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Passion is Not Emotion.

August 6, 2009 by 36 Comments

Today was Techstars Demo/Investor Day. The ten Techstars companies each presented their products and progress over the course of the summer.

For some, their progress was stunning, for others, it was disappointing.

It got me thinking about why. Why would some teams spend an entire summer, give up 6% of their company, be surrounded by dozens and dozens of mentors to finish the summer in pretty much the exact spot they started the summer?

Could it be that they lack passion? Are they just sending it in, thinking that at the end of the summer, there would be multiple investors waiting to give them hundreds of thousands of dollars just because they were in Techstars?

Here is what I came up with. They are too emotional. Too emotionally attached to either their idea, or their own pride at their ability to execute.

The difference between a person who starts a business and a real entrepreneur is the ability to separate passion from emotion.

Be passionate about the business. Be passionate about your team. Be passionate enough to get other people to become passionate. But dont get emotionally attached to any idea, product or even team member.

The path to failure is paved with emotional attachment.

If the only constant in a startup is a state of constant change, then the reality is that the value of all ideas will continually shift as well. Becoming emotionally attached to any one will almost always guarantee that your startup will stop being flexible and responsive to change. The focus of the startup will become the execution of the idea–regardless of its value or positive effect on the business long term.

At the end of Investor Day, it was this realization that rang true for me. The companies filled with passion and had the ability to share that passion put themselves on the right path towards success.

The companies that clung on to their ideas, that could not divest themselves emotionally, well, put themselves on a different path.

Be passionate. Share your passion, but remember, passion is not emotion.

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  • Lucretia

    Beautifully said.

    It’s been a long time since I was in a startup — but now that I’m in one again, I find that I’m having to let some ideas just go to the back burner in the face of “what needs to happen” and you know? That’s such an exercise in self control…

    It’s one of those “oh yeah, I forgot about this – this is the part where I have to say ‘okay, chuck it… what will move us forward from here?’ and then actually do it” practices.

    You know what makes it easier? I’m not an antrepreneur – I just work for them… ;)

  • Chris Saad

    I am passionate about YOU Micah :)

  • Lucretia

    Beautifully said.

    It’s been a long time since I was in a startup — but now that I’m in one again, I find that I’m having to let some ideas just go to the back burner in the face of “what needs to happen” and you know? That’s such an exercise in self control…

    It’s one of those “oh yeah, I forgot about this – this is the part where I have to say ‘okay, chuck it… what will move us forward from here?’ and then actually do it” practices.

    You know what makes it easier? I’m not an antrepreneur – I just work for them… ;)

  • Chris Saad

    I am passionate about YOU Micah :)

  • Chris Saad

    Working for entrepreneurs is often times very entrepreneurial Lucretia :)

  • Chris Saad

    Working for entrepreneurs is often times very entrepreneurial Lucretia :)

  • Chris Saad

    That was the garlic on his breath :)

  • louisgray

    I got all emotional reading your post. <sniff>

  • louisgray

    I am getting emotional right now about Echo.

    This is beautiful.

  • louisgray

    I got all emotional reading your post. <sniff>

  • louisgray

    I am getting emotional right now about Echo.

    This is beautiful.

  • Chris Saad

    That was the garlic on his breath :)

  • Chris Saad

    Isn’t it awesome watching someone reply in real-time – I’m excited about it and I’ve been working on it for months ha

  • http://learntoduck.com/ micah

    I think the difference is that when people get lost in the desire to have a particular idea be executed on, they find out that sooner or later that their startup has become stale, and loses.

  • louisgray

    Oh. You’re behind Echo. Forget it. This stuff is junk.

  • Micah Baldwin

    I think the difference is that when people get lost in the desire to have a particular idea be executed on, they find out that sooner or later that their startup has become stale, and loses.

  • Chris Saad

    Isn’t it awesome watching someone reply in real-time – I’m excited about it and I’ve been working on it for months ha

  • louisgray

    Oh. You’re behind Echo. Forget it. This stuff is junk.

