The Moment of Conception
What we can learn about business from pregnancy.
There is a very powerful principle that applies in most, if not all, areas of life. The moment of conception contains all the potential for the future.
Think about a fetus or baby which is developing during pregnancy. In the moment of conception, that cluster of cells, that fetus, contains in it, all the DNA which will dictate so much about the life of that human. All the potential is contained in that moment of conception and from that moment, there are attributes for which the path is set. For example, hair and eye color, elements of personality and intelligence, blood type, and risks of certain illnesses. All of these features, and more, are dictated at the moment of conception. The moment of conception contains all the potential for the future.
The closer to the moment of conception, the more influence over the future any changes will have. For example, if you scratch an adult with a relatively light scratch, it will make very little or zero impact on their life. However, if you scratched a fetus or cluster of cells, even with a very light scratch, just after the moment of conception (assuming it was possible), that scratch could destroy that fetus or forever change its future in ways we cant imagine.
The closer to the moment of conception we are, the more influence everything will have.
This principle applies in many, if not all, areas of life. It is particularly relevant to building a start-up. The ingredients which go into your start-up at the very beginning are some of the best indicators of future success.
The DNA of a company is formed from the moment it starts, in the same way that a baby’s DNA is formed in the moment of conception. In the same way that a baby’s DNA is a combination of the parents, the DNA of a company is the combination of its founders.
The founders and employees of a company make up the DNA of a company and they create, build and shape its future.
From the first moment in the life of a start-up, the culture and philosophy of the company are being formed. The culture of a company will affect the way that a company approaches everything — spending, product development, HR, success, failure, and challenges. The attitude towards all these things, and everything else that will happen during the life of that company, is shaped by the people who work there and that starts with the founders.
When the founders start working on their company, their attitude and philosophy will be the way that things are done. This culture will affect every aspect of the company and as each new person is hired they will also influence the culture of the company. The fewer people working at the company, the more influence each individual will have on the culture and the more people who work at the company, the harder it becomes to shift the culture of the company.
The closer to the founding moment of the company, the more influence each person will have.
Culture can not be ignored. The culture of a company will develop no matter what and successful founders are intentional about the way that they shape the culture. They set direction, create incentives, dedicate significant amounts of time and effort to hiring, and recognize that the people who work at their company will dictate its outcome.
When a start-up is nothing more than an idea or a first iteration of the product, often, the best indicators of future success are not the idea being worked on or the product being built. Often, the best indicator for future success is the team! If it has a high-quality team, a start-up has a much better chance of succeeding. The reasons are simple. It is impossible to know for certain that the idea you have or the problem you are trying to solve now, is the idea or problem that will be the source of success. Additionally, it is also impossible to predict all the challenges and obstacles you will encounter in the future. The only way to overcome these two issues is to have the best possible people working on them! If there are talented and capable people working together, they will find the right problem to solve and they will be able to adapt, grow and develop as they run into challenges along the way to success.
Some companies may seem like faceless corporate entities but the truth is that they are a result of the people who built and work at them. People are the foundations of the company and the closer to the beginning of the life of the company, the more influence each person will have on the future of the company.
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