PhDs

I stood in front of potential investors, giving my pitch, and was asked the following:

“Are you all working full-time in the business?”
“Yes”
“Oh, good, we like our founders to be PhDs.”

A little confused, I said, “PhDs??”

“Poor. Hungry. And desperate.”

Oof.

When you see movies about startups or hear founders talk on Guy Raz’s show, you get a lot of this. Couch surfing. Living in a barely running sub-compact (that you park around the corner so nobody sees). Skinny and scrounging. Two different shoes or homemade clothes. Lots of kindness from family, friends, and sometimes strangers. 

Poor. Hungry. Desperate. It makes a good origin story. 

You have two things when you are in this state:

1. Nothing to lose. 
2. No power.

That’s right where they want you.

Nothing to lose means you should have the fire to do whatever it takes. Yet, no power means you’re desperate for the money/resources. Which means if they give it to you, they have the power.

The magic here is hungry.

You don’t need to be poor or desperate to be hungry. Hungry can come from vision, hope, and desire — a deep inner need to make a difference. 

So the question isn’t just, “Are you hungry?” The real question is, “Who holds the power when you are?”

Because with hunger as the fuel, power is the steering wheel. If you hand off the steering wheel, then someone else is in control of your destination.