From 0 to 1: unlocking the secrets of business and the future

Chapter 23 The Founder's Paradox
Four of PayPal's six founders built bombs in high school.At the time, five of them were 23 or younger.Four were not born on U.S. soil, and three of them were from socialist or former socialist countries: Yu Pan from China, Luke Nosek from Poland, and Max Levchin from Ukraine.Building bombs in those countries was not a kid's job at the time.

The six of us were considered freaks.My first conversation with Luke was about why he signed up to experiment with cryonics, the freezing of dead bodies after death, in the hope that future medical advances could bring the dead back to life.Max claimed to be stateless and was proud of it. When the Soviet Union collapsed, his family came to the United States, and his family was in a diplomatic embarrassment.Russ Simmons made his home in a trailer parked in a park before attending technical school in Illinois.Only Ken Howly had the privileged childhood of an American kid: he was PayPal's only Eagle Scout.But Ken's classmates thought he was crazy to join us, and the salary was only 1/3 of the big bank that hired him.So he's not completely normal either.

Are all founders mavericks?Or do we only remember or exaggerate the most unique aspects of founders?More importantly, what personal traits did founders have that helped them succeed?This chapter discusses why it is more powerful—and dangerous—to be led by a maverick than by an average manager.

Maverick personality is the engine that drives the company's progress

Some are strong, some are weak, some are gifted, some are dumb, but most are somewhere in between.Plot out where the people are and you can see a bell curve.

Since so many founders seem to have extreme traits, you might guess that the tails of the distribution curve for founder traits would be wider because there are more people on both ends.

But that doesn't capture the strangest side of the founder.Often, we think of opposing traits as mutually exclusive, e.g. one cannot be poor and rich, but this often happens with founders: the CEO of a startup is a titular millionaire with no cash in hand.They are sometimes foolish and sometimes charming.Almost all successful entrepreneurs are both insiders and outsiders.When they were successful, they were met with mixed reviews from the outside world.If the characteristics of the founders are shown in a curve, an inverted bell curve that is completely opposite to the normal distribution appears.

Where did this strange and extreme combination of traits come from?May be born with (natural) or acquired from the environment (nurture).But founders are not as extreme as they appear to be.Perhaps they subtly exaggerated a certain quality?Or maybe others exaggerate their idiosyncrasies?These effects may manifest simultaneously, and whenever they manifest, they reinforce each other.The cycle begins with unusual people, and eventually those people will act even more extraordinary.

Billionaire Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, for example, was a born businessman: he started his own business at 16 and founded Virgin Records at just 22.But his other features - such as his characteristic thick, lion-like hair - are less natural, and some suspect he wasn't born with it.As Branson's other extreme traits developed (Is "kiteboarding" with scantily clad supermodels a PR ploy? Just a good time? Or is it killing two birds with one stone?), the media couldn't wait to start promoting him as "the Virgin King", "The Undisputed King of PR", "King of Brands" and "King of the Desert and the Sky".He became the "King of the Ice" when Virgin Atlantic served passengers iced drinks shaped like Branson's head.

Is Branson just an ordinary businessman who just happens to have a good public relations team to help him get sought after by the media?Or is he a natural brand genius himself, and has won the attention of journalists (because he is very good at manipulating them)?It's hard to tell, maybe it's both.

Another example is Sean Parker.He started out as an extreme outsider—a criminal.Sean was a cautious hacker in high school, but his father thought that 16-year-old Sean was wasting too much time on the computer, so one day he took Sean's keyboard.As a result, Sean was unable to log out and was discovered by the FBI, who soon arrested him.

Sean got away easily because he was a minor.If anything, this little episode encouraged him.Three years later, he co-founded Napster.The peer-to-peer file-sharing service gained tens of millions of users in its first year, making it one of the fastest-growing companies of all time.But when the record labels joined forces to sue and a federal judge ordered Napster shut down, it only lasted 20 months.After going around the center, Sean is back to being an outsider.

Then Facebook came along. Sean met Mark Zuckerberg in 2004. He helped Mark negotiate Facebook's first financing and became the company's founder and president. His resignation in 2005 over drug charges brought him tarnished reputation but also increased attention.Justin Timberlake played Sean in the movie "The Social Network." Sean in the play was portrayed as a very cold American.Even though Justin Timberlake is more famous, when he visits Silicon Valley, people ask him if he is Sean Parker.

