Last year around this time I wrote about startups and wrestling.  You can see that post here.   I am not going to revisit the company building analogies as the prior post covers them well.

Instead, the analogy of winning a national championship and an exit event are on my mind.  The NCAA Division I wrestling championships were just held in St. Louis on March 15, 16 and 17th.  Although not able to attend in person this year, I did watch a lot of the action on TV and ESPN3.  My kids (10 and 6) also love to watch wrestling for some reason so they got their large doses as well.  Anyway, the NCAA championship tournament is both a team competition and an individual competition.   There are 10 weight classes (from 125 pounds up to heavy weight, which is basically big guys in the 240 to 270 pound range).  Last year, Cornell had one individual champion (Kyle Dake at 149 pounds) and came in second to Penn State in the overall team standings.  

Winning a team championship or multiple individual championships in the same year makes winning the startup success game look……well…..almost easy.   This year, Cornell scored more points in the team standings than ever before in the history of Cornell wrestling.  And Cornell only got 4th place in the team competition.   The competition is just intense (like startups).  No one was disappointed, but in retrospect you have better odds of getting a company to a successful exit than winning a team championship!!  The competition is astounding and the necessity for an overall team effort from the entire team is critical.  Sounds familiar.  Penn State won the team title again this year because just about all their wrestlers went deep in the tournament and got points for the team.  All oars pulling hard.  Really an incredible feat for Penn State.  They dominated all around.  The same way the best of the best can dominate in the startup world and eventually mature into a powerhouse public company (think Apple or Google).

Cornell had 3 individual champions (Steve Bosak at 184 pounds, Cam Simaz at 197 pounds and Kyle Dake at 157 pounds).  Steve Bosak beat a Penn State wrestler to whom he previously lost 3 times.   Cam was ranked number 1 going in and proved why!  And Kyle, who was also ranked number 1, is the first wrestler in NCAA history to win championships in 3 different weight classes (freshman year at 141, sophomore year at 149 and junior year at 157; next year should be BIG for him too).   So, Cornell had 3 individual champions.  So did Penn State.  The second and third place teams only had 1 each.  Having multiple individual champions is like getting to an IPO or big acquisition exit!

The road to the NCAA wrestling tournament is grueling.  The fall individual season, followed by the winter team dual meets, followed by spring regionals and then nationals.  Constantly getting whacked around, constantly training hours and hours a day, and constantly enduring ups and downs.  Sounds like a startup.  Sounds like being an entrepreneur.  Truly grueling at times, but the rewards can be unbelievable!

If you are in the mood for some inspiration, check out these videos of interviews with the Cornell champions, coaches and teammates.

CONGRATS to Cornell wrestling!!  Awesome job getting your IPO.

I am guessing that you all have heard the analogy of startups and roller coasters.  Old news  – boring.

This morning I was reading Fred Wilson’s post and came across a depiction much better than a roller coaster.  Fred did not invent this depiction.  Apparently Paul Graham did.  Regardless, they call it “the process”.   Here it is: The Process

This graphic truly resonates with me.  In particular I like the LONG span between “TechCrunch of Initiation” and “The Promised Land”.  Many of the companies get great publicity early on (conference PR, news stories, “top startup in XYZ category”, etc.).  And while I have no issue with the great publicity, I don’t get too excited by it.  I sometimes have to temper my reactions to good press to tone down my sarcastic instincts.  The press is not worth too much unless the company gets to product sales and ultimately nicely profitable product sales…..unless of course we are talking about the lucky case where a company is sold as a pure technology play (not too common).

The Process is a great depiction of the roller coaster, only much better stated and direct.  Enjoying the ride can be a challenge some days!

I get asked probably once a week about how to find and choose co-founders.  I wish the answers were easy.  Actually the “find” part is not that hard.  The “choose” part is very hard in my view.

On the “find” side, I think that many co-founders find each other by accident or through happenstance.  Meet-ups are great forums for this.  At Cornell, we encourage our business school students to walk across the street to the engineering quad and hang out (and visa versa).  A little networking goes a long way.

On the “choose” side, I am luckily able to take the easy route and refer you to a post that I just read (sent to me by Nasir Ali, who is one of the heads of StartFast, an accelerator holding its first class of teams this summer in Syracuse – exciting!).  Here is that post.  Good stuff, and now that it is part of IthacaVC I will have a ready answer when next asked the question!