Starting something new is pure agony. It feels like pulling off a miracle—pouring wine from a vessel that's bone dry. And the stranger your product, the higher the cliff you must step off in faith.
It's much easier to copy, tweak, or upgrade something already existing. The thing is real. The wild uncertainty is gone—no need to wonder if it’s possible, or how difficult, expensive, or time-consuming it might be.
Only creators - architects, scientists, comedians, writers, entrepreneurs - know the chasm between zero and one.
Most people live in a world where “one” is all they ever see. It gives them the illusion that it’s always been there. The transformation of “zero” was in childhood games and fairy tales — now, maybe just in movies.
Life rarely demands of a person: "Well, pull a rabbit out of a hat!” When it does, it’s a shock. People don’t rush to relive the experience, let alone seek it out on purpose.
I’ve always admired those who move at a moment’s notice. Like gypsies, they bolt from their comfort zones the second a rare opportunity winks at them. I freeze when I hear a spontaneous rap, a founder’s slam-dunk move, or freestyle stand-up.
One day, it hit me: zero isn’t really zero. Something—a solution, a joke, an insight, a concept, a product—already exists, even when your eyes insist there’s empty space.
The ostrich egg, for example, looks the same on day one as it does on day 45. But just before the shell cracks, the chick is fully formed. All along, a great work has been unfolding inside him - his magnum opus.
“It takes an ostrich chick about an hour—sometimes longer—to break free. It presses one foot against the blunt end of the egg, the other against the sharp end, and pecks at a single spot until a tiny hole appears. Then it makes a few more. Finally, to break out, it slams the shell with the back of its head. That’s why newly hatched ostriches often have bruises on their skulls—they heal fast.” /Wikipedia/
Perhaps an acorn is sprouting inside you, and soon we’ll see its first shoot.
Yours sincerely,
-Alexander
About me:
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.
How can I help you?
If you've long been trying to understand what is limiting you and/or your business and how to finally give important changes a push, then The Catalyst Session is designed specifically for you. Book it here.