Nima P.

In a world full of naysayers, you’d be king

Fantastic piece by Akshay on haterism in the start-up world, applies to all professions. From the article:

When you’re a startup, it’s astounding how many people want to give you unsolicited advice. The quantity of naysayers you will meet will astonish you. Doubters will pour forth from environmentally friendly aluminum & glass Mac casing.

I’ve realized something though, all the negativity I’ve ever received has been from people who aren’t successful or seasoned entrepreneurs. These people need to define their success by spouting wisdom from their ass. The proverbial Porche for the micro-phallus syndrome.

On the other hand, entrepreneurs who have been in the trenches, the one’s who have faced humiliation & failure, the one’s who know it’s all about execution don’t put you down. It’s not that these entrepreneurs coddle you, quite the opposite; they ask you hard questions, questions which you may have no answers for, but such advice advances your mind, not diminishes it. At best good entrepreneurs advise you, at worst they give you constructive criticism. You never feel patronized.

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So next time you walk away from a conversation feeling put down, an automatic “ding” should go off in your mind. Know that the person who just “advised” you is inconsequential. In fact there’s a good side to this. People who need to put others down in order to make themselves feel better are not optimists. And in this industry if you’re not optimistic, you will fail (for a variety of reasons). In fact, if the world was full of naysayers, you’d be guaranteed success cause you’d have no competition.