  • louisgray

    The timeframe you are focused on here is fairly small. In any business, it can be easy to get entrenched, to defend one’s turf and do things the way they were always done. You can get emotional because you believe so much in the product, or the story, that you lose sight of the major problems that may exist. That’s true at any level, but especially painful for startups.

  • louisgray

    The timeframe you are focused on here is fairly small. In any business, it can be easy to get entrenched, to defend one’s turf and do things the way they were always done. You can get emotional because you believe so much in the product, or the story, that you lose sight of the major problems that may exist. That’s true at any level, but especially painful for startups.

  • louisgray

    Due to the flow here, I was looking for the “like” button on your comment.

  • louisgray

    Due to the flow here, I was looking for the “like” button on your comment.

  • Chris Saad

    Coming in the next release ;)

  • Chris Saad

    Coming in the next release ;)

  • http://learntoduck.com/ micah

    Whats interesting is the loss of rationality by young entrepreneurs. On one hand, its what allows folks to tilt windmills, on the other, its what allows folks to tilt windmills.

  • Micah Baldwin

    Whats interesting is the loss of rationality by young entrepreneurs. On one hand, its what allows folks to tilt windmills, on the other, its what allows folks to tilt windmills.

  • Chris Saad

    What does that mean exactly – tilt windmills?

  • Chris Saad

    What does that mean exactly – tilt windmills?

  • Josh McHugh

    Should be “tilting *at* windmills.” I think he means something between “chase unreasonable goals” and “chase impossible goals.”

  • Josh McHugh

    Should be “tilting *at* windmills.” I think he means something between “chase unreasonable goals” and “chase impossible goals.”

  • Guest

    Nice post Micah. You make a good point here, and its really a fine line between the two. As someone who’s been through Techstars, I can tell you there are more dynamics than passion v. emotion that impact a company’s ability to adapt and make progress, but a lot of reasons teams don’t adapt could be pointed to some kind of emotional response blocking their ability to act on feedback, listen to their instincts, etc. 

    There is an inverse conversation here too, which is around the situations where teams are passionate, but clueless and listen to everything they are told and end up with no focus. Maybe your next post is “Passion is not focus” ;-)

  • Guest

    Nice post Micah. You make a good point here, and its really a fine line between the two. As someone who’s been through Techstars, I can tell you there are more dynamics than passion v. emotion that impact a company’s ability to adapt and make progress, but a lot of reasons teams don’t adapt could be pointed to some kind of emotional response blocking their ability to act on feedback, listen to their instincts, etc. 

    There is an inverse conversation here too, which is around the situations where teams are passionate, but clueless and listen to everything they are told and end up with no focus. Maybe your next post is “Passion is not focus” ;-)

  • http://learntoduck.com/ micah

    its short hand for be quxotic. http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=quixotic

    The concept is that sometimes entreprenuers are doing something crazy and stupid and sometimes it just looks crazy and stupid. A real entreprenuer knows the difference…

  • Micah Baldwin

    its short hand for be quxotic. http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=quixotic

    The concept is that sometimes entreprenuers are doing something crazy and stupid and sometimes it just looks crazy and stupid. A real entreprenuer knows the difference…

  • http://learntoduck.com/ micah

    Thats definately true. There is a case where entreprenuers sole passion is “success,” which for many mean fame and fortune. So rather than look at what they are doing logically and rationally, they consume all advice as good advice.

    I have a post sitting in my head that deals with an underrated skill that top startup people and VCs have in spades: The ability to vett ideas quickly and rationally.

    So many people underestimate the importance of learning to say no with authority.

  • Micah Baldwin

    Thats definately true. There is a case where entreprenuers sole passion is “success,” which for many mean fame and fortune. So rather than look at what they are doing logically and rationally, they consume all advice as good advice.

    I have a post sitting in my head that deals with an underrated skill that top startup people and VCs have in spades: The ability to vett ideas quickly and rationally.

    So many people underestimate the importance of learning to say no with authority.