Soundtrack to a Startup, Track 7: Who Told You?
Many wise people have and will continue to provide, gratis, rules and advice to govern almost every aspect of a startup’s behaviour, from how much money to raise to how to market to potential customers. You must not follow all of these rules. If you’re doing the same thing everybody else is doing, you’re doing something wrong. The entire point of a startup is to do something new, something different, and while much of the sage advice from experienced individuals may be true and worth following, a vital trait of a founder is to know precisely when to ignore the status quo.
Nevertheless, when you do so, you will inevitably be told — repeatedly — that you’re doing it wrong, that you are following The Rules*, that you’ll fail. The central refrain of this track reflects that (from the perspective of someone who knows his brand of Different happens to be Good — Roni Size is, after all, the king of breakbeat). The track may not be the best on this mostly deservedly classic album, but if you listen to it a few times through, you’ll quickly grow numb to the doubters. You can then feel free to rebel at will.
Hey! Who told you could do that?
Who told you you could do it like this?
You can’t do it like this!
*Note that we’re not talking about laws here. Those you should follow. Even the ones you don’t really like.