Entrepreneurs disrupt the status quo! David McCourt embraces entrepreneurial revolution that results beneficial change for the majority and disrupts the status quo for the incumbent players.
Technology allows for everyone to become new revolutionaries yet few realises and acts upon this realisation. As in history, it’s very likely that the biggest innovators come from the have-nots that have very little to lose and a higher tolerance for risk taking.
Historically this was the case with European immigrants coming to America and escaping dire conditions back at home. This time it’s the 5 billion people who are not as well off as the 2.5 billion enjoying the best lifestyle the planet has to offer.
McCourt describes his story coming from a large family and finding his way into entrepreneurial adventures from early age up to this day. During those years he have managed to be part of the cable television as well as fiber optics industry disruption and providing cheaper services for consumers at the expense of the oligopolistic competitors.
The book is full of colourful stories and mission impossibles where McCourt jumps to the water first and figures out later how to swim. This results him to learn quickly and unearth large opportunities that have enabled him to publicly list and sell many companies.
Berkshire Hathaway’s board member Walter Scott is McCourt’s mentor and he shares some of his wisdom and philosophies. For example, “never mistake a fad for a trend” and “take care of your people and your equipment”. The latter means that you can ruin your capex investment by not having the right people taking care of your equipment.
McCourt is a big believer in fair and honest relationships where business is made for the long term and this is reflected in the partnership deals as well.
As a curiosity McCourt mentions that he managed to raise $6.1 billion for his RCN Corp making that the world record for a start-up funding into any single project. He also managed to raise $1.65 billion from a single individual (i.e. Paul Allen).
Tellingly New York magazine ranked Allen’s investment the “best deal of the millennium” and the “worst deal of the millennium” in the same issue. The dot com bubble crashed capital markets and resulted Allen to take a deep hair cut in his investment.
One of the persisting messages of the book is how to provide solutions and value for the less connected and powerful (and quoted in the book):
”Those capable of channeling the power of the crowd must turn their energies to something more fundamental: redesigning society’s systems and structures to meaningfully include and empower more people. The greatest test for the conductors of new power will be their willingness to engage with the challenges of the least powerful”
The future is all about cooperation, win-win solutions, peer-to-peer and crowdsourcing. Corporations, nations and incumbent structures have too much to lose and therefore they are most of the time unable to renew adequately leading them to be disrupted and replaced. Entrepreneurs the world is yours!
