27 Dec 2007 @ 15:37
One can say it different ways. In order to get something new going, you usually need critical mass. You need to build up momentum. You need escape velocity. You need a certain amount of kinetic energy before you can take off.
Those are metaphors, but at the same time they are very real phenomena. It is a question of bringing together the energy needed to break free from inertia.
The critical mass metaphor would say that you add a bunch of elements together and that nothing much happens before you have enough. Say it is a radioactive element and you're trying to create nuclear fission. That are other factors involved, but one thing needed is that you have enough material. When you reach the critical mass, things suddenly start happening by themselves. Until then nothing happens.
Same thing if you're launching a new idea. You might mention it to a few people and nothing happens. But if enough people catch on to it, suddenly it takes off. The idea might be great, but it doesn't take off right away. It might be hard work at first to convince people it is a good idea. Only when it has gotten enough attention, when enough people have gotten the point, then it becomes easier. It self-ignites somehow, it starts spreading by itself, people will tell their friends who'll tell their friends, etc.
If you don't achieve critical mass, the energy you put into your project is more or less wasted. Things just go back to normal and you didn't get anywhere.
You might be lucky that you can build upon somebody else's critical mass. Maybe somebody else has already built up the new idea, and you might just provide the little extra needed for it to take off. So, it isn't a bad idea to build on existing trends so you don't have to do all the work yourself.
If you work for somebody else, they hopefully have already reached critical mass. So you might just do your job within their setup, and it works. But somebody has to have made it take off at some point.
I think many entrepreneurs will grossly underestimate how much it takes. How much you need to put together to reach critical mass. How much energy you need to put in motion to reach escape velocity. What is needed might easily be 10 times more than you imagine. And if you give up too soon, it just ain't happening.
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