Eels and salmon symbolise enterpreneurs and corporate employees who move between the two realms

CorporateNature No 153

By George ELIOT

If RIVERS are a metaphor for the startup world (fresh, fast flowing and ever changing), the OCEAN is analogous to the corporate world (stagnant, vast but occasionally tempestuous).

Most fish species live in either rivers or  the ocean. However, there are two interesting fish families that move between the two: eels and salmon.

A) EELS

Eels are born in the ocean but spend their adult life in rivers. They are a metaphor for a corporate employee who at some point becomes an entrepreneur. 

B) SALMON

Salmon are born in rivers but spend their life in the ocean. They are a metaphor for an entrepreneur who moves into the corporate world. 

Just as both fish species are highly valued and important for the ecosystem, both types of professionals create value for the economy and society. Which of the two is more interesting remains up to you.

Eel (Source: Wikipedia)

Humans may have been forced to walk on two feet; Entrepreneurs are often pushed to launch a startup

By George ILIEV

CorporateNature Metaphor Series, No 111

In evolution, we are often told that our human ancestors in Africa chose to go down from the trees and venture into the savannah walking on two feet. Recent research shows they may not have had a choice when the forest cover on the continent started disappearing 2-3 million years ago.

Similarly, many entrepreneurs become entrepreneurs not by choice but out of necessity: after conflict in the workplace, losing their job, or out of frustration with their current job.

When push comes to shove, the entrepreneurs simply pick up the shovel.

Man with shovel (Source: Wikipedia)

Note: The research quoted is from The Economist, May 30, 2019: Human beings may owe their existence to nearby supernovas. Cosmic rays from them would have changed the world’s vegetation.

Animals can be more or less employed - just like humans

By George ILIEV
CorporateNature Metaphor Series, No 96

Muhammad Yunus, the founder of microfinance and Nobel Peace Prize winner, once asked a question during a talk: "Have you seen an unemployed animal?" His point was everybody deserves a livelihood and it is simply human nature to find employment by being entrepreneurial. 

Yet, employment in animals comes in different shades and sizes. Herbivores that depend on grazing low-calorie cellulose-heavy plants such as grass (antelopes) or bamboo (pandas) spend most of their day eating or ruminating. While predators spend only a small percentage of their time eating, as they eat high-calorie meat; yet they dedicate the majority of their time recovering from unsuccessful hunting sallies.

The animal spectrum resembles the hunter-gatherer societies of early humans: the gatherers were the herbivores, looking for lower-calorie plants; while the hunters were the predators attempting the occasional high-calorie kill.

Similarly, the risk profile of entrepreneurs determines to a degree the characteristics of their startups: more risk-averse entrepreneurs focus on businesses that can generate stable (even if small) cash flows, while the less risk-averse ones may work on an idea for years without pay (sometimes even a decade) in order to build up a business and sell it.

So, unemployed animals don't exist, but variably-employed animals do!

San tribesman from Namibia (Source: Wikipedia)

Iterating startups are like falling cats: trying to land on their feet

By George ILIEV
CorporateNature Metaphor Series, No 79

Startups need to iterate in order to survive. In this they very much resemble falling cats. All successful startups have at some point been a falling cat that needed to orient itself downwards to land on its feet and survive. 

Entrepreneurs are often described as people who jump off a cliff and build wings on the way down. A falling cat might be an even better analogy: the cat has a solid "cat righting reflex" inside it from several weeks old. A height as little as 30 cm would give a cat enough runway to manage to turn itself and land on its paws. Startups often need a bit more runway but they also need multiple / sequential iterations.

An African proverb says: "If stretching were wealth, the cat would be rich." Cats are remarkably stretchable and flexible, which sets a good example for entrepreneurs: keep flexing.

Yawning cat (Source: Wikipedia)

Startup journeys take you across mountains; Corporate careers take you down river valleys

By George ILIEV
CorporateNature Metaphor Series, No 75.

Entrepreneurs discover "points of pain", tackle the uknown and overcome challenges that others often consider insurmountable. This makes the startup journey similar to climbing a mountain.

On the other hand, corporate employees tread a well-trodden path. This makes a corporate career resemble a trek down a river valley. The river has already eroded its bed through the rocks just like the company has established its policies, processes and territory; one only needs to go with the flow and follow the river downstream.

And then, occasionally, there are the canyons: rivers that have cut their bed deep across mountains. These are the unicorns: startups that headed up a mountain and on the way got big and created their own giant river valley.

Grand Canyon (Source: Wikipedia) 

Ideas Are Photons of Light

In solar cells a photon of light dislodges an electron, which starts a chain reaction. This is electricity.

In business an idea comes to the entrepreneur and knocks them out of their sedentary state. This is the beginning of a startup journey.

The photon-electron collision is followed by many more knocks and particle interactions. That's the essence of electricity.

The original idea evolves into many more iterations, pivots and new ideas. That's the essence of the startup journey.

Electricity flows in any direction where it can find a conductor.

The first idea gives impetus but the direction is set by the obstacles along the way.

Electricity may flow afar but in the beginning there was light.

The startup journey may be winding and convoluted but in the beginning there was "a photon of an idea".

@GeorgeILIEV @CorporateNature