That's true. The only founder story I can think of that doesn't fit into the pattern is Scott Adams'.
Here's the counterargument: When I was a commercial
loan officer for a large bank, my boss taught us that
you should never make a loan to someone who is
following his passion.
[...]
My boss, who had been a commercial lender for over 30
years, said that the best loan customer is someone who
has no passion whatsoever, just a desire to work hard
at something that looks good on a spreadsheet.
[...]
On the other hand, Dilbert started out as just one of
many get-rich schemes I was willing to try. When it
started to look as if it might be a success, my passion
for cartooning increased because I realized it could be
my golden ticket.
I actually side entirely with Scott Adams. I feel like it's a really cliche and popular thing to say "Do what you love and success will follow", but it seems like objectively bad advice to pick your profession based on your passion.
We're all passionate about a lot of things that simply aren't commercially viable.
I sell rental application software for a living. It's necessary, a part of the industry, and not something I'm particularly passionate about in subject matter. I AM passionate about doing the absolute best job by a mile and providing the incontestably, incontrovertibly, unambiguously best option on the market for our customers.
Almost EVERYTHING I do (and the awesome people on my team do) has nothing specifically to do with rental application software. Rental application software is just a widget that we sell that has commercial value and therefore pays the bills.
What we do is: software delivery, customer service, operations, listening to our customers, and a bunch of other stuff that is immediately translatable to <any other widget>. But we do the absolute best in industry at those things.
So I'm not really passionate necessarily about "what I do" in the way people thing (rental application software), but we're really passionate about "what I do" in the way that I think of it (running the best damn business).
Rental application software is just this tiny, tiny, tiny kernel of a thing makes it easy to classify what we do into an industry or subject bucket -- but for what we deliver, what we think about, what we REALLY DO, that tiny kernel occupies less than 5% of our thoughts.
I have on more than one occasion heard founders (maybe in the process of pitching for investment dollars) say things like:
> "This is my life's work. I'm passionate about _____"
Where ________ is something like:
- accounting software
- restaurant POS systems
- online coupons
etc...
If they are saying that to convince someone you're all in on it, I get it. I've pitched/sold before. And don't get me wrong, those are important things for someone to do. It's just not really necessary or important to me that those are things that the founder is deeply passionate about.
Yes, I would MUCH rather invest in someone who is truly passionate about that boring thing. But:
1. If it's true, that person is probably awful boring (or alternatively, I have been blessed with really awesome and interesting friends!), and
2. Coupling your financial future to the commercial viability of "what you're passionate about" still strikes me as terrible advice, though admittedly feel-good advice that resonates with a generation of people accustomed to excess disposable income and who consequently have had the ability to pursue passions.
There's no one right answer. At the end of the day it is about perspective. Specifically, Scott Adams' father was loan officer at a bank. Banks are fairly conservative when it comes to giving loans. They want to see business plans and analyze hard numbers before they commit money to entrepreneurs. So when amateurs come to them asking for funding for an idea because "it is their passion," of course the bank turns them down, for passion alone is insufficient AND it has the risk of blinding someone to the reality of how commercially viable the idea really is.
On the other hand, all other things being equal, someone being passionate about basket weaving is more likely to make a successful business out of it than someone who is in it just for the money. Passion can be a nearly bottomless source of motivation, which helps people stick it out when things get rough. After all, starting and running a business is like a roller-coaster ride: one needs to endure the lows to enjoy the highs.
I think that could be a successful formula for co-founding teams: you need one person who is deeply passionate about the topic and another whose main strength is figuring out how to monetize it. That's how Apple became successful.
Reading your comment (and rereading the article about Scott Adams) I came to think that maybe the most successful people are those that can create a passion matching the needs that exist at a certain time. This view fits well with my personal experience.
Regarding Apple I always thought it was
all about the tech in the beginning, for both Steves.
Only one of them developed a passion for business.
