＂Building A Unicorn＂ - Venture Capitalist SPARKS DEBATE Over 7-Day Grind Schedule
Episode Stats
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Summary
In this episode, we talk about how much time and energy it takes to build a billion-dollar startup, and why you should work 7 days a week if you want to be a unicorn. We also talk about the benefits of part-timers and how to deal with them.
Transcript
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VC behind 996, work culture debate says five-day weeks won't build billion-dollar startups.
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Look what he says here. Pretty wild, Rob. You have a video on this?
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I do. So the actual statement that you're going to read from the story is from this LinkedIn post,
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but then I also found a video from this gentleman from August that we can play.
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It's about him starting his podcast, and the same strategy applies to the podcast building
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So I'll read this here. Venture capitalist Henry, oh, this is the one?
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What do you think were the traits that allowed you to be so successful?
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Honestly, just unwavering persistence. I've worked for 10 years for seven days a week.
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Every single weekend I'm in the studio. Every single one.
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And everyone just gives up. With content, everyone expects an ROI sooner than it comes.
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But in the venture business, in like business content, you're not going to know for 18 months
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if you are really working at all. We did 300 shows before we got 1,000 plays. For two years,
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I didn't make a dollar. Never planned to make a dollar. But everyone quits before. This is a
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So seven days a week is a required velocity to win right now. When you go to the Valley now,
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and when you go to China now, they are working seven days a week in the fastest growing company.
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It's that simple. So if you want to be a $10 billion company in Europe, competing against
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them, you can't do it on a 9 to 5. Monday through Friday, Sarah Werner, co-founder of
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Husmus, counter what Europe really needs isn't more hustle porn. It's more aggressive funding,
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highlighting Europe's $375 billion shortfall in growth funding since 2015. Tom, what do you
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think about what he's saying here with the seven days a week to build a unicorn?
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He's right. He's absolutely right. People that, and by the way, there are people that have,
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you know, typical jobs, corporate jobs, that you hear what I'm saying or hear what he's saying.
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You're sounding like Vivek, Tom. Watch your way.
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No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
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That's not what I'm saying. There are people who have not worked at a startup, and I'm going to name
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some conditions here, who don't understand, because they work at Johnson & Johnson, work at
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General Motors, and they work 9 to 5, and, you know, they get paid, and that's what they're there
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to do. It's not their company. They are paid to perform a service, and they can rent the title and
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the logo for the price of their salary. That's how it works, and they get experience doing that.
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If you're going to go build the company, and you feel passionate about something, and it's early
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stage, you're trying to do something no one else is doing, and there's a little bit of paranoia inside
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that you got to move fast because you have to prove it, and you probably have limited resources,
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time and money. When money runs out, and money tends to run out before time runs out, you are
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busting it trying to make it, trying to prove it, trying to prove product market fit, get your first
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customer before somebody else figures it out, and if you have venture-funded money, they all talk
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about things they've invested in, so other people are going to find it out, and there's usually two
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or three things. There's no mistake that Lyft and Uber were founded in roughly the same era and end up
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competing with each other. That's no mistake, but you, when you're there, it is seven days a week,
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and you run the sweat of you're going to run out of money, and listen to what he said.
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We did 300 shows before we had a thousand plays, but I didn't give up. You can't give up,
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and so there is a point where startups give up. They run out of money. They run out of things. They
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give up. We've been part of it. I've invested in them. I've had my smoking craters, but the point is
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if you're going to start something, and you're going to build something, and it's your company,
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and you're not working for somebody else, it's a whole different mindset. There's a video you can
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go find by Pat that talks about part-timers, full-timers, and all the timers. All the timers
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are the people that are completely committed to their craft, to their business, to what they built,
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to what they're doing. It's a different mindset. It's not punishment. It's passion.
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There you go, and I agree with this. I agree with the whole seven-day thing. It's not for
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everybody. It's a lot of work, but to build a unicorn, not something that's a million out
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of business, 10 million out of business, 100 million out of business. You want to build a
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unicorn. You got to work a certain schedule you've never worked before, and that's what it
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takes. It's not, I'm not surprised with what the guy's saying. Same with podcasts. I'm having a
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conversation with a guy yesterday. I told him something. This was an elite mastermind we're holding
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with BedDavid Consulting for some of the guys that are not part of masterminds. You're running a
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business. You have to be part of a mastermind, because your brain has to constantly be challenged.
