Chihuahuas-to-wolves

The reverse-evolutionary process

We have been taught to think and act a certain way in school, in normal jobs. Our entire lives have pushed us to, for lack of a better word, “civilize.” Like wolves evolving into chihuahuas, but all in one lifetime. And we, the people who have done really good in school or work, have mastered the art of being good chihuahuas.

This is why startups are particularly mind-breaking for the kinds of founders who read this newsletter: We are good chihuahuas who have been thrown into the wilderness, now competing against wolves for survival. We have to unlearn almost everything we thought we knew.

We have to reverse-evolve, from chihuahua to back to wolf. It is painful. We unlearn so many things that made sense indoors but get us killed in the wilderness - a few below:

1. It doesn’t matter if I’m right if I run out of money

2. Building a business for VCs is dumb; they are not our bosses or teachers

3. Focusing on anything other than selling & serving customers is LARPing

4. My plans and how I think the world should work are irrelevant

5. Nobody wants my product

6. I can’t convince anybody of anything

7. It is nearly impossible to do multiple things

8. It is really hard to make anything work

This unlearning process has its pros and cons: We can now survive in the wilderness, but we stop fitting in with chihuahuas.

PS: The entire reason I came up with this analogy was to give you this visual: When you see non-founders lecturing founders on how to build startups, envision chihuahuas yipping at wolves, trying to explain how to hunt.

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