Start-ups, Innovation, Creation and Change.

Start-ups are not easy. They are fundamentally ventures into the unknown based on creativity and change, and long recognised for their difficulty…

"There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things. For the reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new order, this lukewarmness arising partly from fear of their adversaries … and partly from the incredulity of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new until they have had actual experience of it."

— Niccole Machiavelli. The Prince.

People, especially bureaucrats, talk about innovation like it’s a commodity, rather than a series of ideas, experiments and failures that may or may not lead to something great. The dirty little secret of innovation and creation – often denied – is that it is not a series of epiphanies. Real innovation and creation is untidy, consisting of messy discovery, dangerous exploration and lots of failure.

No start-up knows for certain what they're going to get when they set out to be creative. Creative and innovative work cannot and does not fit neatly into expectations, neatly suit plans, or adhere to budgets, and schedules.

Perhaps entrepreneurs instead of thinking as businessmen would be better prepared for their start-up journeys if they thought of themselves as explorers instead. They would better understand they are leading exploration missions not managing projects. Their prime challenge is dealing with the unknown with clear understanding that they might not return with anything, or even return at all. They would then understand that their startup's most effective tools for arriving at success are curiosity and persistence, and their most important resources are belief and courage.

Most important of all however, they must be able to enjoy the journey knowing…

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”

— Winston Churchill