Does the “entrepreneurial subculture” prevent the emergence of worthwhile ideas?

We bring to your attention the translation of a small and entertaining blog article by Noah Smith, a senior lecturer in finance at Stony Brook .

Although the article deals with America, I think the problem of the lack of truly bright, original ideas and solutions is global for the entire thinking world (including the CIS). I hope such a somewhat marginal view of the culture of “evergreen startups” will help someone create truly worthwhile products and services.
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Why did I decide to translate this article? Because in the orchestra we in Alconost have this idea very close, and I would like to share it with the Habrasoobshchestvo.

For a start, a small task: imagine some animal, but not an elephant.

And which one did you immediately think about? It is very likely that it was an elephant. But if the species of the animal in the task was not specified, only a few would remember the elephant. The moral of this story is that when you try to “think creatively”, often you are still fixed on what is already known.

This is a simplified description of a study by Stephen M. Smith, a cognitive psychologist from the University of Texas (and my father). In one of the chapters of his book, Smith describes how “primary ideas” can limit creativity. The results of the study are perfectly summarized in the following passage:

“The very first thoughts that emerged during the creative generation of ideas can have a tremendous restraining effect on the ideas expressed after. Even if the initial ideas should work as auxiliary examples, or they are expressed simply to spur the discussion process, their deterrent influence may be inevitable. They can impede successful resolution of the problem and inhibit creativity, and to overcome these limitations, it is worth reconsidering the initially rejected ideas and solutions from a different angle. ”

Smith's other work, written in collaboration with Nick Cohn, dealt in detail with the situation in which brainstorming could lead to “joint obsessive ideas” when the whole group begins to focus on the ideas that were originally expressed.

Why do I bring up for discussion the question of the emergence of bright, worthy ideas in the business environment? For the past few years I have read and heard a lot about the entrepreneurial subculture. You all know what it is. These are mainly young people from large cities (especially San Francisco and New York), mainly (but not exclusively) technology and media entrepreneurs. This includes media like TechCrunch , books like The Lean Startup , “incubators” like YCombinator , forums like Quora , and other media like TED and TEDx . I come into contact with this subculture, being a friend of several engineers and Peter Chang, who owns a venture-funded media startup associated with many thematic events in San Francisco.

Given the fighting nature of my blog, and, of course, the title of the article, you most likely expect me to slander the entrepreneurial subculture. But this is not the case. I like this community. The very intellectual energy of this movement is intoxicating. The people in it are, for the most part, wonderful personalities. And their work is one of the most valuable. At a time when so many highly educated white-collar America spends time on unnecessary medical tests, trying to deceive losers when buying inflated financial assets or lobbying the government for pork, people at the local TechCrunch conference are real heroes of the economy.

But I am interested in another. Does not the immersion in the business subculture result in unexpected, sometimes negative consequences? Does creative fermentation and cooperation continue within this group with such close and continuous contact between its members? Maybe. But, in addition, this state of affairs can accidentally stifle creativity, as in the case described by Stephen Smith in a study. Working in an incubator, attending conferences, reading publications, constantly communicating only with colleagues, you can easily get to those “joint obsessions”. Everyone will end up thinking about the same things, believing that they are inventing something new. Especially if this “new” will become the main goal.

If this happens, we will get many identical products. Social network for toy terriers. Another social application of local exchange of photos (this line was borrowed from somewhere, I do not remember exactly). There will be no big conceptual breakthroughs that break the industrial structure. There will be no more loud ideas that embody truly huge and successful companies.

This is important, because now America needs good entrepreneurship, more than ever, especially in the technical field. The cost of creating a new business falls. The venture capital sector does not give a good return (although most of their profits can be easily withdrawn by angel investors). And do not forget about the great stagnation.

What is the solution? How can we be sure that a subculture intended for inexhaustible creativity will not result in the encouragement of group thinking? Smith offers a way out - change the environment, the environment. Give entrepreneurs a break. Send them to unknown places - other countries or small towns, away from the beating heart of innovation. Let them spend some time away from their subculture, avoiding conferences, other entrepreneurs, and not reading TechCruch. Let them live a normal life, read science fiction, go to factories, farms, shops, non-technical offices and parks. Let them communicate with friends (or even make new friends) working in other areas. Let them come out of their technical cap. Let them write down ideas, music, keep a diary, etc. I am almost sure that after such a vacation, many will return with new, perhaps strange ideas that no one had before.

One famous Japanese artist once said to me: “It’s impossible to create in the city”. And I objected: "But in the village it is impossible to do business." We agreed that man needs alternation. In a way, the entrepreneurial subculture must recognize the importance of environmental change. Change your ideas.


About the translator

The article is translated in Alconost.

Alconost is engaged in the localization of applications, games and websites in 60 languages. Language translators, linguistic testing, cloud platform with API, continuous localization, 24/7 project managers, any formats of string resources.

We also make advertising and training videos - for websites selling, image, advertising, training, teasers, expliners, trailers for Google Play and the App Store.

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