Transcription
So world-class entrepreneurs are never lucky. Never. You make your own luck. It’s a big idea, you know. At a single point in time, you’ll say, “Yeah, just happened to be there when X happened there. Geez, that’s just kind of happened and I was there when somebody said X or Y.” Over a career, you will now look back and go, “You were not lucky. You showed up more than other people. You took advantage of more other people. You raised your hand more often. You were there more often. You got on a plane where everybody else went, ‘Ah, it’s too much of a hassle.’” World-class entrepreneurs do that over time, consistently.
And you could tell the difference of whether you’re gonna make it or not is when everybody else says, “Nah, too much work.” “What do you mean I got to drive over there?” or “You mean I have to talk to those guys? It’s just too much about…” or “Nah, that is just too hard.” I want you to remember that. That adds up over time in a career, and you will start making your own luck, and you will find because stuff will start coming your way. Does this make sense, right?
Yes, this conference happened to happen, but you guys decided to go to it. Somebody who I gave you a little hint that perhaps you needed to do that. But my point is, don’t – right, don’t ever think what happens to other people. And I want you guys to understand the distinction between standing there waiting for direction versus making your own direction by making it happen. So, just as an aside, keep going, guys. This is good.
Well, we thought these guys would know this big problem so it's existed. It’s a big shift, right, where you think they are just going to grab it out with your hands, and now you realize, “Geez, there is a portion of evangelism here.” And just to remember, if you’re right, and a new market turns into an existing market fairly rapidly, right? Yeah, yeah. But at least on day one, when you’re ahead of the game with the things you need to do about evangelism, about scale, about whether you are selling or evangelizing is really kind of different. Pitching team, other comments, or…?
That’s alright. Quickly, it is that getting the people you’re talking to as your customers to be talking about this problem itself is part of your journey now, as he explained. Getting that message out there and making your company solution part of the conversation at all the conferences six months and a year from now, is like a critical thing to do, because if you do it, your portfolio’s looking better then.
So the point is this, that a lot of – the reason of pushing on these points that we’re talking about these things is a lot of the pivots are off understanding the complexity of that chart. More the pivots are off there are some complexity, the market’s not penetrable, understanding the ecosystem, there’s no insertion point for a new technology or new company. Those are probably more of the reasons for the pivot than around the core technology. So the sooner you understand that ecosystem, the sooner you’ll have a sense of where you want to stay with it. And just, you know, hope to see that in you guys. You may look at the fuel cell market structure and go, “It’s just not penetrable for a new entrant, even though the technology is applicable.” Right.
So what are you doing for tomorrow? For tomorrow, we’re going to go try and visit the planning board for Redwood City and see what they’re thinking about. Is that – they’re working on this cost per vote, the salmation plant, trying to talk with them about how they’re thinking about that project. And some of you are probably wishing that now, but I have to tell you how proud I am of each and everyone of you here because you’re going to look back and what you did here, most of you, and go, “Holy cow, did we actually do that in a class or we were taking a course and doing work and everything else?” And so for me, it’s just a really impressive effort on all your parts. Any other comments?
Yeah, I’m guessing for some of you, this was the hardest class you might have taken. And that’s the intent, because as hard as this class might have been, it’s so much easier then when you get out and do it for real. So the laboratory was a sort of safe place to stretch your muscles and see if it fits. And for a lot of you, I think it does, and I’m thrilled to have been a part of it. I think you guys have done a great job. Yeah. Thank you, guys. Congratulations and best of luck to all of you on Monday. Next Monday, you start it for yourself, for real.
So, final comment. I would just share is that by design, this class is not taught, right? It’s experienced. We set up a framework under Steve’s leadership that gets you out of the classroom, and then we all sort of monitor each other.