Startup Advice: Fake it Till You Make it

The Entrepreneurial Spirit

This is about a real life Zelig and the entrepreneurial spirit.

Do you really need to fake it till you make it? In my humble opinion, the answer is yes in the majority of instances.  This is especially true if your startup is a B2B business. Existing businesses rarely gamble on the new kid no matter how low the quote is. There’s simply too much at stake for everyone from the purchasing agent on up to the CEO.

This can also be a factor in B2C businesses. Ask yourself if you would trust a lawyer, doctor, or accountant fresh out of school. Chances are high that you wouldn’t. Nobody wants to be a test guinea pig for a stranger learning on the job.

How do entrepreneurs, deal-makers, and startups get past this credibility obstacle? They fake it till they make. Basically, they puff up the business to make it appear larger and more established than it maybe in reality.  If you know what to look for you will see that everyone does it to varying degrees. The most successful entrepreneurs are experts at this game.

So why am I talking about this today? Well, I just stumbled across a real life Zelig with an amusing story on how he crashes exclusive parties and gets to hang out with famous people by knowing how to act as if he really belongs there. In other words, he is a master at faking it till he makes it. This is what entrepreneurship is all about: overcoming obstacles to establish a beachhead.

I read Neville Medhora’s story about how he crashed a party first. Then I watched the video. It doesn’t really matter which one you start with. Both are very entertaining. The bottom line is you have to know how to look as if you belong wherever you want to be even if you don’t belong just yet.

Note to self: rent Zelig.