Nobody knows

You might not have known that last week was Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW).  That’s okay because I think it will become a bigger and bigger deal in the next decade as our economies rely more heavily on start-up job creation and innovation.  As part of GEW, I attended a first time event held here in Kansas City where 3 entrepreneurs from much different walks of life talked about how to get your first customer and start-up life in general.  It was a great discussion but there was one guy I went specifically to hear…Bo Fishback.  If you don’t know of him, Google him, he has done a lot in the entrepreneurial space including heading up some Kauffman Foundation initiatives and he currently runs Zaarly, a peer-to-peer commerce play, who just raised $14.1M in the Valley and added Meg Whitman (formerly eBay, currently HP CEO) to their Board.  Essentially he has a unique opinion as he has been on “both sides of the table”.  As you can imagine, he said a bunch of interesting things but one that has really stuck with me are these two words.  “Nobody knows”.  Your investors don’t know.  Your mentors don’t know.  Your advisors don’t know.  Nobody knows.  Nobody knows if your product or service will be successful.  Nobody knows.

I seriously think this might be the best statement to remember as an entrepreneur.  Nobody knows.  You can be the smartest person in the world, with the most experience in a space, with all the capital you need and unlimited resources at your disposal but nobody knows if your idea will be successful.

Nobody knows…until you are.