Chase the vision not the money, Money will follow you!

Chase the vision not the money: This is a classic startup quote about following the purpose and vision of a business. If you ask most founders/entrepreneurs, money is not the first thing they talk about. I sometimes wonder if that’s because of peer pressure or if that’s what they really believe.

Although the thought of money is exciting, I believe a startup is probably the least lucrative way of achieving this goal. There ought to be lots of better avenues to make money such as a job, freelancing, side hustle and even investments. These still give you better chance at making money than a startup where the risk of failure is immense.

Chase the vision not the money meaning

To delve into the meaning of chase the vision not the money, I’d like to get to the bottom of what’s not being said in this quote. It is about the vision, purpose and passion of your business. Yes, money is a factor, but not the only factor. And trust me, you’re not going to win many investors by just luring them with money without a strong purpose for your business. Money is a great short term motivator. The word short term is very important because it doesn’t sustain in the long run. You need a long-lasting purpose to develop a business and create startups. And that rarely is about money!

Meaning of Entrepreneur:

Let’s start with the basics – what does an entrepreneur mean? The basic definition tells us that an entrepreneur is someone who undertakes a project with a specific outcome. The purpose of this entrepreneurship is always the outcome as opposed to profit. Money still is an integral part of this definition, but so is a risk. If your purpose of entrepreneurship is making money, then you have to ask the question – aren’t there any other simpler ways to make money? You will find that the alternative routes are much more lucrative.

Defining the purpose of your entrepreneurship:

After being in hundreds of fundraising events, the first thing most investors want to know is the purpose of your business i.e why are you passionate about making this startup? If the answer is money, trust me, most investors will not even talk to you. The reason why most investors are interested is to strike a chord with your purpose and make a difference to the world. It is the best way to create an impact and also find the vicarious joy of contributing to the greater good. Yes, money is a great add on, but that’s not the foremost purpose.

Defining the purpose of money:

The most important part in the meaning of chase the vision and not money is to understand why you want to make that money. Apart from the many expenses, etc – money will start dwindling with time unless you do something purposeful with it. Even that needs a strong WHY. I might be paraphrasing Simon Sinek in talking about finding the WHY. But that’s super important to ensure that you don’t just chase the money on a whim but focus on the purpose to create a difference instead.

What happens if we chase the money instead of vision?

Now that’s a great question. What happens if we chase just the money. If you look at it from the startup frame of reference:

Pivoting the business too much

The easiest way to chase money is by changing your business to the whims of your customers. This means invalidated business cases and just compromising your ability to scale for short term gains. This easily translates into going against the definition of a startup whose purpose is to scale and delay gratification. If you’re too focussed on money, then you run the risk of compromising your vision.

Confusing values about business

Chasing money gives conflicting views about the purpose, value and vision of a business. It is an awfully difficult mode to inspire the teams to perform just to earn more money. What happens at times of difficulty? You will run an immediate risk of losing employees because most of the relationships you’ve developed through money are transactional.

Short term decisions overtaking vision

This is the most important one of all – short term decisions based on money overriding the purpose and value of your business idea. Running a startup is difficult. But it is more so when it doesn’t have a purpose. The short term sacrifices ultimately come to bite us back in the long run. There will be no gain without associated pains!

How to make money chase you?

Focus on the vision and purpose of your business. Money will be a part of this vision but prove to everyone including yourself that there’s something larger than money. It doesn’t guarantee that you’ll make enormous profits. But it creates a pathway for you to walk away from money and the courage to do the right thing.

Ultimately, the world respects people with a strong vision and constantly adding value to their customers. Be curious and understand the problem, purpose of business and value to the user properly. It will lead you to the final vision of money chasing you. In other words,

Chase the vision not the money; the money will end up following you

Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos