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How I figured out that I am not going to be the next Mark Zuckerberg

And why you probably won't be too

April 10, 2024

I am a daydreamer, and sometimes I dream of becoming this big tech hotshot in Silicon Valley and being the CEO of Meta, Google, or whatnot. This has probably happened to you as well. Whether or not it was a tech CEO, Forbes person of the year or becoming the next Anna Wintour: We all dream. I never acted upon this dream or the ideas that came with it. When I started to boil down why that was the case, it basically came down to three points:

1.        No money

2.        No time

3.        No skill

Sound familiar? These might be some problems that you ran into as well. Finding the right idea that you can actually act upon is not always easy. But let me take you on the ride and I'll show you how I came to my idea.

OMG, this is a great idea!

This is the feeling that we are looking for, but finding the right idea to start a business is not something easy to do. While most of the time, the ideas are actually up for grabs. We all encounter problems in our life, right? And we are probably not the only ones who have these problems, right? Well, here you have your business idea!

You've likely realized this already. As Mark Cuban put it in his conversation with Lex Friedman: “Mark (Zuckerberg) wanted to get laid in college, so he created Facebook!”. Problems and solutions everywhere.

Another way to discover business ideas is just to listen. When I was with my father in New York, I heard two girls talking about an app that allowed them to pet sit for money. How amazing, right? Would there be something like this in the European Markets? Or what could be an accessorizing idea? Offering pet grooming, for example?

You see, ideas everywhere! But, of course, there are also pitfalls here, and my biggest one is to get really excited about something! So, if I listen to a podcast, for example, about AI, I want to build a Large Language Model. When I read the autobiography of Elon Musk, I also wanted to go to Mars! But the problem is that I cannot build a large language model and I will probably not go to Mars either, because it is out of my circle of influence.

Following Noah Kagan’s book, the circle of influence basically comes down to:

  1. What are the most significant pain points you can solve for others?

  2. That you have a passion for/or a unique expertise in?

  3. For the largest group you belong to or understand?

So, let’s have a look again at the example of Mark Zuckerberg. I am good at coding or anything IT-related and can I create a new social network? No. Do I want to help young students to connect with each other? Nah, they are probably fine! Okay, I might not be the one to set up the next social media platform.

What is my circle of influence?

Let me take you to my circle of influence. And this was actually not a super easy exercise to do. Because it requires significant self-reflection, especially acknowledging your limitations and being honest with yourself. So my list was something like this:

Who am I

  • Former Lawyer

  • Strategy Consultant

  • Fitness/running junkie

  • Vegan turned whole foods (story for another time!)

  • News junkie in its broadest form (Listen to everything from new health research to financial investment strategies)

Where do I have a passion for:

  • Business news

  • Reading non-fiction books

  • Sports

  • New technologies

What groups are close to me:

  • Young urban professionals in Amsterdam

  • Runners

  • Entrepreneurs

With this list, I also realized that perhaps being the new Mark Zuckerberg wasn't for me. But that is not a problem. There are other things I can do and where I am good at. So I should focus on that!

So I came up with a lot of different things, but there was only one I got really passionate about: healthy whole food-based snacks! And does that fit within my circle of influence? Let’s see:

✅ I am someone who follows diets quite strictly and therefore look a lot at different kinds of foods

✅  I have a passion for sports and eating healthy

✅  I surround myself with people who also (most of the time) want to eat healthy and are very active

Well, this sounds like an idea. An appealing brand with a special kind of nut that is healthy, whole foods and satisfying. Looks like we have a business idea to try out! Stay tuned for more details on my healthy snack venture in a future posts!

Inspiration for this post came from: