Converging Social Good + Entertainment With Founder’s Therapy In Atlanta on 1/17

2012 will be a year of change for me. And one way will be the convergence of social good and social entertainment. It starts next Tuesday as I’m organizing Founder’s Therapy. Think of it as “AA for entrepreneurs.”

Founder’s Therapy is an intimate group of entrepreneurs discussing problems unique to our personal experience…over drinks of course. Steve Blank relates this personal experience to “The Hero’s Journey.”

:: Except from Steve Blank’s “The Four Steps to the Epiphany” on “The Hero’s Journey” ::

“Joseph Campbell popularized the notion of an archetypal journey that recurs in the mythologies and religions of cultures around the world. From Moses and the burning bush to Luke Skywalker meeting Obi wan Kenobi, the journey always begins with a hero who hears a calling to a quest. At the outset of the voyage, the path is unclear, and the end is not in sight. Each hero meets a unique set of obstacles, yet Campbell’s keen insight was that the outline of these stories was always the same. There were not a thousand different heroes, but one hero with a thousand faces.

The hero’s journey is an apt way to think of startups. All new companies and new products begin with an almost mythological vision–a hope of what could be, with a goal that few others can see. It’s this bright and burning vision that differentiates the entrepreneur from big company CEOs and startups from existing businesses. Founding entrepreneurs are out to prove that their vision and business are real and not some hallucination; to succeed they must abandon the status quo and strike out on what appears to be a new path, often shrouded in uncertainty. Obstacles, hardships and disaster lie ahead, and their journey to success tests more than financial resources. It tests their stamina, agility, and the limits of courage.

Most entrepreneurs feel their journey is unique. Yet what Campbell perceived about the mythological hero’s journey is true of startups as well: however dissimilar the stories may be in detail, their outline is always the same. Most entrepreneurs travel down the startup path without a roadmap and believe that no model or template could apply to their new venture. They are wrong. For the path of a startup is well worn, and well understood. The secret is that no one has written it down.”

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Founder’s Therapy was created to show entrepreneurs that they aren’t alone on this journey and [many] others share their pain…over drinks of course.

And oftentimes, unfortunately, those “few others that can see” are family members, friends, and significant others of entrepreneurs, and “obstacles, hardships, disaster” come in the form of their non-support.

We’re kicking off 2012 by sharing stories of non-supportive family, friends, and significant others. And we’ll all feel better afterwards.

+ Founder’s Therapy: Discussing Non-Supportive Family/Friends/Significant Others
+ Tuesday, January 17th, 2012
+ Bar One (687 Memorial Drive Southeast, Atlanta, GA 30316)
+ 7pm – 9pm | No Cover
+ Hosted Amber Saunders (Enrichment Prep)
+ Moderated by Me

RSVP at http://founderstherapy.eventbrite.com

Look forward to seeing some of you on Tuesday.

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