Startups and diving into the deep blue
Startups and diving into the deep blue
More similar than you think
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I am a scuba diver and have been actively diving since I was 18 years old. My fascination with the sea, and diving in particular, was fueled by watching the Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau and another series by my compatriot, the Egyptian oceanographer Hamed Gohar. I’m also fascinated with startups, having spent the last 9 years working at a few of them. I have recently come to realize that both diving and startups are quite analogous namely in their risk and adventure.
Let’s dive in!
A typical recreational dive is usually done along-side a coral reef or close to the bottom of the sea. The reef and bottom of the sea offer a reference point. They give the diver a sense of direction, and in the case of the sea’s bottom, a maximum depth. Consider the map shown below for one of the most iconic dive sites - Shark Observatory - in Egypt’s red sea. A site I dove at numerous times. The coral reef offers a point of reference. A diver would start her dive with the reef on her left, if she starts her dive from the south end and vice versa otherwise. She would reverse her path by keeping the reef to her right to return back to her starting point, typically when she reaches 50% of the air in her tank, currents none withstanding. Notice the depth at this site; 270m. Quite deep!
There’s another, riskier, dive profile which is aptly named “diving in the blue”. This is a dive, where the diver deliberately loses any points of references. There’s no bottom in sight nor is the shore or reef visible. You are literally hanging out in a blue bubble. Not only do you lose all reference points, but you would also dive to relatively deep - by recreational standards - depths, typically 30-40m. The idea behind this dive profile is to “hang” around in the open sea waiting for large pelagics like sharks to swim by.
There are numerous unknowns and risks with a dive like this. You might get very close encounters with large, and potentially dangerous pelagics. Whilst these animals pose little threat, there’s a definite element of risk to bobbing around 30m under the surface of the sea with a predator as majestic as a tiger shark! Then there’s the risk of drowning or getting lost. The lack of a reference point can result in divers losing their orientation. If a diver has poor buoyancy control or isn’t paying attention to her depth, she can quickly, and unbeknown to her, start plummeting to deeper depths and drown or run out of air. The lack of any focal point that orients the diver can also result in a loss of direction, which can have terrible consequences. You need to manage the risks of doing a dive like this by having very good navigational skills, excellent buoyancy control and the ability to remain calm and composed. Panic and you will suffer.
Similarly, startups are inherently risky. The risks facing startups are plentiful, but there are a few that are analogous to diving into the blue. A startup that doesn’t focus might ultimately run out of resources, much like a disoriented diver running out of air or getting lost out in the open sea. Focus is absolutely critical to a startup’s success.
Startups don’t starve, they drown.Shawn Carolan
Much like a diver might run into a potentially large and dangerous pelagic, startups can run into a much more powerful incumbent. I call this head-on collisions and wrote about a while ago in this article based on my experiences from the storage market, which is extremely competitive.
A head-on collision is when a new company (NewCo) tries to enter a market whereby the following three conditions are satisfied:
1) NewCo’s product is no different than that of incumbent
2) NewCo and incumbent share the same channels
3) NewCo and incumbents sell to the same customers
Lastly, much like diving into the blue, not every startup will succeed. In fact, most deep blue dives are utterly boring. You simply hang out and nothing passes by. The only enjoyment you get is the feeling of being immersed in the blue, which dissipates fairly quickly. That is similar to startups: most will fail.
If most of the dives into the blue are utterly boring, why do them then? The answer, again similar to startups, is the reward can be phenomenal. Some of my dives into the blue have resulted in encounters with a mother and calf humpback whale. I’ve also had ones where I encountered schools of hammerheads, barracudas, dolphins, tuna and oceanic white-tips like on this - relatively shallow - dive. These dives more than make up for the duds where I was hanging in the blue for 20-30 minutes waiting for anything to swim by.
Startups can have this effect as well. The obvious reward is monetary, but that isn’t the only reward. Startups can be incredible career accelerators and turbo charge your growth. I wrote about this phenomenal, which I called stretching, in a previous article
Fifth, you have to stretch. This in my opinion is the biggest lesson and motivation to join a startup. Startups will offer ample opportunities for anyone to jump in and solve problems that nobody else in the company has any prior experience with. I call that stretching. Keep in mind that in an early stage startup, everybody will be stretching.
It took me a while to realize the analogies between both startups and diving, especially the riskier dive profile. I suppose the elements of risk+reward and the sense of adventure is why I continue to do both: diving deep into the blue and startups. The adventure is thrilling!
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