Entrepreneurs Anonymous

 

Hi my name is Benzi Ronen, and I’m proud to be an entrepreneur.

Many people have been confronting me lately saying things like “are you sure this is a good time to be starting a company?”, “do you realize that it will be impossible to raise money in the next [fill in the blank] years?”, “maybe you should wait for the climate to get better before venturing on your own.” The list goes on but you get the picture. And they are right, it is going to be very, very, hard to start a company. But the true entrepreneurs that are in this for the love of creation and the love of starting something from nothing have no other option but to go the distance and build companies.  And let me add that it is never easy to build a company regardless of the economic climate.

I would like to propose a club, Entrepreneur Anonymous (EA), for the few remaining entrepreneurs still standing.

Here are some guidelines:

1. Membership should be given to anyone who intends to start a company
2. Angel investors and VCs that haven’t forgotten the idea behind their funds which is to invest in early stage companies are more than welcome to attend our sessions
3. Entrepreneurs that are starting companies on their own without raising money don’t have to bring snacks or beer to the meetings. You guys deserve to be guests of honor.
4. There will not be any agenda topics that deal with the end of the economic world as we know it. That stuff should remain in yellow journalism.
5. We will invite guest speakers that understand that the engines of our economy and country rely on the creation of new companies. These companies are what will create jobs, create wealth, and pay taxes that will support the country.
6. Any entrepreneur that fails and then gets right back up to try again will be given honorary status and will coach others to prevent them from making the same mistakes.
7. Our public relations policy will be based on attraction rather than promotion. We will protect anonymity and create a buffer from the skeptics.

All in favor say “I”.

American Vacation

While we were traveling in United States it felt like we were walking through the history our kids will read about in their text books e-books. We would see and hear breaking news of Wall Street crashing with newspapers and CNN flashing pictures of people pulling out their hair while conglomerates went out of business overnight. And then we would dive into some of nature’s most incredible scenery. We would come up (or down) for air and watch presidential debates in an electoral race that had higher ratings than any reality TV show.  Taking a vacation during this time period put things in perspective and made my entrepreneurial roller coaster journey seem like a walk in the park.

Enjoy the pictures and make sure you go visit these awesome natural sites.

Planet Bryce (Canyon) – walking through a valley of red sand castles

The Southern tip of Canada on Lake Michigan – not a soul in sight

Grand Canyon & The Colorado River – we hiked down, spent the night and then climbed our way back up

Lake Powell – boating our way through and in between the canyons

Grand Canyon – watching the moon set after an amazing dinner

We made it to my 10 year University of Michigan reunion

Zion Park – Zero CO2 emissions here