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A groundswell movement among Gen Y-ers who grew up hearing “the sky’s the limit” from teachers and reading The 4- Hour Workweek in their dorms. It’s a generation that worships Steve Jobs and dreams of “getting funded” the way its parents' bands dreamed of “getting signed.

The comparison between the tech industry and the music industry struck a chord (no pun intended). It certainly seems true. The tech press is full of essentially press releases that laud entrepreneurs the moment they convince some financiers to back their idea. The success of Silicon Milkroundabout (a startup recruitment fair) is evidence of hundreds of developers eschewing the well-trodden route of working in corporate city firms, in favour of creating their own thing and following their dreams. The Facebook-Zuckerberg myth-making in The Social Network, all revolves around "doing the deal", and apparently a rock 'n' roll lifestyle ensues, and hell, even Justin Timberlake will pop up in your life. 

This aspirational shift from the music scene to the tech scene is kind of good. 

 

The world needs entrepreneurs right now. There are some pretty big problems to solve (financial crisis, social crisis, environmental crisis...and so on) and if we encourage a generation of young people to try and find solutions - and to try and find people to back them - that doesn't seem like a bad idea. Entrepreneurs - like bands - have crazy dreams of changing the world, they dream big, they take risks, they commit themselves unswervingly to the cause - we need these people right now. 

 

Plus, since Victorian times, we've been living in the post-industrial model where we're told the best way to organise our working lives, our skills and our dreams is through ever larger, faceless, multi-national organisations. Now that the youth of today have found that these organisations can't offer them jobs nevermind lifetime security, it has got to be a good thing that this generation are forging a new path, which relies on themselves, their wits and their ideas as the engine for job creation. For every startup that gets funded, people are employed and given all the tools and incentive to go and hire more.

 

But 'getting funded is the new getting signed' is also kind of bad.

 

As it was in music, it seems like that "signing" becomes the end goal in itself. The endless fascination and rumours around funding levels celebrate the act of being backed, as opposed to the act of creating something of value. It feels like the end, when it is just the beginning. People would do well to read this post by Tawheen Kadar, the day after you get funded

 

What’s the point? The point is that the day after you get funded is like any other day that you are running your business. Getting funded is not some magical event where all your worries go away. It is not some big party to pop the champagne over. Its the time where you buckle down even more so that you can make it rain.The day after you get funded, you still have to deal with the real fundamentals of your business. You still have to build your actual business, and you have to actually plan and execute so that you can actually deliver all those things you promised your Investors when you took their money.

The fear is we create a generation of people who are focusing on the wrong thing. Or at least blind to the right thing. How many of these startups that have raised all this money are still alive in 2 years, 5 years, or 10 years? There should be more press releases for these milestones. 

If we focus on the funding, are we preparing people for the real hard work and pressure that comes after the money is in the bank? Are we creating balanced teams that are good at delivering results or good at raising funding? Do these people know that even after funding (or especially because) most startups fail - and if we had told them before, then would they think twice about their idea, work harder, and hire differently?

 

There's an interesting article written by Ezra Butler in The Kernel about The Commoditisation of the Entrepreneur, which maybe is a bit over-negative, but still constructs a sound argument about the dangers of mythologising the industry, as opposed to what the industry creates. 

 

Most of all, do we really want this industry to be like the music industry? Most bands fail. Most labels screw them over. Bands aren't prepared for life after getting signed, because it happened too quick, too many changes, too many divisions appear between teams, too many outside influences, and too much interminable hype getting in the way of the thing that really matters - the content.

 

It would be pretty rubbish if the future of tech incubators is X-Factor. 

 

Getting customers, getting to 10 years, getting nice letters from ordinary people that say your product changed their life, these seem much better targets to set ourselves.