This post [thanks Doug] is for those of you I met last week at BlawgerConnect, TechShow and LexThink.
If I had to post a list of the most inspiring things I read last year, this would be on that list: a post on the “Relax, Everything is Deeply Intertwingled” blog entitled “Superhacker and Phoneboy” talking about starting a business and collaborating with others. The post is dead on, particularly:
Every person has strengths and weaknesses. The appeal of a partnership -- even if the team is just a pair of people doing what they can to leverage the power of two -- is a matching so well-suited that the pair's strengths are more powerful than those of either individual, thereby reducing the effects of each individual's foibles. Whereas finding a romantic partner is such a regular occurrence in our society that people couple all the time, finding a business partner who is truly complementary and thoroughly communicative and unquestionably trustworthy is a much more elusive achievement. And yet, there is tremendous value to a business person if s/he can find someone with whom s/he can triangulate issues, talk through everything, make decisions, and take actions. (Not to mention the benefits that stem from having someone who will always watch one's back, who will push back gently, and who will amplify the shared message.)
For me this is exactly what I have found in this rethink(ip) project, but I also see it every day in dealing with startups and independent inventors. Your success in life is more dependent upon the team you build around you (both at home and outside the home) than on your own passion. Sure, you need passion, but without someone to fuel that passion (and douse it when it burns out of control), your chances of being successful are greatly hindered.
Quit flying solo.
[Originally posted on The Invent Blog on April 5, 2005]