Mormon Missions: Startup Accelerators?
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Mormon Missions: Startup Accelerators?
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Re: Mormon Missions: Startup Accelerators?
#2Meh. My creds: I served a mission and am an active member of the LDS church, so I'm not some bitter exmormon. But the two worlds seem orthogonal to me. There's a very heavy focus on short-term numbers in most LDS mission organizations. If anything, an LDS mission probably prepares you for corporate life or the armed forces better than for a startup. Exception: yes, it does make for fantastic ticket scalpers, as the article relates.
Also, "accelerator?" An accelerator is something that speeds along an already existent entity. A mission might be a good person accelerator, but if you're bringing your company with you on the mission, you're a bad founder and a bad missionary.
I attribute Utah's startup culture to: the presence of BYU, a bunch of church-derived networks (I still talk to mission buddies, and did a startup with one of them), and high pressure on men to be providers.
Re: Mormon Missions: Startup Accelerators?
#3I can see it. I've never talked to the Mormons (although I see them biking in pairs near my office most days), but I've had a number of pleasantly spirited debates with some Jehovah's Witnesses.
We don't see eye-to-eye on religion, but I admire their persistence and resilience in plugging away in the heat and cold, day after day, dealing with an almost certain high level of rejection and, often, hostility.
In my experience they've always remained respectful and polite, too, far beyond the low threshold most people seem to have. I could see that laying an excellent foundation for entrepreneurial gusto.
Re: Mormon Missions: Startup Accelerators?
#4Meh. My creds: I served a mission and am an active member of the LDS church, so I'm not some bitter exmormon. But the two worlds seem orthogonal to me. There's a very heavy focus on short-term numbers in most LDS mission organizations. If anything, an LDS mission probably prepares you for corporate life or the armed forces better than for a startup. Exception: yes, it does make for fantastic ticket scalpers, as the a…
Creds: I'm Austen's cofounder/ we met in Ukraine.
This is very true, and I do see a lot of missionaries return and jump into summer sales and do quite well. But there's that side where you just gotta keep going, always that has really proven valuable while working on our startup.
Re: Mormon Missions: Startup Accelerators?
#5Meh. My creds: I served a mission and am an active member of the LDS church, so I'm not some bitter exmormon. But the two worlds seem orthogonal to me. There's a very heavy focus on short-term numbers in most LDS mission organizations. If anything, an LDS mission probably prepares you for corporate life or the armed forces better than for a startup. Exception: yes, it does make for fantastic ticket scalpers, as the a…
Another active Mormon here. My mission was European, like this guys, which meant a lot of doors. I'd say your right - for me, this was a great person accelator, which was the point of his article. Don't think he was implying that he was working on his startup during the mission.
My mission really taught me what hard work was - to devote 100% of your waking hours to further a cause you believed in. It turns out that is what it takes to grow an early startup as well, and my mission prepared me for that.
Re: Mormon Missions: Startup Accelerators?
#6Having served as an LDS/Mormon missionary in San Jose, and being presently pursuing a path to eventually take my project into the start-up realm it'd be nice to think that it prepared me, at least in some degree for that.
invalidOrTaken's comments on it preparing for corporate life I think depends on how a person approaches it.
I think the biggest thing, and this can inoculate for both corporate or start-up land, is the potential for acclimation to rejection. Getting over rejection (and staying over it) helps you, I believe, in either start-up or corporate environment.
Whether it prepares one for corporate or start-up, I believe, leans heavily on what one sees as progress.
The realization for me that metrics only matter in the aggregate of everyone together and that one's individual quality of performance on a net whole is what mattered for that individual's personal accomplishment is something that's helped me immensely.
I can knock doors 'till the cows come home but if my hearts not in it the meaningful metrics don't come through, but, on the other hand, if there are good metrics it can be an indicator of the intensity one is applying and, in that way, can help one get an external glimpse of commitment.
Re: Mormon Missions: Startup Accelerators?
#7Another Mormon here, served my mission in Sweden. I don't think the personal gains are unique to startups. As an engineer, the biggest personal lessons were about learning to ask the right questions to understand concerns before responding. That process is identical to gathering customer requirements before providing a solution. Additionally, with the leadership structure in place, I had a lot of opportunities to establish a group culture and see the effect it had on motivation and productivity. Both of these have positively contributed to my career, in and out of startups.
Re: Mormon Missions: Startup Accelerators?
#8I was riding in the back of a bus with a few Elders through northern Ecuador years ago and one of them said "Hey, i have something to show you" and pulled out a bunch of pictures of... cheeseburgers and fries from TGI Friday's in Quito, they were "just like you get in Salt Lake!".
This kind of showed the challenges they were having in remote parts of Ecuador, close to the Colombian border. A couple of them didn't speak Spanish very well, but they were coping well, in my estimation. So I see the connection
Re: Mormon Missions: Startup Accelerators?
#9Meh. My creds: I served a mission and am an active member of the LDS church, so I'm not some bitter exmormon. But the two worlds seem orthogonal to me. There's a very heavy focus on short-term numbers in most LDS mission organizations. If anything, an LDS mission probably prepares you for corporate life or the armed forces better than for a startup. Exception: yes, it does make for fantastic ticket scalpers, as the a…
Creds: Author.
Yeah, I created the title at like midnight last night; obviously it's not meant in the literal sense.
I think you're right; a mission is a good person accelerator, and if that person happens to be a would-be entrepreneur it makes them a better entrepreneur.
There wasn't really much of a focus on short-term numbers in my mission, mostly because when we reported numbers it would usually start "0, 0, 0, 0"
Re: Mormon Missions: Startup Accelerators?
#10It certainly sounds like the typical MTC propaghanda..."work hard on your mission and you'll be blessed with financial success and a hot wife".
My own anecdotal evidence is that I have had twice as much financial success, and an even more amazing marriage since I left the church. And some of the more faithful mission companions I've had are still waiting around for their blessings.
There are plenty of person accelerators out there. A mission is a good experience, but nowhere near as important as you think.