David Moody: Startups Vs. Baseball

In his latest blog post on the state’s fast-growing startup community, Startup Dad blogger David Moody writes about his work with first and second-time startup founders, comparing it to the difficulties of being a successful .300- hitter in major league baseball who fails seven of every 10 at-bats.

The interesting post by the tech executive who raised a successful teen entrepreneur, held a number of board positions, invested in three angel funds, and mentored dozens of startup companies in Arkansas, is a great read for those entering Arkansas’ startup world.

Moody’s blog post compares the success rates for early stage entrepreneurs and startups to baseball players who are considered successful as a .300 hitter, although they fail to get a hit seven of out every 10 trips to the plate.

Here’s what he writes:

“The point here is that every young entrepreneur aspires to hit it out of the park their first time at bat. Like baseball players, it takes that kind of bold approach and confidence to even have a chance of success. The more likely scenario is that an entrepreneur will fail far more that they succeed. However, if you learn from your failures and continue to improve your skills, you can have a great life as an entrepreneur.”

Moody continues: “Would you consider yourself financially successful if you started 10 businesses over a 40 year period, failed at 3 of them but didn’t lose too much money, had mediocre lifestyle businesses with 4 of them, and liquidity events with the other 3 that yielded a net income of $7-10M? I would. In addition, what if that journey provided you the opportunity to meet lots of interesting people, travel the world, help others, and bring your family and friends along for the ride? Now that’s a successful life.”

To read Moody’s most recent blog post and the takeaway from his latest “Entrepreneurship vs. Major League Baseball,” click here.

Besides Moody’s baseball-themed blog post, he also wrote an interesting and useful article called, “Growing Into the Startup CEO Role.”

In this article, he advises young startup entrepreneurs with “soft” executive skills gained from “being responsible for projects, selling, communicating with co-workers, bosses, customers or vendors, developing plans and strategies, developing and managing a budget, and maybe even managing others and hiring and firing people” often are more critical to success that complex theory of management expertise learned in college settings.

“A great idea, a large market opportunity, and a great story are compelling but ultimately mean nothing without the ability to execute. Successful execution for a young entrepreneur requires clawing your way up the learning curve by combining experiential learning, quality mentorship, research and, as Jim Collins says, ‘getting the right people on the bus’ (“Good to Great”, Jim Collins – a must read for young entrepreneurs),” Moody writes.

Click here to read the rest of this article and don’t forget the takeaway.