We all know and talk about those phenomenal successes - Facebook’s Zuckerman, Apple’s Jobs, the Yankees’ Jeter, Brangelina ... We also hear too much about those unfortunate failures - broadcast.com ($4B loss), Macklowe’s equity office deal, Kozmo.com, Lance Armstrong, Lehman Bros. I could go on and on.
“You can’t define what’s middle class, what is wealthy, what is poor.” - Michael Bloomberg
What we don't talk about much, but is more relevant to our daily lives, is the other 95% that are in the middle: the middle manager working everyday for a decent paycheck; the founder who gained traction and had a decent valuation in the beginning, but can't get his company into high gear; the minor league baseball player who still loves the game but won't make it to the majors. It’s amazing that 95% of life is in the space yet we hardly hear about these people. Is it because in America being in the middle is worse than being at the top and the bottom. Is it not enviable to be average anymore?
When my grandparents were my age they focused on getting from the lower class immigrant status that their parents handed off to them and becoming part of the burgeoning middle class America. First they bought the house in the suburbs, then sent their son to a decent college, and then bought a small home at the beach. They felt proud to make it in America. Seems like the definition of making it in America today is a lot different.
“Presidents in both parties - from John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan - have known that our free-enterprise economy is the source of our middle-class prosperity.” - Marco Rubio
Middle class or even having a minor success today is sort of like being in minor league baseball. No one seems to take you seriously if you don't have a startup with a billion dollar IPO or make it to the top of your company. Even failures are ranked in today’s world. Just losing a few million dollars doesn't rank in conversations. You need to be a whale and lose billions for your firm or industry before you are ready for the next endeavour.
“If you can count your money, you don’t have a billion dollars.” - John D. Rockefeller
It’s tough in the US being in the middle. We need to figure out a way to make people want to be in that space because probability shows that is where most people are going to be.
I just started a business with a friend that is helping tech founders move on from stalled startups, into the next opportunity, and hopefully onto the new American dream. One startup is not enough. It seems you need to have a billion dollar startup to succeed at all. I hope that this new venture will allow founders stuck in the middle to move on and create the next billion $ opportunity.
Please share some examples of life in the middle and how great it really is.
