The biggest reason why entrepreneurs fail is because they fail to get started. That was one of the key messages from Big Fish Games founder Paul Thelen, who delivered the keynote address Thursday night at the awards dinner for the University of Washington's annual Business Plan Competition.
"If you do start, chances are you may fail, but you are going to learn a lot in the process," Thelen said to a packed room of student entrepreneurs, VCs and other members of the Seattle startup community. "This is a learning process, and the only way you learn is by doing,"
Thelen, who started his first game company at the age of 11, used his own story at the helm of Big Fish Games to instruct audience members on the ins and outs of building a company. In true startup fashion, Thelen didn't have any prepared remarks. Instead, he used eight slides to prompt thoughts and memories about his experiences as an entrepreneur.
That presentation style, he said, was analogous to a startup where you have to constantly bob and weave
"If you determine what the business is going to be for the next 8 years, it is not as fun and it is not as likely to be as successful as if you improvise as you go and you learn, so that's what I am going to do tonight," said Thelen.
Big Fish Games is now one of the largest distributors of online games in the world, with 380 employees and sales last year of $85 million. But creating a big company wasn't the goal, with Thelen saying he started Big Fish because he was bored after a leave from RealNetworks.
In fact, he said the bootstrapped company didn't have a business plan (with Thelen noting the irony since the students had just completed a business plan competition.)
A UW grad with a Stanford MBA, Thelen said he had worked on a 65-page business plan for the online games business while at RealNetworks.
"The interesting thing about that business plan? It was very wrong," said Thelen, adding that he initially misread the market for hardcore gamers.
"You have to keep your eyes open. Your business plan is not written in stone," he said.
Thelen also noted that entrepreneurs fail because they either have too much conviction or not enough. Business owners need to be flexible enough to move in new directions, making sure that they don't attack problems with "blinders on."
"Conviction is about having data, being convinced what you are doing is right, moving forward with passion and then observing as you go, and changing course as the data dictates," he said.
And speaking of passion, Thelen also addressed that with a slide of two lovers laying on a beach. He noted that entrepreneurs can't work nine to five, nor do they really want to.
"I have never, ever worked so hard in my life as I did starting a company," Thelen said. "And the reason I did it is that it isn't a job, it is my life. I live it. I enjoy it. I get up in the morning and I am challenged by it. It gets me going, and that's what makes success."
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