Money vs Impact — where do you stand?
Long time ago, speaking about starting new business, someone told me not to worry about money. “When you give passion, money will come anyway” she said. I thought that was crazy.
Looking back, this was probably very accurate description of what I have done as an entrepreneur, as a leader. I care about building a passionate team that delivers the product we all believe in, as the most important thing. Our ultimate driver as a team is to succeed, to stand out. I always try to explain to the team, that success gives us freedom.
What does that mean? Success means freedom to choose what to work on, when, how, with whom. Success brings money.
Money is a tool to create impact. It allows to make things happen, easier, faster. It is also not much more than a tool, not a way, not a method. It was never an ultimate goal, rather a side effect of our striving to be best.
Is that a naive approach? Maybe. Did I ever doubt this? Sure. As in almost every startup journey, there were moments, when we were out of money, running out of options. Important to note, that looking at money as a tool to create impact, does not imply to find excused for a wrong, broken business model. These two cannot be mixed.
Why do I work? I am hooked on action, freedom, adventure. My impact is in creating environment for the team, where we can express our creative selves, push boundaries of what we have thought we can do, including freedom to make a mistake or fail, freedom to make things happen.
Does being relevant, having an impact, require having money?
Let me know your thoughts.