If the Shoe Fits: Facing Reality
by Miki SaxonA Friday series exploring Startups and the people who make them go. Read all If the Shoe Fits posts here
The words of Jeffrey Wright should resonate with every entrepreneur who isn’t connected through past work experience or an “in” network that provides personal introductions to the investor community—because they are facing a long, cold trip on the road to funding and success.
Moreover, the wrong gender (female) and/or ethnicity (not white) create even greater challenges to be overcome.
“I don’t really consider myself a black man in Hollywood. I live in Brooklyn … and on purpose. At the most base level, what an actor represents to the film industry is an investment. Depending on the risk profile, an investor needs 1,000 reasons to commit and one reason not to. That means you’ve got to do more work on your own and that the machine is not going to necessarily do the blocking for you. The machine rarely accepted my code. That can be frustrating, but you just have to be aware.”
The quote was sent to me by KG Charles-Harris; I added the emphasis.
When I commented that it applied just as accurately to venture investors KG responded that that was why he liked it.
Granted, it’s not fair, or even defensible, but it is reality.
And while it’s great to work towards an ideal, I’ve always believed that you still have to function in the real world.
As Wright points out, the difficulties are great enough without exacerbating them by playing ostrich, pretending they aren’t there or will go away if you ignore them.
Image credit: HikingArtist
