You Are The Example

Before I became a technology entrepreneur, I spent many years in a large financial institution. The instinct there was always to avoid anything new, because it must not fail. And thanks to that fear of failing, we would not attempt anything until we had seen it work for someone else first.

We looked for proof. Someone who had already walked the path and come out fine.

Since moving from the comfort of a large enterprise to a high-energy technology startup, my way of thinking has changed.

I still learn from others where I genuinely can. But I no longer wait for a perfect example before I act. Because anything genuinely new will not have a precedent. That is what makes it new.

If you only move once someone has proven it can be done, you will always be a step behind, working on problems others have already solved.

So do not mistake the absence of a precedent for a reason to wait. Sometimes there is simply no one ahead of you.

And in those moments, the proof you were waiting for has to come from somewhere.

It might as well come from you.