I don't mean to devalue these authors and their contributions. Rather, I have found their works to be educational, insightful, and, quite often, inspiring. Their motives are admirable: they themselves are successful, and they wish to share their wisdom with the masses (and perhaps make a few bucks in doing so...). However, as the Startup movement grows, these leaders seem to be ignoring something big that is linked to success: the importance of culture.
I believe that should one want to develop a world changing idea, it is not enough to, say, follow Steve Blank's ENGR245: The Lean Launch Pad syllabus. Put another way, those that are successful after reading Four Steps to Epiphany, or after completing ENGR245, aren't successful because of the material they went through or the steps they followed - they are successful because of the culture that surrounded them. Y-Combinator, Paul Graham's business incubator, creates a culture in bringing in companies from all over the world. He stresses the importance of his selected companies being all together the in Bay Area for 3 months of intensive work where founders engaging in conversation over weekly dinners with speakers, socialize and are immersed in a culture that seeks to foster success. But how was this culture created, and is it replicable?
S.S. Glenn, an applied behavioural psychologist, defines culture as “patterns of learned behaviour transmitted socially, as well as the products of that behaviour (objects, technologies, organizations etc.)” (Glenn, 2004m p.139). Fried and Hansson (37 Signals) reaffirm that a culture is the result of repeated behaviour.
Culture is not the product of a rubric or a stepwise process, but rather the product of repeated social learning. Cultural practices change and develop over time. They persist and outlast individuals. They can acquire new members and outlast old ones. A culture is not taught; it is learned; it is experienced. The repeated behaviours are the products of their consequences, such that a behaviour is only repeated if its consequence is desirable. It is in this way that a culture is both born and forever evolving, and why it is not easily monetized like a "4 Steps to Success" book.
This is why programs such as Y-Combinator are so successful; they recognize that there is something more complicated at play than a stepwise procedure. Sure, many - if not most - of Graham's selected companies will have cited some of the aforementioned authors as inspiration, but they were not successful because they did everything they preached. I know, I know...This is SO obvious, but it is a point worth making - especially if you are considering starting a company yourself. Know that the people who surround you, the behaviours you repeat, and the atmosphere that consumes you are far more powerful determinants of success than any book you read or pdf you download.
