Finding purpose and mission in bleak times

This past week was particularly exhausting. I think I speak for almost everyone when I say this.

And the prior two weeks were rough as well.

It’s hard to find comfort in times where people all around the world are getting very ill (COVID-19) and in some cases, dying a slow horrific death. Our medical professionals on the front lines have no equipment. Everything is basically shut down – wall street is falling and main street is crumbling. Panicked people are hoarding. The news is infuriating. And being cooped up inside with small children all day is not easy. For the better part of the last few weeks, I’ve felt helpless about everything going on around me.

It’s during times like these that it’s important to dig deep. A question I’ve often asked myself over the past few years is “Why do you do what you do?” And this is the question I ask of you today.

And, if the world were to end tomorrow, what do you wish you would’ve done differently? What do you want to be remembered for?

For many years, I didn’t know the answer to any of these questions. But in the last few years, it really clicked.

One thing that I noticed in the past few years is that the best entrepreneurs are very often overlooked in the beginning, and it’s hard for them to get access to resources. Certainly, well-connected people who went to certain schools or worked at certain places may often be an exception, but in large part, this is true (and even for many well-networked people). I believe that people who are “great hustlers” – as defined as people who execute with speed – ought to be able to get access to resources even in the very beginning their journeys.

And so, two years ago, armed with this mission, I started Hustle Fund with two friends of mine: Eric Bahn and Shiyan Koh. We have a long ways to go, and right now, we can only chip at the problem little by little and are not able to help every great hustler today. But we’re working on this mission over the next 30 years or so.

Your mission may be different.

I am fortunate that my mission carries over professionally as well as personally. I am paid (a little bit) to follow my mission. But, your work doesn’t have to align with your mission – that’s ok. For many people, a job pays the bills to allow you to follow your personal mission outside of work. But always remember your mission even if it’s not your livelihood.

In times like these, it’s especially important to remember what your mission is so that you can dig deep and find the courage to do the hard things that these times may require of you.

For many of my entrepreneurs whom I’ve backed, as well as broader main street, these tines are going to really test their leadership. Most of them will have to lay off a lot of people in order for them to keep going to fulfil their missions. Many of them will see significant drops in their revenues as consumers are not able to spend as much money — or at all — at home. Many of them will feel like they have spent the last 2 years working so hard a building traction only to start anew — an incredibly frustrating experience. The decisions we will see our entrepreneurs make over the next few weeks or months will not be easy.

Lack of morale makes it hard to get out of bed in the morning. But it is during these times, you actually have to do the exact opposite of what you naturally want to do in order to succeed. You must find courage to embrace these tough challenges and inspire others to help you achieve your mission. And this is where mission comes in — when everything else around you is falling apart, other people are no longer motivated by money or traction or achievements — because all of these things are gone or have dropped considerably or are unstable. People are motivated by what the future looks like and the mission you want to achieve not the past.

In some cases, missions are really easy to convey. For health companies, for example, they can say their mission is to “find the cure to cancer or whatnot”. But for most companies, missions are a bit less clear. My former startup was an advertising technology company. I can tell you that most people don’t find it inspiring to work at an ads company. “To show as many ads as possible” would just not be a mission that many people would sign up for. (nor would I) And yet, there are often great missions behind companies without obvious missions. Zappos is a great example of a company that conveys their mission well. They want to provide the best customer service and just happen to sell shoes. Google is actually an ads company (which so many people don’t think about including Googlers themselves), but they want to organize the world’s information to make it accessible to all.

Remembering your mission helps you focus. It’s also makes it easier to make tough decisions – such as layoffs. If you remember your mission and why you’re doing what you’re doing in the first place, it’s often clear what the path needs to look like even if it’s a tough one to go down. The right sacrifices in the short term are often beneficial in the long term.

In addition, if your mission is really clear, many people will want to rally behind it. I was talking with a fellow fund manager the other day, and I was beaming about my amazing team. He was a bit confused how I even found all these kickass people (let alone pay for them). I told him that most people on our team could be making way more money elsewhere, and as a small microfund, we have no budget. But it’s the mission that everyone rallies around. Building a microfund is in fact not the best or easiest way to make money — there are much better and easier ways to do so. But at Hustle Fund, we are constantly selling as many people as we can on our mission — whether they are potential team members, investors, startups, or partners. People who join forces with us want to change the world and invest in the best hustlers even if they didn’t go to MIT or live in the middle of nowhere. Mission can often compensate for many things — even if you have near zero cash or resources.

Missions extend beyond companies. In fact, companies often start out as personal missions that rally up other people who also believe in the same cause. If you don’t already have a mission, that’s ok! This is a good time to come up with one or join someone else’s.

People often hesitate in thinking through their personal missions, because we’re all so busy. Almost too busy to think. And too busy to do or too busy to help. But one of the things that I’ve learned over the years is that there is no amount of help, thought, money, time, etc that is too small. In fact, what I’ve learned is that the secret to the success of the Silicon Valley is lots of bits of small help here and there. There are so many angel investors here who run around town investing $1k into startups here and there. $1k as a startup investment sounds incredibly small, but these all add up. Small bits of capital combined with new connections to larger checks and more resources — this is how you get momentum going. On our own Fund 1 for Hustle Fund, we had some investors write us $10k or $25k checks in the beginning — that doesn’t get you very far in raising $10m, but it does get you a lot of credibility and momentum. And I am so grateful to those small check writers who supported us on Day 1 and believed early and helped us get others rallied around our cause. Generalizing this, in a crisis, if you want to set out to help small businesses, even buying a $5 gift card is helpful. That sparks momentum. AND, if can you leverage your social capital on social media to turn $5 into friends putting in $100 and they in turn promote this which turns into $1000, that’s valuable. A $5 donation quickly gets leveraged to $1000s. I have seen this happen time and again. Small actions go a long way.

Going back to my mission, my mission doesn’t just apply to Hustle Fund. In my personal life, I ask myself what resources can I help procure (either my own or rally others around)? And who are the effective stewards (hustlers) of those resources to have the biggest impact? Although at Hustle Fund, we currently only apply this mission to venture backable startups, on a personal front, I think about all the other groups where this thinking can apply.

To that end, here is a running Google Doc of the activities I think are worth promoting – activities that I’m personally getting involved with on some basic level. I won’t ever be effective on the front lines – I have zero medical knowledge. I know nothing about main street. But I can help as a connector. Connecting resources to hustlers is what I do. That is what I want to be remembered for.

I challenge all of you to think through your personal mission. Dig deep. Then roll up your sleeves to start to build or rebuild towards it. In these challenging times, we will need all hands on deck in a whole variety of ways — in health, in business (your own or others), etc. No amount of thought, time, money / other resources, or help is too small.

Let’s go make some dreams come true.