innovate big

fear kills innovation

Everyone seems to be increasingly fearful of our current economic situation. So much so that I have stopped paying attention to the variety of “warnings” and “suggestions” altogether. Panic and fear are hot right now. This is not to say that you shouldn’t be thinking twice about putting dual 24″ monitors on the desks of every engineer but it’s definitely not the time to stop innovating and pushing the limits of your team.

As an entrepreneur this is just another day with another set of challenges. Yes, the conditions are slightly different then yesterday but all in all this climate is ripe with opportunity. Not surprisingly, the source of most of this fear is coming from investment and finance people. Unfortunately, when it trickles down to entrepreneurs, this cloudy thinking puts their $ at serious risk. Innovation requires creativity and creativity requires clear thinking. During this time, opportunities are everywhere and particularly ripe for the taking…don’t give in to the doomsday theories.

TechCrunch recently wrote a solid piece on this entitled “Fear Kills Businesses, Dead” and it is spot on. Fear also kills innovation.

“Your rivals are retreating right now, so what are you going to do about it?”

This applies to you whether you are an entrepreneur, student or investor. So keep cranking.