On Ego and Entrepreneurship

One of the characteristic of founder is determination and I believe this is the most important quality in startup founders. Of course, the founders have to be intelligent. But as long as one is over a certain threshold of intelligence, what matters most is determination. Us, entrepreneurs, can't be the sort of person who gets demoralized easily. Startup can be a long exhausting marathon, what matter most is how long can we adapt and continue.

I have been wonder about what make determination for a long time, and every time digging inside, I found a strong rooted, positive sense of self and ego. Along the entrepreneur journey, there will be many doubts, rejections. But those must be the drive for us to go forward. The ego we possess as entrepreneurs – and the belief that goes with it – allows us to create a faith in your vision. Entrepreneurs need a very healthy ego to succeed (too much ego is fatal to a startup). A healthy ego entrepreneurs carry necessary internal reserves to survive the daily rigors of startup life.

A good entrepreneur needs to be extremely persuasive to get people to follow him/her, and to push people hard to stretch what’s possible. That persuasion comes with expressing their ego through strong opinions. Look at some of the greatest entrepreneurs: Bill Gates or Elon Musk or Steve Jobs, they tell great stories, with boldness, absolutely convinced that they are right. People love them, and some people hate them. But very few people ignore them.

We either consume the ego or the ego consume us. Don’t get caught in our own ego. Use that inherent quality of ego and leverage it. Embrace the failure, take them personally, and turn the very ego to our greatest weapon