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If you go to BedDavid.com, fill out the information. Somebody from our group will get a hold of you.
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We run a consulting firm that does engagements for 10,000 businesses or 60-plus countries,
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and we process different items. One guy asked me a question about, so look, my business, I'm supposed
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to do $10 million of revenue. That was my goal. I'm at $4 million for the first six months of the year.
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How do I hit my 10 million? What do I do about this? I said, let me tell you what two things I fear
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in life. He says, what's that? I said, the number one thing I fear is, you know how the phrase wisdom
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comes when you have fear in the Lord? I don't fear anything more than a man upstairs. You have no idea
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how much I fear the man upstairs. I go from this, you know, tough, strong personality guy to all of a
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sudden, I'm a nobody, okay? I fear the Lord. I fear the man upstairs heavily in every possible way
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because I can't believe the life he's given me. You know what's the second thing I fear the most?
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The second thing I fear the most is fear of losing momentum. And by the way, put the fear of the Lord
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in its own category. Nothing in life comes close to fear of losing momentum. Now, somebody may say,
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how about parenting? How about kids? That's all linked to fear of the Lord. Parenting, family,
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all that is fear of the Lord. Momentum, losing momentum. Oh my God. You'll see people that have
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momentum in their business and they'll have momentum in their podcasts. They'll have momentum in what
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they're doing and they're thinking this thing's going to go on its own and they'll let it go.
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You'll see people that are having momentum and all of a sudden there's one setback. Oh my God,
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it's not working out. They're out. You'll see some people have momentum because what momentum
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does to you is the following. If you're five as a leader in intelligence, momentum behind you makes
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you look like you're seven. If you have momentum, you're six, but you have momentum in your business,
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you look like an eight. If you're seven, you have momentum, you look like a nine. It's kind of like
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this. We're flying to, you know, let's just say Texas. We're going 450 miles an hour, but flying back,
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we're going 600 miles an hour. How the hell are we coming back 600 miles an hour versus 450?
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The plane is not built to go 600 miles an hour. The only reason it's going 600 miles an hour is
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because it's got what? Momentum behind it. So you, with momentum, you go 600. You're not a 600 mile an
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hour plane. You're doing it because you have the momentum behind you. Too often people take momentum
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for granted. And when they do, they lose what they have. Whether you're a executive helping grow a
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company, that you have, you know, participation in the upside of the company, whether you're the
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founder, whether you're building a podcast, whether you're doing a show, whether you're
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doing anything, the moment you become arrogant with momentum, she leaves you for somebody else.
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Because everybody in the world who's ever had momentum knows how hard it is to get it
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and how easy it is to lose it. And when you lose it after you've had it, it takes so much work to
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bring it back. And too many people in business don't realize the value of momentum. And in life,
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they fully, fully devalue it. And they're ungrateful for it. They're entitled. They think
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they own her. No, you don't. You got to take care of her. She's very demanding, but she will
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change your life. Momentum will change your, change your life. Adam, you think you, I think
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you want to say something? Yeah. Well, I mean, going back to this whole concept of this 996,
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you know what the 996 stands for? Porsche. I don't know. I can't afford one of those these
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days, but the whole concept of what it stands for is 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week. So which
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comes out to 72 hours a week. How much are you willing to work? So I'm not in the camp that I'm
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trying to work seven days a week, 24 hours a day, bro. It's like you need a life. But what I do
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subscribe to is the 80-20 rule. 80% of what I try to do is be productive and get shit done. GSD.
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But 20%, I'd like to actually have a good time. Do you know that there was almost nine months,
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nine months, PBD, I didn't go to one club. I didn't talk to one girl. No one leaves you.
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Yeah, it was called a lockdown during COVID. I was stuck in Dallas and Addison. Nothing. Forced.
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But now I'm getting back in the lifestyle, guys. But everything that we're talking about here is...
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What point are you going to make on this story, bro? How committed...
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If you don't have a point, don't give it on this story. Don't cut me off.
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Let it just go by. Before I get to my point. This story is about building a unicorn and
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this guy's saying there's no way... Let me tell you something, buddy. I didn't go to one
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club. I went to all of them. You said a porch. Bro, give a point. Here's the point. Everyone's
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so obsessed with work-life balance these days. If you want to build something big, you can't
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have balance. You're going to need to be... You're going to need a sacrifice. So for anyone
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who has success, they're going to have to sacrifice something, whether it's health, whether it's
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family, whether it's friends, whether it's lifestyle. Work-life balance is not something
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that people who become billionaires or unicorns actually can achieve. So I'm not in the camp
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right there on work-life balance. Hold on, old man. I'm going to stop you right there.
