The two most important days of your life

Delivered October 11, 2024 @ 5:00pm ET

Happy Friday everyone and welcome new subscribers!

My name is Gerry Hays, and I’m the Founder of Doriot (pronounced: dor-ee-oh). I’m actively in the game of venture as a practitioner, researcher, inventor, author, and professor. Having built companies and amassed a global venture portfolio entirely from Indiana, while teaching the subject to 6,000+ undergrads and MBAs along the way, I believe I bring a refreshing—and hopefully, practical—perspective.

Why I started Doriot:

The future is uncertain. Humanity needs pioneers and speculators from all walks of life—not just the wealthy and elite.

Thus, I see venture as a platform to attract and educate a broader range of pioneers and speculators who want to build wealth helping shape the future trajectory of humanity, rather than leaving it in the hands of a select few.

Central to this mission is teaching how to succeed in venture as both a founder and an investor without endless capital and elite connections. It involves adopting and integrating what I call Venture Alchemy: a disciplined process that transforms bold ideas and capital into valuable outcomes, where mindset, strategy, and execution converge.

Thus, each week, I explore a component of Venture Alchemy, applicable to many areas of life, along with key lessons on the business of venture as the foundation upon which a new venture system might emerge. Enjoy.

Venture Alchemy - This Week’s Discussion

“The two most important days in life are the day you are born and the day you discover the reason why” - Mark Twain

This quote by Mark Twain speaks to something that most people grasp deep down but are deeply afraid to confront: their purpose.

Let me explain. I believe we come into this world as a beautiful and powerful soul, encapsulated in a magnificent “earth suit” called a body, and that our soul comes with a purpose—our true mission while we’re here. However, to survive, we also need the yin to the yang, and that yang is called the ego. Our ego, which is as temporary as our earth suit, is designed to protect us while we’re in this physical form. Its operating system is fear, whereas our soul’s operating system is love.

However, the ego is a very powerful force, and over time, if left to its own devices, will spin a powerful story of who we are and what our self-worth is, all rooted in the fear operating system. If we aren’t living intentionally, our ego takes over by absorbing information from countless negative sources, and creating an identity that makes us feel small and insignificant. Societal content (TV, Social Media, etc.) then deludes us into thinking that we can overcome this smallness by focusing on externalities, like looking a certain way, making money or becoming famous—but that’s just another illusion. As a result, we end up spending our time and energy, not on allowing our true purpose to unfold, but chasing these externalities in the hope that they’ll bring us empowerment and joy. Myron Golden aptly calls this our “Liedentity.”

The good news is that our true purpose is always here, waiting for us whenever we’re ready, because our soul is ever-present and ready to become the dominant force in our lives—if we allow it. For example, the soul reveals itself powerfully in moments like Hurricane Helena and Milton, when people from all walks of life and political persuasions put their “Liedentities” aside to help those in need, operating from a place of love.

But ultimately, to discover why we’re here, we have to say goodbye to our Liedentity not for a few days or weeks, but forever. When we do that, our soul fills the vacuum, our purpose is revealed, and the trajectory of our life is forever changed. This, I believe, is what Mark Twain was referring to.

Applying the Venture Alchemy Formula to Mark Twain’s Quote:

• Mindset: The foundation of our Liedentities is fear, not love. And fear isn’t real—it’s a construct of our mind. So, instead of running from your fear, which only keeps it alive, you must confront it head-on and explore what lies on the other side. For example, if you fear others seeing you as a failure, what if that were actually true? Then what? If everyone thinks of you as a failure, you no longer have a Liedentity to protect. You then gain agency to be your true, authentic self without the fear of others’ judgments.

• Strategy: You can’t superficially manufacture your purpose—doing so will just be additive to your Liedentity. Instead, you have to consistently make space for inspiration (what your soul longs for). Long walks in the woods, journaling, meditating, and prayer are all useful strategies for creating that space. And, frankly, asking the universe to reveal your true purpose isn’t a bad idea. What’s most important is that you give room for inspiration to emerge.

• Execution: First, give yourself some grace. I always remind aspiring entrepreneurs, nothing of consequence happens without consistent focus over long periods of time. Letting go of a “Liedentity” isn’t as simple as pressing a delete button—it will come back (like the Terminator). The key for me was, after exposing my Liedentity for what it is—just a bundle of fear—I chose to find peace in everything happening around me. Not fighting it, controlling it, or judging it, but existing with it, knowing that none of it is truly a threat to me. This allows me to keep my eye on the prize: fulfilling my true purpose.

In the end, living a purpose-driven life requires the courage to shed the false identity our ego builds and to confront the fears that keep us small. By letting go of our "Liedentity," we make space for our soul to guide us toward our true mission—one that is rooted in love, not fear. This shift not only changes our perspective but transforms the entire trajectory of our lives, allowing us to find fulfillment in our authentic selves. Good luck!

Venture Lesson: Does the First Mover an advantage exist?

Investors love to talk about wanting founders to develop new and novel ways to create entirely new markets. But this often means wading into “first mover” waters. Being a first mover involves being the initial occupant of a market, potentially securing an early monopolistic position. However, when it comes down to the brass tacks, many investors get cold feet when it comes to putting their dollars into first-mover companies.

While there are advantages—like defining the market and building strong customer relationships from a monopolistic stance—the downsides can be substantial.

The first mover often bears the economic burden of educating the market, which can be both costly and time-consuming. Meanwhile, “fast followers” can learn from the first mover’s mistakes, refining and enhancing their offerings based on those insights. These fast followers also benefit from avoiding the “technology debt” that first movers often accumulate, allowing them to be more agile in adapting to market demands.

So, as an investor, how should you think about the first-mover advantage? I can’t put it better than this detailed discussion from Strategic Management Insight—it’s as insightful as it gets on this topic. Below is a nice visual summary.

Next Week’s Deal Analysis Report

For Premium Community Members, our next Deal Analysis will be Experfy, currently raising on Start Engine.

Have a great weekend, everyone! We’d be grateful if you could forward this newsletter to anyone in your network and invite them to join the Doriot Community!

Sincerely, -gerry