How Big Should You Let Your Ego Get?
by Aner Ravon

One factor that as a startupist you can’t help escaping is dealing with the size of your ego. It’s not that your ego wasn’t around before, but starting up is definitely a catalyst for its surfacing. There are plenty of reasons for it. You need to make many judgment calls during a single day. You need to fight off inferiority complexes triggered by watching the bigger players and their success. You need to motivate your team (and yourself) continuously and you have got to sell your vision to everyone almost every single minute.

No matter how successful you become, every time something happens to others your ego gets involved. You envy your friend next door for having raised $10M and when YOU get the $10M investment you envy your other friends’ big contract, or exit. You get pissed with a swift move from a bigger competitor that just blew off your business pitch. You feel sour after seeing the VC that turned you down 3 months ago investing in another company in your space. As romantic as it may sometimes seem, starting up involves dealing with rejection, a lot of rejection, much more than in any ordinary job.

It is commonly believed that for an entrepreneur, a big ego is not only a plus but a virtue. One of my friends who is also a partner in a leading Israeli VC has even admitted that they are somewhat looking for a big ego when they scout new ventures. A founder with a big ego (and big balls) can fight this rejection off while claiming an ability to beat Microsoft or Google - all with a confident face. You can’t become big if you don’t think you’re huge, right?

Wrong. As a matter of fact, the more I grow the more my belief is strengthened. The more you let go of you ego the better your chances are to succeed. Big balls have very little to do with big ego. Big balls mean you have faith in your ability to succeed. Big ego means you need an artificial layer to protect you from your own fears.

It’s safe to say every executive I have worked for had an above average ego. Some were good executives and some were bad executives, but none of them benefited from their big ego. It often caused them to never admit an obvious mistake or from taking good advice from people of lower rank but better judgment. When I look at my own career, my ego failed me much more than it helped me for the exact same reasons. It contributed to a wrong perception of reality and to Hubris. Any friction I ever had with a former boss had my ego involved. Professional and personal integrity are great points of character, but we very often disguise our big ass ego by abusing them.

I work with a group of talented individuals at Hooqs.com. All my colleagues are better than I am in at least one aspect of the start up game. The more I tuck in ego in the better I get. The more I listen to my ego, the more I have to regret. Straight and simple.

Getting a start up to a point of success involves a lot of faith, leadership, good perception of reality, resilience, setting personal example and a lot of self hyped confidence. This is called leadership, which in my book does not carry a big ego. You can tell everyone that you can beat Microsoft and that Bill Gates will work for you as a product manager, but it’s a load of crap. The only big shot names you will be able to hire at an early stage for the sake of their name are big shot egos with an agenda you don’t need. Chances are you’ll develop a great gallery of names, a bag of contradicting philosophies and a shitload of political issues to deal with. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t hire supreme talent, you should, but here again your key to hiring real talent is with your ability to tuck in your ego and to let that talent contribute.

How does that blend with building billion dollar companies? My philosophy is that you can’t plan a billion dollar company. If you build a fantastic company it may eventually become one, but you need to build an excellent company before you even dream of it. The desire to foresee and fore-plan billion dollar companies is an original sin. It’s like trying to predict the future at the expense of decisions in the present. In the early stage, you need to focus on building a good product that people will be happy to use and pay for. You need to execute on a good marketing plan that encapsulates a good perception of reality. You need to make difficult compromises everyday and you mustn’t be deterred. If you do all that well you’ll build a good growing company. 

My ego is not going anywhere, but I am going to do my best to confine it. Confidence, faith, devotion - absolutely. But the border line with just plain ego is very easy to miss.

Aner Ravon
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