Steve Jobs' heritage

In the past weeks and months, I have met a number of entrepreneurs, and have had a number of very long discussions with them. Those of you who have been talking to me will recognize themselves.

I wanted to share a bit of those discussions with you:

1) I stress (sometimes too much?) the importance of doing what you want, and not what society/friends/colleagues/family want you to do. In particular, I keep asking you all what is it you want to be in 5 years, in 10 years. Because if you want to get there someday, you'd better start now. And you'll be better at what you do if you enjoy what you are doing than not. I know it makes complete sense, but most of you somehow are trapped in society's framework, and immediately start thinking income.

My last salary was back in 2001; without going into details, I am really so much better off now than before. Why? I decided to become an entrepreneur, work with entrepreneurs, and enter the VC scene.

Give it a try you won't regret it, I hope.

2) The other topic I usually touch upon with entrepreneurs is equity distribution between partners. Why are you splitting 50/50, 60/40, 90/10, 30/20/50 ?

My usual next question is: is everyone quitting their own jobs to join the venture ? Do they all believe in the success of the idea and the team ? Are they all going to commit equally to the venture? Do they all bring in the same value?

Honeymoon is easy. Divorce is painful. Hence, in order to avoid future disillusions, you'd better talk thru equity splits thoroughly with all your partners. And work out all the what-if scenarios beforehand.

As an example, I chose to go 50/50 with Ivan, my business partner at RISC Partners. Our partnership is intuitu personae:  I'm working with him, no one else, unless with both agree. Neither of us can sell our shares, etc. Why? I've known him for 15 years, have worked with him on and off since, and we share a mutual trust, respect; in addition, are skills are very complementary. I enjoy the idea of having a sounding board for my decisions. The funny thing is that he is based in Madrid, whereas I'm based in Paris...

So what does all this have to do with Steve Jobs? I was just re-reading (and it's all over the blogosphere) Steve's recent address at Stanford (Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.). You should read it in its entirety, but these quotes will  give you the gist of his message:

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle."

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

"Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. "

Cheesy? Maybe. But you already know I admire the man.