Be A Chicken Head, Not An Ox Tail
In 2019, Netflix introduced a new series called Street Food: Asia. Episode 2 focused on Japan and highlighted an eccentric Osaka izakaya owner named Toyo, who grew up in poor conditions and survived significant family tragedies. No matter how high the odds were stacked against him and despite a lifelong series of setbacks, Toyo overcame adversity to become a well-known and highly successful street food chef.
Toyo quoted a famous East Asian proverb to describe his inspiration in becoming a business owner: 寧願做雞頭，亦不願做牛尾。“It’s better to be the head of a chicken than the tail of an ox”. In other words, it’s better to take control of your own fate than to be controlled by others. No matter how big the ox is, the tail will always be an appendage that goes along for the ride. And no matter how small the chicken, its brainy head is the owner of its destiny and leader of its fate.
From small sole proprietorships (like Toyo’s) to SMBs to venture-scale tech startups — a common philosophy that binds together most founders is the deep unsatiable desire to take control of their future and make an impactful change to the world…as opposed to serving as an employee that is told what to do and makes incremental contributions.
A common question I’m asked in my Stanford course, members of my Slack community, LinkedIn group, Clubhouse rooms, and intro pitch screenings at AV8 Ventures is: what qualities do you see in great founders?
Besides the “owner mindset” mentioned above, here are my other Top 5:
- Grit: hardworking and undefeatable persistence amidst daily adversity
- Passion: Motivation/drive to solve user problems as your life purpose
- Storyteller: Persuasive storyteller and a master expert in your domain
- Adaptive: Self-critical and embracing change to constantly improve
- Execution: Set best-in-class goals and consistently exceed them
These qualities should extend beyond the CEO to other cofounders and the founding team. Values ingrained as part of a company culture that promotes meritocracy and an ownership-driven mentality. Especially in the early days of a startup, each team member should be a hands-on contributor who is highly self-motivated and results-driven.
One of the classic mistakes of first-time founders is hiring top-heavy management too early, resulting in lower productivity as these “high level” folks tend to delegate to others as opposed to rolling up their sleeves and executing on their own. Culture is critical to achieving your mission/vision — hire slowly for the right people with a founder mindset, and fire quickly if you made an error in judgment (which happens).
With a strong team in place, you’re ready to execute on product and customer development…and once ready for fundraising, make sure to read my previous article: Five Common Mistakes Pitching VCs.
I’d like to hear from you — what other common traits have you seen in successful startup founders (or really bad ones)? And feel free to share this article with other aspiring and early-stage founders!
