The best startups generally come from somebody needing to scratch an itch.
– Michael Arrington, TechCrunch founder
The topic today is rather simple and the quote for inspiration is just the need to scratch an itch. As you know by now- I do love writing about startups. In particular, most of our articles are focused on the motivation for these startups.
It is no secret that startups are hard and they need a fair amount of sacrifice. We have all been exposed to some firecracker quotes about startup motivation. For some, it is about changing the world, making a huge impact on the societal scale or even financial scales. For others it is about improving everyday life of people.
The most fascinating part of an idea is that it can come from anywhere – as simple as a bus journey to something incredibly complicated which might your daily work. In either case, let’s simplify it – the idea comes from the need to scratch an itch!
Scratch an Itch!
I don’t mean it lightly at all – for people who’ve already been on the journey – you know that a startup is one of the hardest thing to do. During those hard days and dark times, it is this motivation which makes the most impact in your journey. If you are unable to find the source or keep boosting the one you have, it very quickly collapses like a pack of cards.
If you have made the decision of entering the startup world – then it is all the more reason to equip yourself with all possible arsenal to scratch the itch.
Some questions to ask about the itch
- What is your itch telling you?
- Why do you feel strongly about it?
- What are you prepared to do about it?
But Why Scratch an Itch?
It might sound rather silly – but, I am referring to the inner voice here. Forget all those fancy terms about ideas, business plans, MVP for a minute. You will get into those at a certain point in time.
- The discussion today is very much a simpler and basic one. What is your call? Why is this inner voice in you shouting across to send a message?
- What does the message mean?
- Yes, we all have a burning desire, a dream and passion to do something. It comes from our experiences and exposure in life.
Ignore all the noise for the moment – it maybe society, financial pressures, commitments and what not. For a moment, get into that quiet place – what is this inner voice telling you to do?
Listening to the Itch
We may get a thousand ideas in a day. Not everything is important or great, is it? I mean we see hundreds of ads all around us – the ones which appeal to us stay in our mind. This appeal is because of an emotional impact they make on you.
If you look at your itch/ call as well. You may feel strongly for a fair few things. And yes, if I am honest – you might not be able to do much for all of it. But there will be some of those which keep screaming at you. There is a thought which keeps asking you to do something about it.
I would like to call that the source of your itch. Well, if you have a constant itch to create a startup – it would rather be unfair not to listen to it completely isn’t it?
With that, I leave you with the wonderful quote from Michael Arrington
The best startups generally come from somebody needing to scratch an itch!
References:
Drop-desk.com
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Really worth reading. But I think we all have the itch that require to start the startup, but falls short on guts.
I do hear you and it is a tough journey. I have jumped into it twice and faced unnecessary pain because of some of those decisions. Sometimes, I wonder if I should have reconsidered and spent more time. There is often quite a lot to lose, the blind motivation which I went with did not really help because I was in some ways denying reality to make the decision easier for me.
I think the trick possibly is in trying to make this decision as easy as possible and creating ourselves some buffer from known problems or issues. The startup world did throw me into a disarray quite a few times to be honest with you. The guts I do agree are a warning sign – if we are able to find a way to provide it with sufficient protection – that might give us some more boost to scratch that itch.
Thank you for stopping by :)