A few months ago, I was talking to a couple good friends – both leaders in well established businesses – about my start-up writing and editing company. I needed to find more work but couldn’t figure out on which product line to focus (I narrowed it down to “working on projects that involve words” – that’s right, in a bold move, I eliminated miming from my menu of products). If I picked a product, I didn’t know how to price it. If I priced it, I didn’t know where to sell it, or how.
At one point, one friend said “You need a board of directors.” Now I know, what he meant was “you need to shut up and order so we can eat before they start putting chairs on the tables.” But the idea intrigued me. Perhaps, somewhere, there was a table of men, looking like my Dad in the 1960s, in impeccable suits, silk ties, and hats, who would help me work through the business problems I might have been able to tackle myself had I spent less time on Aristotle and more (or any) time on accounting in college.
But I didn’t get a board. The mere thought of putting one together sent me in another tailspin (Who would serve on it? And why? Do I pay them (Ha! Of course not! We don’t pay anybody!)? Do I have to get water glasses and notepads for each like in the movies? Do they even make those hats anymore?).
I still need the help my imaginary behatted board would provide, and I had pretty much given up on finding it until a coworker, Peter Mellen, from our coworking space, Affinity Lab, asked us to write a quick speech introducing his company, Netcito. Of course, before making an introduction, I had to get to know Netcito. And there, I found my board.
Here’s the speech:
Good afternoon. I am Peter Mellen, and I founded Netcito, a membership organization that brings together groups of creators – innovators, entrepreneurs, philanthropists –to support each other as they cultivate their business, personal, and life dreams.
I was recently watching the award winning 2008 documentary, Man on a Wire, about Philippe Petit, the man who walked a high wire between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in 1974. The plot line is fascinating –a caper story worthy of Christopher Nolan: Petit had to sneak into the World Trade Center a custom 26 foot balancing pole and a 450 pound cable, which was shot with a bow and arrow between towers. But more stunning are the pictures – both still and rough video – of Petit’s 45 minutes on the wire, eight trips between the towers before he surrendered to New York City police.
Those shots show him stepping into the air, alone above New York City. One misstep spelling, not just the end of his dream, but the end of his life. But he doesn’t misstep. Instead, he takes a mundane activity we almost all do every day – walking -- and elevates it to magic – an unbelievably eloquent expression of man’s potential – a moving monument to an artist’s vision, and perseverance, and bravery.
And isn’t that exactly what the entrepreneur does – what all of you in this room do? Take something that almost everybody, even in this crap economy, does – work a job – and – alone, without a net, with fatal foot faults possible at each step -- elevate it to magic: your own product, your mark on the world, a living dream.
It is a great metaphor – except for one thing. As solitary as his feat looks in the photos, Philippe Petit was not alone, not by a long shot. He had teams of technicians, supporters, fellow artists, investors, believers, and adventurers, helping him plan his approach, pay for his equipment, break into the towers, tighten his rope, hold back those who rushed to knock him down. He could not have done it without them. And you -- regardless of how many hours you work, how many business books you read, how many credit cards you take out to meet payroll – can’t do it alone either.
That is where Netcito comes in.
Netcito puts together small groups of entrepreneurs to meet informally and off-the-record for half a day once a month and a full day once a year. We learn from each other, dissect past actions and map future ones, talk strategy, share fears, make new connections. In short, we act as your personal board of directors, the people who have your back when someone or something threatens to push you off your high wire.
Netcito is more than a business seminar, do-it-yourself management book, or networking circle. We know you are too busy running your business to have time to read or discuss all the information out there on how to run your business. You bring to Netcito your specific questions, your challenges, your opportunities, your hopes. Like Petit’s team, we are focused on your dream. And like all truly extraordinary dreams, we understand you need a solid team, in both towers and on the ground, to make it real.
If you are interested in more information on joining Netcito, please come talk to me after the presentation, or visit our website at Netcito.com. Let us help you reach heights you – and perhaps no one – ever imagined.
As Philippe Petit said: “It’s impossible. That’s sure. So let’s start working.”
Kate the Elder
