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October 08, 2007
Mets, Baseball, Startups and Always Wanting to Believe
Baseball is an amazing game. An ever forgiving game. And a game where anything can and will happen. It Aint Over Till its Over is a phrase which rings as true today as when Yogi Berra first said it. Fans of Baseball know how a game can drive their emotions. Baseball is a game which makes some of the most unlikely people famous and a game where each spring brings out the hope in all baseball fans. Every year could be THE YEAR. The year for our team to make it to the World Series. And maybe the year our team becomes World Champions.
It has been over a week since the Mets 2007 baseball season came to an end. A season which reinforced the concept that every game in a 162 game baseball season matters. Games count as much in April as in September. And had the Mets figured out how to win 2 more games in 2007, they would have made it to the first round of the playoffs. When Jimmy Dugan in A League of Their Own said There is NO Crying in Baseball, he didnt know about the 2007 Mets and how they would manage to break the hearts of their fans when they would experienced a September meltdown of historic significance.
On the positive side, the 2007 Mets gave me reasons to believe in them. And more reasons to love the game. The Mets staged some incredible come-from-behind victories. Some players on the Mets reached career milestones. And despite all their troubles in September, these 2007 Mets were still playing a significant game on September 30th with the chance to make it to the playoffs. How many other baseball teams wished they had such an opportunity? The answer, many.
Now, Im not exactly sure what the connection is, but it seems that a number of my friends from the venture world are also dedicated baseball fans. Im guessing it has something to do with the fact that as investors they believe in their startups and they share the belief that anything is possible. That the companies in their venture fund portfolios will be the winners in their respective spaces.
Based on my own startup history, being the CEO of a hi-tech startup can feel a lot like what a baseball fan imagines it is like being the manager of a major league baseball team. You always have to worry about what the owners (investors) have to say and how they react based on your teams recent performance. So the pressure is always there. And like any good manager, we have to learn to cut our losses early, and how to balance our desire to embrace younger players and help them gain the experience that they will remember for the rest of their careers with doing what we need to win. And when needed, we make the moves we need to in order to secure our chances for a victory. The bottom line is that in both baseball and in our startups, we have a better chance to be successful when everyone on the team supports and respects each other and when everyone believes in the collective vision.
This isnt to say that every season will be OUR season or that every startup will make it. The truth is, many teams have losing seasons and many startups fail. Sometimes a startups failure can also be heart breaking. For example I had a lot of confidence in Tello back in the day. All I have to show for it now are the lessons I learned.
But when things dont work out the way we had hoped, I have also learned there is always a tomorrow. There is never any shortage of great new ideas. And by allowing ourselves to believe, we leave ourselves the opportunity to believe that our next season will be the one that takes us to a championship, and that our next startups exit will be the one with a multi-billion dollar valuation at the IPO.
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Tags: Mets, Startups, Baseball, Jeff Pulver
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Posted by jeff on October 8, 2007 05:12 AM | Permalink
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Posted by: zloy at February 11, 2008 07:27 AM
Take care of yourself in the offseason, buddy. Remember, Mets fans, "We want you safe, because we want you back."
Posted by: Charlie at October 10, 2007 05:34 PM
Great stuff Jeff!
Posted by: Martin Burns at October 9, 2007 10:23 AM
beautiful post Jeff, really captured the essence of life as an entrepreneur. Always needing to believe that anything is possible...
Keep the faith,
Jacob
Posted by: Jacob Ner-David at October 9, 2007 04:03 AM
I think it is more like college football, where on any given Saturday, anyone can win
Posted by: Ben Smith at October 9, 2007 03:24 AM
Great post and an excellent analogy! keep up the good work.
Posted by: shouts at October 9, 2007 02:56 AM
Believing is KEY ! you can never underestimate the power behind the starry eyes of an individual who believes in their startup (or in their ability to come back into a game at the bottom of the ninth...)
Posted by: Amit Shafrir at October 8, 2007 02:38 PM
Great post, Jeff. I think many of us also enjoy the unique balance between the individual moment and the long season in baseball, and find parallels in our startups. 162 games made up of thousands of at bats and pitches, each of which can determine everything. It has made for an excrutiating last couple years as a Mets fan however - next year I'd like to head into Sept with a couple strong arms added to that bullpen, and be commenting on a Mets first round playoff sweep on your blog about this time...
Posted by: gzino at October 8, 2007 01:14 PM
"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart," as Bart Giamatti said.
It's all about caring. Amazing how much caring goes into rooting for your team or managing your team.
And you've got the board breathing down your necks...while you try to do what it takes to win.
Great post.
Posted by: greenskeptic at October 8, 2007 12:24 PM
As a Met fan, I share your pain, but also the joy of seeing the Phillies out in 3.
Here's an interesting item on the current batch of start-ups, compared to those of not so long ago. http://www.alleyinsider.com/2007/10/fred-wilson-web.html#comments
Posted by: Joe Garland at October 8, 2007 10:39 AM
...and as we have learned from the Cubs, sometimes you just have to wait for a century or more, geez think you're heartbroken??
having faith that things are indeed possible is a core strength and the attitude to keep and often you can win without 'winning' as us Cubs fans can show by simply still being fans...
Posted by: Daz Cox at October 8, 2007 07:27 AM