Startups : two ways to fly

In a humorous post by Charlie Wood, i read a very true fact about startups in the States.

Charlie says that according to him,  there are two ways to fly:

1. Design and build an airplane, fuel it, and take off.
2. Stand in a field, flap your arms, and wait for a tornado.

And he finishes by saying "Humorously, it’s the arm-flappers who seem to get the most attention in the tech startup world."

Well, there is almost the same trend in Greece. Apart from the point that startups in Greece tend to be a very rare thing, most of the young people think that they have an exceptional idea. Of course they do. But chances are, that somewhere else in the World, thousands of people also have the same or a very similar idea.
Now, this is where other tools come handy. Patents, copyrights, capital, effort to produce a prototype,  etc has to be considered in the very early phases.

Most people in Greece also  think that just by having  an idea, this can make  them high flyers.
Well,  sometimes this  may be true. But most of the times this is just not enough.

They have to

• describe the idea
• form a solid Business plan, 
• look at the competition
• reach out for VC (any form of it), 
• form a Group with a Team that has even some experience in Financial and Business aspects, 
• search if their idea has already been a product / service in the Global market,  etc.

I tend (and really like) to chat a lot with young people during some sessions we have in  SEPVE (the Association of Information Technology companies of Northern Greece) and they seem to lack all the information on  how to get there.
Sometimes I also detect to them only a need  for getting the big money, without the internal balance to know what to do when they get there. Of course, I understand that it is the passion for getting away from the misery of the region. But they have to have something solid in their minds.
I suppose, mentoring is their first  need, and the lack of fast track Angel Capitalor V.C.  in Greece, made them believe that they should be doing this effort on their own.

So, in general, they start with their tech idea, find a couple of friends, justify a market need (as they see it) and start develop code for some kind of global product. they usually do all  that,  without looking around. This  leads them to a lot of time spent in the wrong track and  make the whole situation be like an awful burn-out.

I can therefore see the above efforts as the first way to fly: "design and  build the airplane, fuel it (with their own fuel) and try to fly".

So the question is : "do they just need to stand in the field, flap their arms and wait for the tornado?"

Certainly not. Because in Greece there are no tornadoes, there usually is a  nice breeze (in the concept of innovation).

What we as a country have to do is :

• Get all together, 
• getting help from Greeks and in general people with Innovation experience abroad, 
• design and plan a solid platform for creating airplanes, 
• get investors to trust us as a country and give us the fuel and ... finally.. 
• try to fly, each idea with its own airplane.

It sounds like an Airplane fair, but IMHO, this is what it really has to be.
A Total Innovation strategy for helping startups ground off.

May the wind be with you...