Zen | 9 | Speed

There is more to life than increasing its speed.

Gandhi

Everything you start as an entrepreneur has a pace. Some ventures have a fast pace. Some don't feel like they are moving at all. In either case, there is a danger of failure. Ventures require momentum, but the market sets the pace. A Zentrepreneur looks for the perfect balance of both.

It is more important to focus on the Path, than it is to focus on the Speed of a venture. If your venture is on the wrong path, then the speed you move will only drive you to certain failure faster.

The easiest way to accept that Speed is not crucial to success, is to look at any company (new or old) and how they were able to leverage and learn from the failure of companies before them that focused on Speed and not Path. You can be an innovator to a fault. If you take your venture too far beyond market demand, and too fast down the path - you will not be able to convert the innovation into revenue. This is one of the primary reasons why it is so difficult to commercialize technology out of University labs - because Professors typically push the limits of innovation with no concern (and no need) to commercialize their invention. There are a few that have closed that Gap, and those Universities have been the drivers of the new generation of technologies (e.g. Google, Yahoo, etc).

Many times entrepreneurs believe their idea loses value as the market matures, but it is the exact opposite. Only bad ideas lose value over time. Good ideas prosper as more competition enter the market, and as more customers begin to buy.

Just as Gandhi, appropriately said "There is more too life than increasing it's speed", there is more to a Venture than increasing it's speed. Of course Gandhi was referring to enjoying your life, and stop focusing on tomorrow - but I believe it speaks to the same point - which is focus on the essentials of life - the essentials of your venture.