:: Bacon and Eggs ::

What is the difference between being a contributor and being committed?

Think of bacon and Eggs, the chicken is contributing while the pig is committed. Nice. The same analogy plays well for Start-Ups. The one big difference between founders and employees is that the founders are committed and the employees are contributing.

In the cubicles of an average Start-Up a lot of people might not agree. After all, they too give in the insane hours. Further more some will say, it is actually the other way around - the employees come do all the work while the Founders just get to go to California to show the product. Some of them even stay there, doing some "bis-dev" at parties while the people here in the Wadi keep on working and working and working.

True. But they are still the ones who are committed and the employees are just contributing. It's not the very harsh paragraphs a standard investment agreement in an early stage start-up tying the founders to the company to the company that do it (yep, they have vesting too…). It's not the fear of failing, this works for some but not all. It's not anything material.

The more founders I see the more I understand. It's a basic characteristic of the industry. The money is invested in the founders and they are the ones who should cook the dish. If all goes well, they are also the ones who will get the biggest share.

Now this makes me think of another analogy.

All in all - the game is simple - to get the biggest share of the upside you need to be a pig - and you can do that if you are not a chicken.

Wadi Writer #1 (Gray)
WadiiList@Mail.com