What Can the Olympics Teach Us About Startups?

Sports and startups have more in common than just their first letters.  There's pressure.  Expectations.  Belief.  Failure.  Success.  Ups and downs, highs and lows.  In fact, sports and startups have more in common than we may think.

So today, I ask you to put yourself back on that Little League Baseball team, on the starting block during Country Club Swim Championships, shooting from the free-throw line on your highschool basketball team or jumping for that final spike in your last college volleyball tournament.  Take yourself back to the highest highs you received from athletics...as well as the lowest lows.  Sports can teach us more about startups than we realize...and now is the perfect time to take a look.

With the upcoming 2012 Olympics Games (which I am counting down that days for!), we deemed it fit to post about how the Olympics and startups go hand-in-hand with one another.  So let's lace up our tennis shoes, board the plane to London and experience the Olympics in a different light...not as fans, but as entrepreneurs.

1. Expect the unexpected (and control the controllable)  

When Kerri Strung arrived in Atlanta for the 1996 Olympics, she probably didn't expect to impact the world with the most memorable Olympic moment of all time.  After a brutal ankle injury during her first vault, Kerri still performed a second vault...and landed on one ankle in pure agony.

No, Kerri did not plan on being injured during the Olympics.  Nor could she ever have imagined landing a vault on a sprained ankle.  But she did, and she helped the US team beat out the Russians for the gold.

In business, Kerri has taught us to expect the unexpected and to control the controllable.  Kerri could not control how the Russians or even her own team would perform during the 1996 Olympics.  But she could control her own performance...even under unbelievable pain.  Startups, beware: the unexpected will happen.  Your gut reaction may be to panic or even stop the business all together. Instead, control your emotions, control your thoughts and control what's controllable--you could come out on top with the gold.

 

2. It takes more than just hard work 

As entrepreneurs, we often hear that if we work hard enough, good things will happen.  But this isn't true.  It takes more than just hard work and determination to make it to the top.  And Olympians everywhere will tell you the same when it comes to sports.

Hard work  +  Dedication  +  Support  +  Belief  +  Preparation +  Luck 

These values can be applied to sports and startups:

Hard work: Yes, it takes many 80-hour weeks, sleepless nights and missed vacations.
Dedication:  You have to be in 110%.  No excuses, just results.
Support:  You must have a team behind you every step of the way.
Belief:  If you don't believe in yourself and in your idea, you won't get anywhere.
Preparation: It's all about goals, visualization and preparing for anything.
Luck: The stars have to align a little bit too!

3. You need a team

And not just any team...a team made up of the right people.  The 1980 Winter Olympics Hockey Team (the team that is portrayed in the hit movie Miracle) didn't beat the Soviets for the win because the team was made up of the best people.  The team won because it was made up of players that worked well together.

The same goes for your startup.  Don't hire A+ students when you can find a C student who is more dedicated, driven and passionate.  Create the team that believes in the idea as much as you do--not the one who follows all the rules, avoids making mistakes and is perfect 99% of the time.  Startups make mistakes and learn from them...and the people involved in the startup have to be able to handle that.

4.  Failure is the biggest teacher of all


In 1988, Dan Jansen, Olympic speed skater, had a difficult Games.  The odds were not in his favor when he learned that his sister had died during the Games.  After two catastrophic falls during the Olympics in Canada, it didn't seem like Dan would ever recover, not only from the tragedy, but also from his Olympic failure.

But then, Dan came back to the Olympics in 1992 to win his final race.  Failure wasn't an option for Dan...and he was determined to come out on top to finish up his speed skating career.

Dan may have failed (twice!), but he didn't let that stop him from coming back stronger than ever.  It's important for entrepreneurs to remember this same idea: failure is the biggest teacher of all.  Learn from your mistakes.  Those real-life experiences are invaluable.  Just ask Dan Jansen.

5.  Pressure is a positive 


There are two ways that athletes handle pressure:  thriving and choking.  It's those successful athletes that take pressure-filled moments and turn them into positives.  

Every great Olympic moment was met with pressure.  But my favorite story of all is that of Michael Phelps and his epic touch-out at the Beijing Olympics against Serbia's Milorad Cavic in the 100 meter butterfly (and not just because I'm a former college swimmer!).

In 2008, the pressure was on for Phelps.  He already claimed 7 gold medals at the Beijing Olympic Games...and he was just one race away from 8.  In one of the most incredible finishes in Olympic history, Phelps went from a for-sure silver medal to 8-time gold medalist by touching out Cavic by .01 of a second.

