The Farmer and the Capitalists
The Farmer and the Capitalists
Flowers, Cheese and Money. Doing what's right for you may conflict with the temptation to grow fast and big.
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Thank you for reading! Spring is in the air—the birds are singing, there is more rain than snow—both for my natural surroundings and my work.
While growing a seed of an idea into a business, there are many possible barriers between the dream and the work. Just a quick three I can think of: over-analysis, bad advice and lack of confidence.
Miyoko’s: The Vegan Cheesemaker
Miyoko Schinner was recently pushed out of the vegan cheesemaking company that she founded. I’m sure that there are many reasons why things happened the way they did, but here’s the thread on what happened to Miyoko’s, along with part of her explanation on what happened:
As has already been made clear, we did not arrive at this point by my choosing. It is true that I was unwilling to agree to restrictions that would have made any ongoing role I played at this Company “for appearances” only. It is telling that I was patronizingly described as taking the Company from "zero to one" in contrast to what is needed to take the Company from "one to 100." The results that this Company achieved under my leadership speak for themselves. We achieved these results – while I still had the ability to meaningfully ensure it – in a legitimately values-aligned way.
further down that reddit thread, one comment is “Meh. I’ll reserve my judgement. As a lifelong entrepreneur who has also done my fair share of business consulting, it’s very common to see founders grow a company to a point but then they have difficulty transitioning to consider an broader vision.”.
So while I don’t have an insider’s knowledge of what really happened, my status is a founder is collecting this knowledge and storing for possibile future use.
Floret Flower
Erin is a flower farmer that resisted going too big and is happy for her choice.
One of the things she ephasizes is to go with your gut, to not really listen to anyone that doesn’t have experience in the niche you’re working in, and to not grow too fast if it doesn’t feel right. Oh, and she really loves what she does for a living and said that growing your business into your vision may take 10 years.
Takeaways from these 2 stories:
Be careful who you choose for a co-founder and/or who you take money from
Follow your gut
Be prepared to suck, and fail, and be in it for the long haul if you love your mission