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Work-life balance is being described by people through their own perspective. You talk to entrepreneurs
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are building something. It's some of the most joyful days of your life. You're working 12 hours
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and it felt like two and you love what you're doing and you're passionate about it and you think
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you're having... And it's fun. I agree with you. Yeah, you're obsessed with satisfaction.
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You're incredibly satisfied. You're incredibly inspired by it. It's not purgatory and it's not
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punishment. People that want to work nine to five are not bad. They just will get jobs that do
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certain things and they will define work-life balance on their own terms. For me, at times
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when I was building things, it was some of the most joyous times of my life. Emotionally.
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They taught... And that's why I've always said I would rather climb to the top of Mount Everest
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and one step from the top, fall to my death, than wake up 70 years old feeding pigeons in the park and
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look up at the top of that mountain and say, why didn't I try? Because it's the journey. Phil Knight
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said, the act of running is what the joy is. That is what the destination is. The act of running.
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You got to understand that. And it's not bad if people want an eight hour job and they don't want
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the stress of knowing if a paycheck is going to be there for their people. They don't want the stress
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of knowing if someone else is building up down the street. They don't want the stress of knowing,
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did their investor tell somebody else a secret and now they're going to get flinged? They don't want
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the stress of thinking, what if this becomes a smoking crater? You say Edison had a hundred
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smoking craters before he invented the light bulb. There's a different wiring. And I think articles
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like this are designed to make entrepreneurs seem like these people that are soulless minions out
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there just slaughtering people to get. No, it's passion. And it's some of the most brightest,
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most beautiful, most wonderful, most fulfilling days is when you look up and say, have I really
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been here 14 hours? Have I really gotten like two steps closer on this? Oh my gosh. It's the best.
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And it's love. Because you're purpose driven, not money driven, correct? When you're building and
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you're working 14 hour days and you're sleeping on the floor, you're not like, I'm going to be a
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billionaire. It's no, I'm building something that's going to make a massive difference in the
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world. And most people that are doing that are not doing it because they want to be a billionaire.
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They're doing it because the purpose, the cause and the love. Exactly. Exactly. Because money
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will not be your greatest motivator. Okay, guys, it'd be something building something. I got you guys
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can fight afterwards. I'm going to the next story. I think we're agreeing for some reason. We have a
00:12:23.900
goal of a million people wearing the future looks bright gear. The brand's becoming more and more
00:12:28.140
recognizable. Very excited about what's going on. So what we're announcing today, I don't know if
00:12:33.880
you're aware of this, this category that is now on vtmerge.com for certain selected hats,
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that's a buy one, get one free. You buy one at $34.99, you get the second one for free. Rob,
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if you can go to it so the audience can see it. These are the hats that are on there. You simply add
00:12:49.740
one and then add another one. And the second one will automatically from this category be added in
00:12:54.760
the buy one, get one free. Rob, does the video work on the other side? Yes. Can you go to that one
00:12:58.820
to show some of the hats? These are the hats that are in the category of it. The PBD podcast,
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you got the value attainment logo one, that's sick. The OG one, blue, keep going. Black PBD
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podcast, keep going, keep going. The red one, the U.S. flag. Future looks bright, red one,
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keep going. Military camo, the black on black. There's a blue one that looks, the blue one,
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we don't have a lot left. The blue one's going to go very quickly. I shouldn't have said that.
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There you go. The pink ones that also, every time people ask about the pink ones,
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they disappear. Keep going. That's a sick one. Yeah. That's the blue one. That's the blue one.
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Keep going. What's it called? Royal, not royal. I think it's like a royal blue-ish,
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but the idea is buy one, get one free. Guys, sport it, give it as gifts to others. If you're
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running a sales office, order 50 of them and give it to your guys. But anyways, go to vtmerge.com,
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place your order of the hats. We have a million people we want to wear a future looks bright. We are
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nearing 300,000 people right now that are wearing the gear. We're 700,000 away of people wearing
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the future looks bright gear. Go place your order. And as always, we're going to have a few
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additional prizes that we'll put in there as well. The future looks bright sticker magnet,
00:14:10.240
couple other things that will be added to it. If you enjoy this video, you want to watch more
00:14:13.340
videos like this, click here. And if you want to watch the entire podcast, click here.