Many of the world's most famous people are entrepreneurs—they don't necessarily start businesses, but every celebrity is building and nurturing their own personal brand.Lady Gaga, for example, is one of the most influential contemporary figures.But is it really her?Her real name was no secret, but hardly anyone knew or cared.She dresses so strangely that if other people wear the same clothes, they will be regarded as mentally ill. Lady Gaga makes people believe she was "born this way" - the namesake of her second album and best single.But no one grows up like a zombie with two horns, so Lady Gaga must be a self-created myth.So what kind of people would dress themselves up like this?Unusual people, of course.So maybe Lady Gaga was born this way.

where does the king come from
The extreme image of entrepreneurs has long appeared in the human world.Such characters abound in classic mythology.Oedipus is a typical example of both an insider and an outsider: he is an abandoned baby, displaced to a strange land, but at the same time he is a wise king, clever and witty, and solved the mystery of the Sphinx.

Romulus and Remus were born noble, but abandoned.After discovering their royal blood, they decided to build a city, but they disagreed on the location.When Remus crossed the boundary of the city of Rome determined by Romulus, Romulus killed Remus as a warning to others, "so that no one will dare to cross the city in the future."Romulus was both lawgiver and lawbreaker; lawbreaker and king who founded Rome.Romulus is contradictory in that he is both an insider and an outsider.

Ordinary people are neither Oedipus nor Romulus.But no matter what these people were like in real life, the mythical version only remembers their extreme qualities.Why was it so important in ancient cultures to remember the extraordinary?
The famous and the notorious constitute the outlet for popular emotion: they are praised for their successes and blamed for their disasters.Ancient societies faced one of the most important fundamental problems: If conflicts were not resolved, societies would fall apart.Therefore, when peace and tranquility are threatened by plagues, disasters, and violent struggles, it is beneficial for society to pass the stigma on to scapegoats whom all agree on.

Who is a suitable scapegoat?Like entrepreneurs, scapegoats are extreme and conflicted individuals.On the one hand, the scapegoat must be weak and unable to protect himself from harm; on the other hand, he is the most powerful member of society as the person who can bear the blame and calm the conflict.

Before the execution, people worshiped the scapegoat like a god.The Aztecs believed that these victims were immortals, whom they sacrificed.In the short time before being killed, the scapegoat enjoys fine clothes and fine food.This is the essence of monarchy: the king is a god among men, and every god is a murdered king.Perhaps the modern king is just a scapegoat who can give himself a reprieve.

american royalty
When it comes to "American royalty", it should be celebrities.We give this title to our favorite stars: Elvis Presley is the King of Rock and Roll, Michael Jackson is the King of Pop, and Britney Spears is the Princess of Pop.

They've always had those titles, unless they've grown out of it.Elvis self-destructed in the 20s, put on weight and died alone in a bathroom.Today, its imitators are potbellied, not lean.The world relishes the details of Michael Jackson's trial as he went from popular child star to eccentric, skin-hating, drug addict.Britney's story is the most dramatic.She became famous in one fell swoop, and was hailed as a superstar when she was a girl.Then everything went off the rails: the bald-headed image, the binge-eating scandal, the high-profile child custody case.Is she always this crazy?Or is it because the media paid attention to her?Or is she trying to use this as a hype?

There are fallen stars whose death brings them rebirth.Many famous musicians died at the age of 27 - such as rock star Janis Joplin, guitarist Jimi Hendrix, The Doors frontman Jim Morrison, Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, these " Members of the 27 Club are forever remembered for their deaths. Before joining the club in 2011, famous British R&B singer Amy Winehouse sang: "They wanted me to get off drugs, and I said, 'No, no, no'." the way to eternity.Maybe the only way to be the eternal rock god is to die young.

We adore or demean tech entrepreneurs like celebrities.Howard Hughes is the most legendary technology entrepreneur of the 20th century, from vigorous to reclusive.He was born rich, but preferred engineering to luxury. At age 11, he built Houston's first radio transmitter, and a year later he built the city's first motorcycle. At age 30, he made nine commercial films that were all successful at a time when Hollywood was at the cutting edge of technology.But what makes Hughes more famous is his aviation career. He designed aircraft, produced aircraft, and flew aircraft.Hughes set world records for top speed, fastest transcontinental flight, and fastest round-the-world flight.

Hughes liked to fly higher than others.He likes to remind people that he's just a mortal, not a Greek god—that's what mortals say when they want to rival a god.His lawyer once said in court: "Hughes is not a person who can be measured by ordinary people's standards." Everyone agreed." He was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for aviation achievement in 1939, but he didn't even go to accept it—a few years later President Truman found the medal at the White House and mailed it to Hughes.

