Dogma is Death for the Brain: There is No One Single Way to Do Something
There is no one best way to build a startup, there is no one best way to go to market or raise money. There is no one way to get rich. There is no ONE asset class to invest in. There is no ONE best way or philosophy to live your life. Yet this is what we see & hear all the time.
Examples abound like “Lean startup is the only way to build a startup.” “You have to raise VC money as that is the only way to build a big business.” “Real estate, ecommerce/Dropshipping, Crypto investing or whatever is the only way to get rich” etc. etc.
Everyone pushes some form of this: Academics, business people, government officials, tankies (Think Tankers that populate the universities and DC). And most of the sheeple lap it up because it takes away their own need to think or do the hard work of figuring out what makes sense for them. It’s a seemingly easy path or “hack” to get ahead.
I used to hear about how one very top & competitor accelerator in Silicon Valley used to tell their startup founders, “this is the ONLY way to do this” “We know more than you do this so just follow what we say.” The absolute arrogance and dogma. Dogma being defined as “a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true.”
Add on top of this the rapidly changing environment we find ourselves in, dogma is a recipe for death.
How can one be so sure of that one way when every startup literally is a unique snowflake. Each is in a different market, different situation, different competitive landscape, different skill set, different founder team composition. This is why startup advice is almost always custom. Each startup’s situation is very different and thus advice needs to be tailor fit. Beware the mentor or investor who gives the one single advice or tactic to everyone. Seriously, run far away. I do admit frameworks and principles are very valuable but they do need to be specifically adopted to a company's unique situation. I should add this is relevant to most of life in general, not just startups.
How do you fight dogma, the arrogance of experience and know-it-all-ism?
Media Diet: Reading and watching very different sources of media, whether books, videos, newspapers
Diverse group of friends: Helps you avoid groupthink (also why i have to leave the bubble of Silicon Valley regularly)
Travel: Different new environments give you a new way to look at problems.
I can’t stress this enough. You have to develop your own view and take all advice and guidance with some skepticism.
Oscar Wilde once said “A man who does not think for himself does not think at all.” This is still very true in modern times.