Harnessing the Power of Passion in Entrepreneurship

In the unpredictable world of startups, one constant remains: the power of passion. As an entrepreneur, you are bombarded with endless decisions, challenges, and often, uncertainties. Passion is an entrepreneur's secret weapon. 

Remember - you don’t need to be passionate about everything. But, you do need to be passionate about SOMETHING, whether it’s your view for how the world will shake out, the problem you are solving, broken products out there and fixing it, the team you have recruited, or even building culture. 

3 ways that passion can be expressed on the path to building a legendary company. 

1. Passion: The Key to Winning Investors Over

You're on your 100th pitch. You’ve rehearsed it a million times, yet to your audience, it’s fresh and new. That's where passion comes in. It allows you to deliver your 100th pitch with the same fervor and excitement as the first. Investors gauge your potential within the first ten minutes. They need to see that you have what it takes to navigate through the trials and tribulations ahead.

For example, for our seed at rideOS, we had 56 pitches over three weeks. They were grueling, we were exhausted, and sleep-deprived. We had so much rejection and failure. But, we delivered the last pitch with the same energy as the first. To help maintain this energy, it’s crucial to manage your energy levels, prioritize sleep, eat well, and carve out time for mindfulness. Here’s a great article called “The Making of a Corporate Athlete”. 

2. Passion: The Magnet That Attracts Your Team

In the early stages of a company, prospective employees aren't just betting on the market or the product - they're betting on you, the founder. They need to see that you are passionate about the journey ahead. You are a big part of the glue that binds your team together, especially during periods of market fluctuations and product changes.

At rideOS, I found my passion was with regards to the culture we were building, centralized around doing good through serving people. The markets could shift, and so did our products, but I believed that as long as we maintained a strong culture, we would survive. Even when we made the challenging pivot from the self-driving market to the delivery market during a pandemic, the team, including investors, remained united, sharing the same belief that we could overcome anything together. Here’s an article from our investor Debjit that details our journey.

3. Passion: The Pathway to Earning Customer Loyalty

Amazon is famous for this. Their infamous customer obsession is fueled by passion - it's what drives them to continuously innovate and provide exceptional customer service. As an entrepreneur, you have a unique vision of the future, but without passion, it's hard to convince customers that your version of reality is the one that will come to fruition.Even if your product is still developing, your passion to solve your customers’ problems can increase your chances of sealing the deal. This starts with asking good questions, listening, and then problem solving. 

Tactics: In today's era of virtual communication, passion needs to come through, loud and clear, even through your microphone. Stand up during your pitches, dress appropriately, use your body language to communicate, and project your voice as if you're speaking to a live audience.

In conclusion, passion is an important component to maximizing your success of building a legendary company. You don’t need to have everything figured out, but the community you have built should feel that you are passionate about something. This energy is infectious, it comes from the top, and it will carry you and the team through the inevitable trials and tribulations.