Flock Theory #26
There are so many easier, more logical, safer paths to take, its no wonder that many founders when asked later on what advice they might give themselves, they only half-jokingly say “don’t do it.”
A thought:
Building a substantial company from scratch is almost impossibly hard to do, I think it takes a bloody-mindedness that borders on insanity. There are so many easier, more logical, safer paths to take, its no wonder that many founders when asked later on what advice they might give themselves, they only half-jokingly say “don’t do it.” For my part, I’ve helped to build a couple of companies from day-zero and whilst it gives you a completely different appreciation of the challenge, its still a diluted experience compared to being a founder. Although I don’t describe myself as the “founder” of Elder Gull, I suppose I am. My reluctance is rooted in the fact that despite it technically being a company, it has a completely different risk profile to building an operating company (as opposed to an investment firm). It isn’t easy, but its not the same.
Calling myself a founder would be a disservice to people like Paul Ford, the founder of Acin, who I got the chance to work with from their Series A back in 2020. Acin was recently acquired by Cube/HG, in a milestone event for Paul and the entire team. Reading the headlines and the wonderful LinkedIn messages, it looks like another one of those “overnight” success stories. As always, the headlines give little away about the underlying truth. After serving as a Captain in the Royal Engineers and spending fifteen years in various senior banking roles, Paul founded Anchura in 2010, which he grew into highly successful risk consultancy firm. Twenty years into his career, Paul had, by any measure, succeeded in service, as an executive and as a founder; Anchura had double-digit millions in turnover and was solidly profitable. The vision, and bloody-mindedness it must have required to shut down Anchura and decide to build Acin from scratch is remarkable. What transpired in the the last eight years was no straight-line, yet at every challenge and every success, Paul exhibited a calm perseverance that was totally unwavering. Everyone Paul surrounded himself with that contributed to the Acin story taught me so much (the investors, the board and indeed the talented management team), but my one disclosable takeaway is that Paul made sure everyone who contributed got to chalk up a win. For me personally, the biggest win is Paul expressing an interest in backing my fund, a decision I will be doing my utmost to ensure he doesn’t regret.
A read:
A quote:
“I used to build things and blow stuff up, hopefully I now build things rather than blow stuff up.” Paul Ford
A meme:
