[Simply Business] Would You Keep Going or Would You Quit?
The media loves to flaunt the success of the startups, the crazy valuations, the billion dollar acquisition and the so-called overnight success. But the most interesting stories are actually the hard part, the near-death experience and the comeback.
OMGPOP, the creator of Draw Something created 35 mediocre games before Draw Something and was in near bankrupt situation right before Zynga acquired them. Angry Birds was the 52nd game that Rovio made before their “overnight” success. Kaskus.com, Indonesia’s biggest online forum went through six years running without any profit. I can only imagine how emotionally straining it is for them to continue working hard despite the lack of monthly payroll and the departure of staffs that sees an unclear future of the company.
Aria Rajasa is the CEO of gantibaju.com, a clothing startup backed by a very strong designer community. His passion in entrepreneurship has gotten him to establish a number of companies in technology and design industries since leaving university.
The emotional frustrations, the stress and the weight being put in their shoulders are mostly untold. The thought of letting go of their startups must have crossed their mind countless times as they go and face their co-workers every single day.
This is definitely not a startup-exclusive problem. How about RIM, which is having such a negative reputation among the media and yet still putting up a confident front. Yahoo shares the same fate, especially after retrenching 2,000 people globally.
How can they keep on going despite everything?
これは当然、新規起業のみに限られる問題ではない。RIMについてはどうだろう、メディアの間では非常に悪い評判がたっており、それにもかかわらず自信をもっているという表看板をかかげ続けている。Yahooもまったく同じ運命を、とくに国際的に2000人の従業員をカットして以後、背負っている。
どうやって彼らは、そういった逆境にかかわらず継続することことができるのだろうか？
Well, I didn’t know how the guys above handle the situation but for me, knowing that even the big guys are having it rough can surely make me smile. So that’s one thing: Knowing that you’re not alone in this.
The second reason is… well I don’t know what the second reason is. But let me tell you a little secret about me, when building and running gantibaju.com, I countlessly thought about quitting. There are days when I wanted to just pack all my stuff and get back to the corporate world. I can think of a thousand reasons to quit: lack of capital, member growth, revenue, petty arguments among founders, the accumulated stress, pretty much anything can be a reason.
２つめの理由は…実は私も２つめの理由は何だか分からない。だが、私のことでちょっとした秘密を教えよう。gantibaju.com を設立し運営している時、私は幾度となくやめることを考えた。荷物をまとめて、会社員に戻ろうと考えた日々がある。やめる理由は何千と考えられる。資金の不足、メンバーの拡大、収益、設立者の間での些細な言い争い、蓄積されたストレスなど、ほとんど何でもやめる理由になりえる。
2つめの理由については・・あぁ、私は2つめの理由を知らないのだ。しかし、ここで私の持っている小さな秘密について語らせて欲しい。gantibaju.comを創設、そして経営している際、私は数え切れないほど何度も撤退を考えた。それは、自分のすべての持ち物をまとめて、そして普通の会社員生活に戻りたいと思いつづける日々だった。やめるための理由ならば、1000個思いつくことができる。資本金不足、メンバーの成長のため、収益面で、創業者たちのあいだのつまらない口論、積もるストレス、もうほとんどなんでも理由になり得る。
But every time I wanted to quit, I convince myself to go all out for one last time and the funny thing is that something always came along and saved the day. Be it another capital investment, another award we won, another partner that can help us, an external factor that smooth things up, solutions seems to appear out of nowhere. I cannot say that I plan the whole thing to the letter, all I can say is that I’ve worked my ass off as much as I can bear and hope for the best.
Maybe this is what’s happening in the (almost) last days of OMGPOP, Rovio and other startups. Maybe it’s just as simple as doing your best. I know it’s cheesy but what else can you actually do beside do what you can and hope for the best?
おそらく、それがOMGPOP や Rovio、その他のスタートアップの（ほぼ）最終段階で起こったことなのではないだろうか。単に最善を尽くすというシンプルなことだけなのかもしれない。安っぽく聞こえるかもしれないが、自分ができることをし、うまく行くように祈ること以外に何ができるだろうか？
おそらく、これがOMGPOP、Rovioや他の新規起業の(ほとんど)末期において、起こったことだろう。おそらく、ただベストを尽くすというようなシンプルなことだろう。いんちきくさいとはわかっている。だが、できることをすべてやり、うまくいくように願うこと以外に、実際に何か他にできることはあるだろうか？
What if you’re actually so close to your success but you decided to just quit it? What if you’re actually just a month away from your massive sales explosion or one game away from your “overnight” success? Would you regret it for the rest of your life for not trying harder?
I keep going because I know this is what I wanted to do with my life. I keep going because I’d rather do this than any other thing in the world. I keep going because I love what I’m doing.
There maybe a time when I would call it quit, but now is definitely not the time for that. How about you? What kept you going?
私がやりつづけるのは、これが人生を賭けてやりたいことであると知っているからだ。私がやりつづけるのは、世界中でみつかる他のすべてのことよりも、これをやりたいからだ。私がやりつづけるのは、自分のやることを愛しているからだ。
やめる、という日もいつかやってくるかもしれない。だが、今はその時ではないのだ。あなたについてはどうだろう？何があなたの原動力となっているのだろう？
