The Startup Owner's Manual

Introduction

A legendary hero is usually the founder of something—the founder

of a new age, the founder of a new religion, the founder of a new city,

the founder of a new way of life. In order to found something new,

one has to leave the old and go on a quest of the seed idea, a germinal

idea that will have the potential of bringing forth that new thing.

— Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces

JOSEPH CAMPBELL POPULARIZED THE NOTION of an archetypal “hero’s journey,” a pattern that recurs in the mythologies and religions of cultures around the world. From Moses and the burning bush to Luke Skywalker’s meeting Obi-wan Kenobi, the journey always begins with a hero who hears a calling to a quest. At the outset of the voyage, the path is unclear and no end is in sight. Each hero meets a unique set of obstacles, but Campbell’s keen insight was that the outline of these stories is always the same. There are not a thousand different heroes but one hero with a thousand faces.

The hero’s journey is an apt way to think of startups. All new companies and new products begin with a vision—a hope for what could be and a goal few others can see. It’s this bright and burning founder’s vision that differentiates an entrepreneur from a big-company CEO and separates startups from existing businesses.

Founding entrepreneurs are out to make their vision and business real. To succeed, they must abandon the status quo, recruit a team that shares their vision, and strike out together on ...