Greg Searle, director of performance development at Lane4 and Olympic gold medalist says it best when referring to pressure and business: 


In a business environment there are high pressure situations to be dealt with every day, but often that pressure can help you become focused, sharp and at your best. The key is to recognize the symptoms and embrace them. You have to reframe the situation so it ceases to be a threat and becomes an opportunity.

6.  Visualization and goals are important


Ask any Olympic athlete what the most important preparation tool is in athletics and more often than not, they will not say a proper warm-up, stretching or lucky rituals.  They will most likely respond with visualization.


Athletes must decide on a goal and visualize the achievement of that goal months (even years!) before competition day.  Visualization enhances confidence, boosts motivation and allows for maximum performance.  All Olympics teams believe so much in visualization and goals that they bring dynamite teams of sports psychologists on the road with them.

Visualization is important for entrepreneurs to attempt as well.  In a survey by Stephen Covey of 23,000 employees, only 37% understood clearly what their company was trying to achieve.  Only 1 in 5 were enthusiastic about the company's goal and only 15% felt the company was enabled to execute the overarching goal.

Make your startup better.  Start implementing goals.  Then, visualize them.

What will we learn from the 2012 Olympic Games?  I cannot wait to find out.  Until then, you can find me chanting "USA! USA! USA!" from the comfort of my desk at Think Big...no rest for the entrepreneurial!


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The 2 Ingredients to a Business Miracle: The Right People and the Belief to Succeed

Stop 2 of the bizperc walking tour: "Do You Believe in Miracles?" poster and autograph

Check out Stop 1: Richard Branson Autograph

Take an immediate right when you enter bizperc's 4th floor and you will see three framed pictures.  The middle picture, however, may stand out the most.  The picture displays the 1980 USA Olympic Hockey Team after they defeated the Soviet Union (also known as the Miracle on Ice).  Back in the 1980's, many people said that if the Soviets played the United States ten times, they would probably win 9 out of the 10.  But that meant that the US had a shot.  And they only needed one to win.

Why is the United States Olympic Hockey Team such an inspiration in our bizperc coworking space?  Not only has it motivated and driven one of Think Big Partners' co-founders to become the successful entrepreneur that he is today, but it has also lead the TBP team to understand two of the most important ingredients of entrepreneurship: finding the right people and believing in success.

Ingredient #1: Don't find the best people, find the right people

When U.S. head coach Herb Brooks was putting together his Olympic team, he wasn't looking for the best hockey players in the nation.  Instead, he was looking for the right hockey players; the players who executed well together, the players who had great communication, the players who had outstanding attitudes and those who were passionate about their every movement on the ice.

There were legendary players on the Soviet Team such as Boris Mikhailov, Vladislav Tretiak and Vlaeri Kharlamov.  The US Team, on the other hand, was made up of 20 players and only one (Buzz Schneider) who returned from the 1976 Olympic team.  Nine players came from the University of Minnesota and four others were from Boston University (die-hard rivals).  But although many of the players were not standout superstars like what the Soviet Team had, they played extremely well together.

The same mentality must go through an entrepreneur's head when he ventures into a new business.  When looking for the key players to launch your new business, you must look for the right people, not the best people.  The A+ student may not have a passion for startup businesses like the C+ student does.  So what do you do?  Do you give the A+ student an internship or the C+ student?  We believe that the person with more passion, more drive and more charisma will help you take your business to the top--not necessarily the person with the perfect track record.


Ingredient #2: Believe in yourself and your business (and remember: sometimes it's good to "not know")

One of the other reasons that the US Hockey Team of 1980 may have won is because they didn't know that they couldn't.  The team did not realize that the odds were stacked against them.  The Soviet Team entered the Olympic tournament has heavy favorites, having won the ice hockey gold medal in 1956 and every year since 1964.  Many of the Soviet players were active-duty military and all of them played in a well-developed league with world class training facilities.  The US Team, on the other hand, didn't have much of a reputation in the hockey world.  But the US Team didn't know that the Soviets played on perfect ice, were given amazing treatment and upheld some of the best players in the world.  Therefore, the US didn't know that the Soviets were way more likely to win.  They just kept their heads up, especially when the tough got going.

Sometimes, not knowing is beneficial for a new business as well.  Seasoned entrepreneurs in the business world are often very negative to new business startups because they know the trials and tribulations that the world has against them.  But those entrepreneurs who believe in success and "don't know what they don't know" may have a better chance of making it to the top.


Come see what bizperc has to offer you and your new business.  You may even get inspired to launch your own business, employ the right people for your venture and succeed beyond your wildest dreams.  Take a tour of bizperc today by emailing Sarah Snyder and see for yourself.

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