Nobody Knows
There’s a wonderful sketch on Saturday Night Live about George Washington (played by comedian Nate Bargatze) crossing the Deleware, being questioned by his crew about different Americana. When being asked a question about American peculiarities, like “how many liters are in a gallon?” He replies: “nobody knows.”
What the sketch does get right is that when new rules and laws are established and before they’ve been tested, that answer “nobody knows” actually holds true. When implementing a technology for the first time, when doing something that nobody else has done, the answer about what could happen next, will one be successful or fail, will one be mocked or lauded… the answer is “nobody knows.”
When working on the Ubi, myself and the other founders longed for a certain and guaranteed path forward. We gave up a lot of equity, a lot of cash, and ultimately, a lot of runway in exchange for guidance. However, guides are only good if they’re familiar with the jungle and if you’re doing something truly worthwhile, nobody’s been there before.
What guides, coaches, and mentors can instill that is beneficial to the entrepreneur are traits of introspection and confidence. What do you need to make a decision to get out of stagnation? If a coach, mentor, guru just dictates what the entrepreneur should do next, first, it’s likely the advice will fail as the coach is not likely to have all the details of the entrepreneur and, second, if by luck the advice holds, then the entrepreneur can’t hone their own decision making ability and confidence to be independent. It’s a short term, unreliable solution.
Better to admit “nobody knows” but to also say “I have the most informed position.”
