I recently shared my startup journey in front of 400+ people at a conference. Of all the things I said, one question seemed to resonate with the audience the most: “Do you have your own thing?”
Great founders I’ve met all seemed to have their “thing”. What is the “thing”? It’s hard to put into words. Some call it domain expertise. Some call it obsession. Some call it mission. Others use different words.
But regardless of the label, it’s the same thing – something the founder can’t stop thinking about, like they can’t stop thinking about someone they love; or a problem space the founder has lived in and sees differently than everyone else.
Having your thing is a blessing. It gives you a compass. Many people start a company, then search for their thing. I think they got it backwards. Great founders I’ve met seemed to have found their thing first, and then the startup followed naturally.