It's Not Being Smarter or Working Harder
Buchheit: I've thought a lot about what makes these companies — Google, Netflix, Amazon. I don't think it's that you're smarter necessarily. It helps to be smart. It isn't that you're harder working — there's a limit to how hard you can work.
What I think is necessary: you're sitting on top of a big exponential change in the world. Intel and Microsoft were sitting on the rise of microcomputers. Google was sitting on the growth of the internet. Part of the reason other people got it wrong was they weren't thinking about the fact that the amount of information online was increasing exponentially.
It's not being smarter or working harder. You're sitting on top of a big exponential change in the world.
Part One: The DeLorean Test
Buchheit: I give founders a two-part question. Part one — let's say I hop in my time machine, which is hopefully a DeLorean, and travel 10 years into the future. I get out, take a look around. What about the world of 2028 is fundamentally different from 2018?
This should be as it pertains to your startup — but factoring out your startup. Because even if Facebook didn't exist, I guarantee someone would have built a giant social network. There's inevitability. These companies will exist in some form. That position is going to exist.
What's fundamentally different in 10 years — factoring out your startup? That position is going to exist.
Part Two: How Are You Going to Capture It?
Buchheit: The second part of the question is simply — how are you going to be the one who captures it? Facebook was sitting on top of that exponential change. They were the ones who were most able to capture that position and hold on to it. But if it wasn't them, I guarantee someone else would be in that ecological niche.
Maybe you're making it a little faster or a little better. But that position is going to exist.
How are you going to be the one who captures it?