Micro and Macro switch — startup stories
I aint any startup founder, but can be tauted as a Startup Insider. By being an empathetic observer in the startup environment, you go through the emotions it goes through in different stages. So you yo-yo being excited, all-in for the pursuit or a ethu cutlet(as we call in Bengaluru for someone enthusiastic about any random stuff) about the vision the startup has, and the preposterous proposition of the startup “changing the world” to a better place. The other extreme is hopelessness and worry for the people associated with it as there is no positive move which is happening surrounding it.
This startup insider(SI), as I can call myself, has had days when frustration was conveyed to the Startup Founder (SF) in funny ways, as resentment towards random stuff. In those times, SI didn’t know better, and I am sure SF would have felt resolute, as there was no clue as to where that was emerging from. The pit in the stomach because of worry wasn’t explainable and used to be conveyed as silences, continuous blabbering because of unclear thoughts and situations as well.
What might have kept the SF going was his micro and macro thinking, I now understand. As I was yo-yoing as above, he was doing so between these states. Microthinking made him get his hands dirty on very minute details, which absorbed the pursuit into every cell of the being. It's very enticing to witness this involvement and happiness that emerges from those small things, which might or might not add up to anything sometimes. You, the SI, felt the pang as all the efforts which were put in for which you were witness, and sometimes you might have paid for it as well in terms of time or other resources. But could see the SF all the more excited the following day and trying again with a slightly different approach. By getting too stuck in the micro, you can be a hamster on a wheel — busy but not necessarily moving forward. Those loopy days, where SF hallucinates in the details and your SI is disillusioned if this rollercoaster would ever be over, isn't the best days.
Now, being in the dreamland of macro, the big picture is the very thing that makes this creed what they are. SF transforms into a visionary who can spot market trends, predict user behaviors, and craft or alter the already told story for that moment. This might make an investor give you more listening time than the elevator ride and make your would-be customer sit up and try the product. In the meantime, SI is still skeptical. You aren’t in the dreamland in which he is floating. You pinch yourself and wait for the Allaudins carpet to land so you can talk about the everyday details needed to keep the hearth going. But you realize by experience that SF needs to be switching between micro and macro, and he feels very lonely there, as most who are associated with him aren’t getting what he is cooking up or are skeptical about the ideas. Some of us could be good devil’s advocates, but not always.
This switching could help some startups be successful and can go otherwise, too. I, for one, the quintessential SI, would continue to be a more emphatic observer.
