EP001: The Many Facets of Fear (and Tigers) in Startup

Startups are a strange beast and the people that navigate them lead interesting professional lives and tackle unique challenges, to say the least. Join us for deep dives into what goes on in the heads and hearts of people starting tech businesses, hoping for the unicorn.

 

Joining us in our inaugural dive into everything startups is Ron Williams, VPO at Subspace.

 

Welcome to the Tony Wong podcast!

 

Key Takeaways

[7:05] Ron went from teaching himself to program at 12 years old in the ’80s, to combat planning software in the air force. He was part of the birth of the Internet with SunMicrosystems and eventually shifted into security and worked at three unicorns in the last ten years.

 

[16:30] Building a startup is much like a normal job except that what you would do in four years, you do in one… And this may explain the high error rate as well as the challenges of keeping your life together. Ron touches on his own bearded look.

 

Knowledge and fear [18:25] Ron — having been in the security space for so long — has informative tendrils in different governmental and police networks; he shares his take on the current coronavirus outbreak. He also touches on how his business is being impacted on a broader scale.

 

Information and fear [21:36] Is there greater fear in less informed populations? Understanding risk and probability is an intellectual pursuit of Ron’s, and he shares an analogy he learned long ago when it comes to living in close proximity to potential danger.

 

Tony and Ron discuss the surge in panic from people who hadn’t been paying close attention to the progression of this virus and the ensuing flocking to stores.

 

Rationality and fear [28:00] Rational thought can only occur after emotions and fears have been managed. Tony shares examples of how his own coaching practice handles fear.

 

Ron talks about how working in tech startups provides an edge for governing fear and stress since the field is at the cutting edge, constantly dealing with the unknown and potential failure.

 

Innate or adaptive [31:33] Coping with the additional stresses of leadership does require a certain kind of person. Ron offers who might thrive in startups and who might burn out of them as well as what it means to have your ass on fire — to viscerally feel the risk that you’re in: “Holy sh*t, the tiger is right there!”

 

Finding clarity [37:20] From living life 24 hours at a time to begin to build for the longer term and to start writing a life story as opposed to an overwhelmingly fast blur of rinse and repeat cycles: Ron shares how he met Tony and what that relationship brought him in terms of clarity.

 

How did Tony land at Riot? It’s also the story of why he’s “Agile Tony” and how he got his start coaching leaders. He shares how that experience was filled with both failures and continued success and turned into what he still loves doing today.

 

The elephant in the room [47:24] Ron and Tony speak to what happens when a company culture is not deliberate, planned out and positively impacting the business outcome. They also touch on the different reactions people have to risk and the way they choose to address or ignore problem situations.

 

Loss and fear [54:36] Ron’s definition of fear has grown and changed with experience; it’s always associated with loss of some kind but as a leader, his tolerance for risk had increased. Tony offers that taking stock of emotions surrounding a situation can help ground you in the present and give you some perspective — and learning this skill as early as possible would benefit anyone!

 

Danger awareness [1:00:22] Tony talks about the difference between fear and danger awareness in terms of being able to assess risk and move forward or backing away from a situation.

 

Processing time [1:02:18] Ron discusses risk assessment burden with an internet latency analogy as well as interesting scientific studies involving the optic nerve and visual processing times of 9-year-olds vs. professional baseball players!

 

Tony and Ron discuss the acquired and innate aspects of decision making — or learning wisdom — especially in the fight-or-flight world of startups.

 

Controlling fear [1:10:25] Fear, as we use the term, is an abstraction — we gave danger awareness a name — but when the fight or flight response does occur it should be taken as an opportune moment to stop and assess the situation. Tony speaks to the importance of learning to control fear in order to access this clear decision-making space.

 

Startup dojo [1:14:36] Martial arts training offers opportunities to train the right decision-making paths in the face of certain situations, Ron ponders where the startup dojo might be that people could train appropriate reactions and be better equipped going in — agile EQ may be the start of an answer.

 

[1:20:53] Tony wraps up today’s episode and prepares his homework for the next show!

 

Thanks for tuning in.

 

Mentioned in this episode

Silicon Valley

Mythic Quest

 

Books:

Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk, by Peter L. Bernstein

Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

 

More about our guest

Ron Williams on LinkedIn

Subspace

 

More about your host

Tony Wong at Digital Onion

Tony Wong on LinkedIn

Tony Wong @Agile_Tony on Twitter

Tony Wong at Applied Agile

Digital Onion | LinkedIn