Hughes' downfall began in 1946, when he suffered his third and worst plane crash.Had he died then, he would have gone down forever as one of the most stylish and successful men in American history.But he survived - narrowly escaped death.Suffering from OCD, addicted to painkillers, and out of the public eye, he spent the last 30 years of his life in self-imposed solitary seclusion.When Hughes was a little crazy on purpose, few people were willing to disturb a crazy person like him.But when his intentional crazy behavior turns into a real crazy life, we will feel pity and sigh for him.

More recently, Bill Gates demonstrated that high-profile success can lead to highly focused attacks.Gates is the quintessential founder: He's a bumbling nerdy college dropout, an outsider and the world's richest insider.Did he deliberately choose weird glasses to look different?Or did weird spectacles choose him out of incurable stupidity?We have no way of knowing.But its dominant position in the market is beyond doubt: in 2000, Microsoft's Windows accounted for 90% of the operating system market share.At that point, famous news anchor Peter Jennings might have wondered: "Is Bill Clinton or Bill Gates important in today's world? I don't know. That's a good question."

The DOJ didn't stop there, they also opened an investigation and sued Microsoft for "anti-competitive behavior." In June 2000, the court ordered Microsoft to break up.Gates stepped down as CEO of Microsoft six months ago and was forced to spend much of his time dealing with legal threats rather than creating new technologies.Microsoft appealed, the court withdrew the split judgment, and in 6 Microsoft and the government reached a settlement.But by then Gates' opponents had successfully prevented his founder from fully devoting himself to running the company, and Microsoft entered a period of relative slump.Gates is now better known as a philanthropist than a technologist.

King's return

Just as legal attacks ended Bill Gates' dominance, Steve Jobs returned to Apple, proving his irreplaceable worth as the company's founder.In a way, Steve Jobs was the polar opposite of Bill Gates.Jobs is an artist who prefers a relatively closed system and spends time conceiving excellent products that surpass others; Gates is a businessman who keeps products open and wants to dominate the world.But they were both insiders and outsiders, and they both built their companies and pushed them to achieve what no one else could.

Jobs, a college dropout who often walked barefoot and didn't shower, was also a cult insider.He can be charming or insane, depending on his mood or his strategy; the odd habit of eating only apples is hardly part of a larger strategy. In 1985 the eccentricities backfired: Apple's board ousted Jobs from his own company after he clashed with a career CEO brought in to oversee the company.

Jobs' return to Apple 12 years later proved why the company's number one priority—creating new value—couldn't be reduced to a formula and run by professional managers. He was named interim CEO of Apple in 1997, after his impeccable and trusted predecessor nearly brought the company to its brink.That year, Michael Dell famously commented on Apple: "What would I do instead? I would close the company and return the money to shareholders." Instead, Jobs introduced the iPod music player (2001), the iPhone (2007), iPad tablet computer (2010). In 2011, he had to resign due to his medical condition. In 2012, Apple became the most valuable company in the world.

Apple's value depends largely on someone's personal vision.This suggests that the strange ways in which companies create new technologies often resemble feudal monarchies rather than the more "modern" organizations we imagine.Unique founders make authoritative decisions, inspire strong employee loyalty, and plan decades ahead.Paradoxically, impersonal bureaucracies of well-trained professionals can persist for a long time, but they are short-sighted.

The lesson that companies should learn is that a business cannot do without a founder.To have a greater tolerance for what seems like extreme weirdness to founders, we need extraordinary people to lead companies and make big leaps, not small ones.

The lesson founders should take away is not to become obsessed with your own fame and the admiration that others have for you, or you will end up notorious or demonized – so proceed with caution.

All in all, don't overestimate your own personal abilities.The importance of founders does not stem from the value of their own work. In fact, good founders can make everyone in the company play their best.Our need for unique founders doesn’t mean we need to worship Ayn Rand’s “leaders of action” who don’t depend on anyone around them.Rand is only half a good writer in this respect: her villains are real, but her heroes are fictional.There is no real-life Galt's Canyon that represents the liberal community, nor can one escape from society.Belief in your own divine ability to be independent of others is not a sign of personal strength, but a sign that you mistake people's admiration or ridicule for fact.The greatest danger for founders is to become so certain of their own myth that they lose their way.Similarly, for companies, the greatest danger is to no longer believe in the myth of the founder, and to mistake unbelief for wisdom as a kind of wisdom.

(End of this chapter)