The Great “Garage Start-Up” Myth

February 22, 2007

In the new March issue of Fast Company brothers Dan & Chip Health kick off a new column “exploring how and why ideas succeed or fail” with a great read called The Myth About Creation Myths. (You need to be a subscriber to read the whole story online, or purchase a copy at your local newsstand)

…Or keep reading below for a short summary of the article and one man’s viewpoint on the subject.

This first article for the new column is focusing on “the power and perils of a great backstory.” Using examples of iconic start-ups like Apple and YouTube, the Heath brothers explain why we love a great story… even more than the truth.

We all know the stories, we dream about them at night when we drift off to Entrepreneur la-la land. A place where we fantasize of the days when we too will be the heroes who triumphed over great odds… but just how great were the odds for Apple and YouTube? Over time stories become greater and greater, but was Apple started by two geeks in a garage?… or by two high-level programmers at some of the biggest tech companies of the time?

As for YouTube…
“Consider two of the founders of YouTube, Steve Chen and Chad Hurley. Both cut their teeth at PayPal-in fact, Hurley was one of PayPal’s first employees and even designed its logo. (He is also the son-in-law of James Clark, who founded Netscape and Silicon Graphics.) Top-tier venture-capital firms were calling them, offering money, counsel, and connections, within months of launch. That’s not quite as uplifting as hearing that twentysomething buddies created a cool site to swap videos with friends.”

It is the “dream” of success and the great stories that keep young go getters up late pouring their hearts into their ideas, so in no way am I suggesting that you stop dreaming… just keep in mind that almost every business is created in much the same way. The way that each of those businesses describes themselves (stories) is what separates them and ultimately guides your decision as to whether or not you admire the company.

The levels of success and processes for these garage start-ups are of equal gradual measure. For the most part, things have to grow. The time will come at each stage of your business where the natural contraints will release themselves to allow your product, staff, office, risk, and reward to grow.

That growth and the way you describe it to others is entirely in your hands. For a better understanding of this storytelling process take a look at All Marketer’s Are Liars by Seth Godin.

Whether your business is co-created by a board of directors or your desks are made of spare doors, in the end, the experience you create for your market will write your story in the process. Consumers will shape and share it as they wish. Focus on overcoming the conflicts and complications of business, and your dénouement will craft itself.

Excerpts from Issue 113 of Fast Company | March 2007 | Page 61 | By: Dan Heath and Chip Heath

Dan Heath and Chip Heath are brothers and the authors of Made to Stick (Random House, 2007). Dan is a consultant at Duke Corporate Education, and Chip is a professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.

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