What Entrepreneurs Can Learn From Pirates

Most weekends, you will find me on a 34 foot sailboat, enjoying the sea-faring life.

I can hear the waves gently crash upon the shore, as my sailboat sways back and forth in rhythm with the waves. Seagulls circle above me, cawing softly.

At times like this, I like to imagine myself as a modern day buccaneer, searching for buried treasure...

My black flag flaps in defiance against the wind. I glance at the frayed piece of paper in my hands, and holler to my crew to hoist the anchor. The wind fills the sails, the sea mist sprays in our faces, and we are off seeking our fortune on the high seas.

While this is just a daydream, the act of thinking like a pirate has provided me with unique insight that has been crucial for me, as an entrepreneur. I challenge you to think like a pirate, and it will help you to find the treasure you are trying to create with your startup idea.

As an entrepreneur, we think we know what we need to do, but we often fail to recognize the best place to start. 

Our mental bandwidth is strained as we think about the laundry list of items we need to get started on in regards to our business (website, incorporation, branding, prototyping, intellectual property, etc.)

Every startup has small, medium and large items that need to be done in a certain order. The challenging part is what order to do them in. From ideation to feasibility to actual launch, the process of starting a company can be daunting.

If you’re having a hard time trying to figure the best place to direct your attention for your startup, a ‘Treasure Map’ can be just the thing you need.

Arrrrrrrr ya ready to learn how to create one? Follow these steps:

Step one. Make an exhaustive list of all the things that you think you need to do to start up your business. The list should include things that are small, medium and large. If you already are far along in your startup, you can list the things that you think you need to-do from your current position to get to the next level of success. Basically, do a braindump of your master to-do list for your startup. Write down everything you can think of. Everything.

Step two. Get a big piece of paper, preferably a poster board, or my favorite, a flipchart-sized Post-it note. Take your list from step one, and write them in random places all over the board (or big piece of paper / large Post-it). Once all of the items are transcribed, find some open space and draw a big X somewhere on your board. This X is going to mark the spot of your treasure (your eventual goal).

Step three. Now get a different color pen or marker. Look at the list of items that you need to do in front of you. Talk with your co-founders, mentors, or advisors, and ask a very simple question. “If you could only choose one item on the board, right now, what would you need to do first?” Find this one item and circle it.

Yarrrr! Now you have a starting point.

Next, find the second task, and circle it with a new color pen or marker. Now connect both the first and second circles with a line. Continue this process, deciding the next steps, circling them, and connecting it to the previous circled items until all of the items have been circled and connected. Once all of the items have been connected, take your marker and draw a line from the last item to the X on your paper.

You now are looking at your very own ‘Treasure Map’ for your startup.

All of the items you determined that you have to do are your “clues.” You have to solve these clues in the order that you identified before you can get to the Treasure. Each step is just as important as the next.

What’s most important is that you stop thinking about everything you need to do, and identify only what you need to do first. Then once you finish what you need to do first, it’s time to move on to the second thing. 

With slow and steady progress in this manner, you will be a lot more efficient, and will work faster towards discovering your treasure.

Don’t be discouraged or intimidated if your treasure map has a ton of clues. Once you start, your motivation will gain its own momentum. You just need to set sail.

Many entrepreneurs don’t find their ‘Treasure’ the first time they go out hunting. Yet the more clues you solve, the more practice you get as a Entrepreneurial Pirate. Best of all, you can use these experiences for finding other Treasures in the future.

Avast! Finding treasure is not an easy task, but always a great adventure. So build your own treasure map, set your sails, and channel your inner Entrepreneurial Pirate.

Ahoy, me hearties!