Startup advise from a Silicon Valley legend who wrote 'The Monk and The Riddle'

Many celebrities in the IT venture industry said 'I was able to look back on my life' and 'Must read for entrepreneurs'

A book that brings together. It is 'Monk and Riddle'.

The author, Randy Komisar, is the founder and CEO of Apple in the 1980s, Claris Art, and Crystal Dynamics.

He has been a mentor to various startups including Web TV and TiVo, and is also known as a legendary venture investor of prestigious VC Kleiner Perkins.

[caption id="attachment_5460" align="aligncenter" width="275"] Kleiner Perkins[/caption]

Above all, he is often referred to as the 'philosopher of Silicon Valley' because he often talks about his own philosophy on business.

‘The Monk and the Riddle’ is a book that contains the philosophy of Randy Komisar’s business and life.

It is an extract of the entrepreneurial spirit that Silicon Valley's original founder has accumulated over decades.

The thing that touched me the most was the saying, 'Don't live a life that you put off.'

Perhaps from that time on, I had not abandoned what was called a ‘career plan’ in my life.

It made me reconsider what it means to be a 'business to change society' rather than just making money, and what passion and mindset are necessary to start a business.

As a result, it helped me make difficult decisions at the time. I would highly recommend this book as a startup advise to anyone who is dreaming of starting a business or is experiencing the early stages of starting a business.

Business is a kind of art

(Business is not primarily a financial institution.
It's a creative institution.)

“It’s like art that expresses one’s talent, like painting or sculpture.”
“Why? The key to business is change. Everything related to business changes."
“The market changes, the product develops, the competitors become allies, and the employees come in and go out”
“Business is one of the few social organizations that teaches how to cope with change.”
“As society developed, the church went into decline, and many fell to their knees in materialism. The government has become an institution that serves the interests of the voters.”
“Of course, companies are at best obsessed with improving productivity, tainted with greed and aggression.”
“But that doesn't mean the company will give up. I see business as a way to indirectly advance society for the many, not the lucky few.”

“Acknowledge the limitations, but use them positively. It is human beings who decide whether to drive a business in a constructive or destructive direction.”
“I make people aware of this. Helping people express themselves through work and change through business”

Business is not finance

It is done with passion.

It was when I was the CEO of Crystal Dynamics, a video game company that was in its third year of establishment.
Krystal has produced a console game that mainly features muscular heroes and women with well-developed upper body to suit the tastes of teenagers.

[caption id="attachment_5469" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Crystal Dynamics logo[/caption]

“I had fun working at my previous company, but I wanted to run an independent business, so I accepted the CEO position.”
“But we ran into serious problems. Krystal was split into two organizations and was undergoing infighting. It was a situation in which we could not meet the game production deadline, which was announced as ambitious.”

“In the end, we had to downsize or sell the company while maintaining it, or make difficult choices.”
“I had sleepless nights with no conclusions for months.”
“But not being able to sleep was not a business problem. The real reason is that my relationship with Krystal is broken.”
“I realized this while talking to his friend Tony”
“Tony asked me why I worked in the game industry”
“I see new opportunities are opening up, technology is changing… What did you explain?”
“Then she replied: ‘I’m sorry, what you’re doing is a fucking game business’
(You're in the fucking game business)”
“When she heard that, it was as if she had been struck with a hammer. I wasn't a gamer. I didn't even like crystal games."
“After much deliberation, I went through restructuring and resigned as CEO.”
“It was heartbreaking. But is this something worth devoting your life to? When I asked the question, it was ‘No’”
“I asked Lenny, who was asking me for advice”
“‘Is the business you are starting now worth your life’s worth?’”

“This is not a question of whether you have a plan for your life or are you willing to put it into practice”
“I don’t mean to stick to one thing for the rest of your life. It just means you have to think about what you really want to do.”
“The will and the passion are different”
“The will is driven by duty and responsibility.”
“Passion is the bond you feel when you are doing something that is consistent with yourself.”
“If you want to create a long-lasting company, you have to have a sense of purpose to protect you when things get worst.”
“It’s something that, even if it fails, is worth the huge amount of time and effort you put into this.”
“It’s not finance that makes a business valuable, it’s romance”

Don't live a procrastination life

“‘There is something I want to do right now, but I can’t afford it. Let's do what needs to be done first. After we have the money and the circumstances, let’s go to what we want to do.’

A lot of people think like this.

