Reasons I started a business

September 23, 2007 · Filed Under Entrepreneurial, Leadership · Comment 

Freedom. Not just the freedom to do what I want when I want, but also the freedom to guide the business where I think it should go, and that comes from an understanding of the industry and the market.

Make the world a better place. In the Art of the Start, Guy Kawasaki (Apple Evangelist and Venture Capitalist) lists three reasons to start a business.

1. Right a wrong
2. Prevent the end of something good
3. Increase the quality of life.

I believe the purpose of business should be to add value to life. Yes, there is money to be made and equity to build, but I need to get behind a cause than just a paycheck. If I felt differently I’d just become a stock broker.

Artistic expression. I see business much more as an art than as a science, and certainly at the start up phase. Entrepreneurs are creators and artists. They enter a garage with nothing but some ideas and their passion, and leave with a business that adds value to life and puts food on the table. How amazing is that?

Follow my heart. Either you know its right or you don’t. I’ve been waking up for the last year wishing I could stay in my home office and work on 11|15 projects rather than take the hour train commute to NYC for my day job. What I needed was more time for 11|15.

I want to enhance the way people interact with media. A lot of this comes from my experiences at Burning Man (a social experiment in community building - but it’s much more than that). I want to create products and sites that make the world smaller and grander at the same time. I want to increase your sense of wonder and creativity.

Lead. I’ve seen too much bad leadership and the effects on people brand new to business. I’ve seen too many people get discouraged from lack of good leadership. I want to right this wrong.

The online advertising and adserving industry. I love this space. I love the market, the opportunity and creativity involved with even the most mundane tasks. There is still a “wild west” feel to internet entrepreneurship. You can still stake your claim and grow a community around it.

I love this. I look at the industry landscape and I see opportunity everywhere. We’re entering the garage with ideas and passion and hope to exit with a business that adds to the quality of life. More to come.

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