In 1995, a graphic design teacher named Lynda Weinman just wanted a digital sandbox. He needed an online place where his students could upload their work and play with new tools like Photoshop and Illustrator. He bought the Lynda.com domain, put the site together and gradually moved the teaching online.
Years later, he sold that little digital sandbox to LinkedIn 1.5 billion dollars.
Or look Elon Muska single Model 3 has managed to generate half a billion dollars in cash for Tesla before it even rolls off the assembly line.
How do these founders achieve such huge gains? According to London Business School professor John Mullins, successful founders don’t follow the “best practice” taught in corporate boardrooms. They operate on a completely different psychological wavelength. They have what they call Mullins conflicted thinking.
If you want to build a successful startup in today’s fiercely competitive market, you need to learn corporate logic. Here are 6 rule-breaking mindsets that will change your business forever.
1. Say “Yes, we can” (even if you don’t know how)
Corporate Strategy 101 tells companies to “stick to the knitting” and focus entirely on their core competencies. If a customer asks for a service outside of this narrow scope, the corporate response is always, “No, we don’t do that here.”
Entrepreneurs say “yes” and figure out “how” later.
Arnold Correia ran a very successful event management business in Brazil. One day, a large client asked Arnold if he could build a satellite connection to broadcast training videos to 260 stores nationwide. Arnold knew absolutely nothing about satellite technology. His response? “Yes, we can do that.” Later, Walmart asked if screens could be placed in the sales floor to display targeted ads. He said yes again.
Arnold has reinvented his multi-million dollar business four times, refusing to acquire his current skills.
A2S Pickup: Don’t let your current limitations limit your growth. Take the opportunity first, get the skills second.
2. Focus on problems, not products
Large corporations are busy changing products. They take blue stains from laundry detergent and turn them green and call it a “big innovation.”
Entrepreneurs don’t care about shiny products; they care about solving painful problems.
Jonathan Thorne invented a silver-nickel alloy for surgical forceps to stop human tissue from sticking to the metal during surgery. It initially targeted plastic surgeons, but sales were sluggish. Instead of changing his product, he looked for a worse problem. He found neurosurgeons. When you’re operating on the human brain, sticky forceps are literally a life-or-death disaster. Thorne targeted this major pain point, quickly expanded his business and eventually sold it to medical giant Stryker.
A2S Pickup: Nobody cares about the flashy features of your new product. They worry about their headaches. Find the problem of neck bleeding and treat it.
3. Think narrow, not broad
Corporate giants want massive total addressable markets (TAMs). If the public doesn’t like the market, they won’t touch it. But true entrepreneurs know that to get big, you have to start small.
When Phil Knight and Bill Bowerman founded Nike, they weren’t trying to make sneakers for the masses. They focused on a small, very specific niche: elite distance runners. Back then, running shoes were made for sprinters on smooth trails, and marathon runners were left to struggle with their ankles and tires on dirt tracks. By developing a roomier, more cushioned shoe exclusively for distance runners, Nike created a passionate, fiercely loyal fan base, allowing them to dominate the global athletic shoe market.
A2S Pickup: Go down until it hurts. Dominate a small group of very passionate users before trying to sell to the world.
4. Ask for Cash Up Front (Float Ride)
Large companies have billions in cash reserves to fund R&D. Startups don’t. However, instead of asking venture capitalists for money, great entrepreneurs get their clients to fund their operations.
When Elon Musk took over Tesla, the plan wasn’t to borrow heavily to build a factory. Instead, they staged a roadshow for wealthy, eco-conscious buyers who wanted the “next big thing” in their driveways. Tesla has pre-sold 100 Roadsters at $100,000 each. It meant they had $10 million in cash Sitting in the bank before car #1 is built. Years later, they did the same with the Model 3, taking 500,000 deposits of $1,000 each, generating half a billion dollars in net cash to finance their engineering and tooling.
A2S Pickup: Cash is the lifeblood of your startup. You can pre-sell your idea and get paid before will you build it?
5. Beg and borrow (but don’t steal)
In business school, you are taught to carefully analyze the ROI of heavy asset purchases. Entrepreneurs work differently: if they can borrow money, they don’t buy assets.
When Tristram and Rebecca Mayhew wanted to begin Go ApeAn adventure business in Great Britain, they had a big problem: they didn’t own a forest. Instead of buying the land, they approached the UK Forestry Commission, which owns millions of trees and wants to increase the number of visitors to the park. Mayhews struck up a winning partnership: Let’s use your trees, parking lots, and bathrooms, and we’ll bring you a lot of traffic. Today, Go Ape has dozens of locations around the world because they used the assets they already had.
A2S Pickup: You don’t have to own everything to monetize it. Partner, leverage existing infrastructure, and keep startup costs close to zero.
6. Don’t ask for permission (just get on with it)
In the corporate world, every new idea has to be cleared by compliance, legality and HR. It takes months to get a “yes” answer.
Entrepreneurs understand that permission is the enemy of progress. When Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp founded Uber, they didn’t go to San Francisco’s transit regulators and ask: “Excuse me, can we start a taxi company with zero taxis?” Regulators would have crushed them immediately to protect the local monopoly. Instead, they launched the program. While some of Uber’s subsequent corporate tactics have crossed ethical lines, the main lesson of their launch is unmistakable: You can’t wait for the green light when digital innovation outgrows slow, vague regulations.
A2S Pickup: If you wait to get permission from the gatekeepers, you’ll be waiting forever. Act first, then apologize.
Are you playing by the right rules?
To change the world, or even your financial future, you have to break with conventional norms. You don’t need a perfectly polished product, unlimited VC funding or venture capital.
See the biggest obstacle facing your business today. Which of these 6 opposing views can you accept to break?
Stop waiting. Get out and get on with it.