“The premise is that in life, the process is just the price to achieve a goal, and if you achieve your goal, you will be happy.”
“I call this a deferred life plan”

“This plan consists of two phases. Step 1: Make money. Step 2: Do what you want to do”
“There are a lot of people like this in Silicon Valley. I come to Silicon Valley to make money quickly because I want to pass the first stage quickly.”
“But most of them don’t get past stage one. Silicon Valley seems like a beautiful land of opportunity, but not everyone can be.”
“Even some lucky people lose their sense of purpose when they get to stage two”
“It’s because they have never thought about what they ‘really’ want to do, or they spend too much time and mental energy in the first stage, and they get lost in what vision they want to go with.”
“So did I. My first step was to be a lawyer. I went to Harvard Law School and entered a law firm.”
“I got Steve Jobs to advise on the deal to buy Pixar. And I got a job offer from Apple.”
“When I told my bosses, they were very surprised and said it was the biggest mistake of my life.”
“It was about giving up the vested interests of Harvard, the East Coast, and the big law firms.”

"He said that if we continue as we are now, we can become partners and that a bright future is guaranteed."                            “From a logical point of view, it was correct. But I had a hunch that I might have to move to Apple.”
“I didn’t want to live by a life plan I had put off any longer.”
“If you live according to your postponed life plan, you will never stop feeling the greed for compensation and the feeling of emptiness”
“If you can do what you want, let’s start with it”

Make the big idea the compass of your business.

“There’s a deal I had at Apple”
“It was a time when Microsoft threatened Apple’s position as it entered the market.”
“Apple employees and I thought we should open up the licenses of macOS to various hardware vendors.”
“It was to make macOS the standard in the computer market, even if it was a short-term loss.”
“If this is the case, it was expected that Microsoft would take away consumers.”
“Given Apple’s vision of a ‘computer for everyone’, we shouldn’t be obsessed with selling high-end hardware.”
“I decided to work for Apple because it wasn’t just a company that sold computers.”
“The fundamental purpose of Apple, led by Steve Jobs, was to create and lead the Cultural Revolution.”

“However, Apple executives, led by CEO John Sculley at the time, were against the license out. It was the opinion that the Apple-style revenue model should be maintained.”

[caption id="attachment_5466" align="aligncenter" width="300"] CEO John Sculley with Steve Jobs[/caption]

“I think Apple has made a major mistake. “Apple, led by John Sculley, put its immediate profit model ahead of its vision.”

What-how-to-sell revenue model shouldn’t have been Apple’s focal point.

“What and how to sell is always changing.”

“But when we gave up the vision of the company, Apple employees lost their reason to stay.”
“Vision is an important element that should not be given up in any venture business”
“It is a powerful driving force that motivates employees to live passionately and dedicatedly”
“It takes emotion, not money, to achieve the impossible.”
“If you give up a vision that moves people around to avoid an emergency, you are left without a compass.

There are some parts of life you can't control.

“I’ve had a successful life for a long time, I worked at Apple in its prime, and I was a co-founder of a famous venture called Claris.”

“Until then, I was convinced that I could decide my fate. But it has completely changed my mind.”
“There are a lot of people around who think that great people can have achieved success on their own.”
“People are deceived by the media to deify successful people”
“Unknowingly, other people’s hard work and luck lie behind it.”
“But after traveling for a long time with no idea what lies beyond that mountain or beyond that valley, I realize that I have only a very small portion of my life under my control, only my strengths.”

“In a changing world, there is little we can control”
“When there are variables out of control, no matter how smart or diligent you are, you live in the shadow of failure.”

“This is what I say to my junior entrepreneurs”
“If you are really smart, you can reduce your business risk by 15-20%. If you work 24 hours a day, you can further reduce your risk by 15-20%. But you have absolutely no control over the remaining 60-70% of the risk."
“Silicon Valley’s ‘tolerance for failure’ embodies this profound philosophy.”
“In Silicon Valley, we don’t try to reduce or eliminate the possibility of failure.”
“Failure is out of control. Instead, focus on maximizing your chances of success through failure.”

“My father loved blackjack. In blackjack, the casino always wins. It’s a game with a high chance of failure.”

“But my father was a victor. He enjoyed the game, including failure.”
“Looking at the cards the dealer is turning, he calculates the odds. I am not concerned with losing one.” Do your best for each card. I am looking for a chance to get a good hand.”
“The moment the goddess of victory smiles, the number of wins rises. I build up victories in every moment.”
“We need to have this attitude too”
“Life is a journey. The trip doesn't go as planned. There are many uncertainties and unknowns.”
“But the meaning of travel is not to realize a plan you have made in advance. Reaching your destination is just the end.”

“The reward of life is the process of travel. It’s about meeting new people and enjoying new experiences.”
“It was time for me to travel through the unknown lands of Scotland. All plans were broken and I was sitting on the grass."
“But as the darkness lifted, the sun came out. I could see the current running through the valley, and the hills where sheep were grazing.”
"The moment the sun burns away the dampness, I realize that this is a trip."
“In that moment, I was able to solve the riddle given to me by a Buddhist monk in Myanmar.”

“Come on, no more time to waste your life”