although admittedly it does look a bit like the Infiniti logo that was used only briefly by Nissan for the G-35 coupe and other similar car models. Then again, how different can you really make a car silhouette logo?
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Innovative Tech Tools: Momentum
You don't really think twice about the 'new tab' page on Google Chrome
My default 'new tab' on Chrome was always blank. It's one of those things you don't really think about. One day though, my pal opened up a new tab and I glanced over and saw a beautiful wallpaper image with the time, weather, an inspirational quote, and an intuitive 'to-do' list. I realized that I needed this so I did a quick search and voila! I found Momentum.
Momentum is a google extension that allows you to 'hack' the new tab page on Chrome and replace it with a beautiful daily-updating wallpaper image with a layered interface that displays the time, local weather, an inspirational quote, a to-do list, and a blank prompt that asks you what your focus of the day will be. I don't really believe in all of the claims some extensions have about improving your focus but this really has helped me stay on track. EVERY time I open up a new tab I get reminded on what my focus is and I see my to-do list. This extension is incredibly helpful and gets the Young And CEO approval. You should definitely Check it Out »
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Six essential lessons that I learned from a restaurant owner.
I recently received an e-mail from Noah Kagan of AppSumo detailing an encounter he had with a successful restaurant owner named Josh. I learned some valuable lessons and I wanted to share them with you.
1. Remove EVERYTHING that’s non-essential. Many customers requested French Toast so Josh spent months adding it to the menu and trying to get people to buy it. But they didn't actually buy it ... so eventually he cut it. Focus on what customers actually buy.
2. What matters gets measured. Josh's restaurant, like many restaurants, had a baked goods counter as you walked in. What he noticed while reviewing his numbers each month was that those customers come in, spend $3, and leave. The overall profit was pretty insignificant and it took time away from his staff helping the lunch customers (the profitable ones). He then removed the baked goods for a month to see what happened to revenue. It wasn't adding, so he cut it.
3. Implement systems. Systems reduce variability and ensure consistency throughout your business. Josh learned this at McDonald’s with all of it's checklists. Everything (even cleaning the bathrooms) had a systematic process in place but it helped keep a standard of quality.
4. Learn and iterate from your customers. Josh was really smart and left feedback cards on every one of his tables. At the end of the meals it helped customers re-enforce how great the meal was, provide suggestions for improvement and their contact information. They documented all of this and reviewed the suggestions that people wanted. The business was continually getting better.
5. Your customers WANT to hear from you. Josh had collected over 1,000 peoples email addresses from his feedback form. He hadn’t contacted them ONCE. Same case with us here at Young And CEO. I didn’t email every month because I felt bad showing up in people’s inbox. Surprisingly I tried it out and people didn’t unsubscribe. Not only that, but they were also asking when the next email was coming.
6. Document your process/teaching. Say you want to create an online course. Most people get caught up with all the technical mumbo-jumbo. Just help someone and record the process of what you did. Now you have a process you can try with another person.
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Orphaned and Homeless, How This Self-Taught Techie Founded a Multi-Million Dollar Empire
I just read the most inspirational story about Jason Wolfe, from Pittsburgh, PA.
After being orphaned at the age of six and enduring bouts of homelessness in his twenties, Wolfe eventually went on to found GiftCards.com, which last year posted revenues of $110 million. How did he do it?
Check it Out »
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Motivational Video of the Month
Steve Jobs on his view of the world:
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Where Is The New Money
This is an amazing TEDx talk by James Khabushani, a young entrepreneur and Co-Founder of Everdream, a next-generation digital studio. This is the USC grad who made the TESLA spec ad with his team that triggered a viral response and Elon Musk to reach out. He makes excellent points about creatives and entrepreneurs. The world needs creatives and risk takers.
Watch it Now »
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