A company is like a child.
In order for a company to be successfully created, conditions have to be just right. Try making a company too early or too late, and there won’t be a conception. There’s a window to making a baby, and a window to making a company.
Even before conception, there is lots of planning to do, including:
- discussion about how the company should be guided over its lifetime
- the company’s religion – not talking about deity worship, but what are the important values that will form the company’s core beliefs
- will you push the company into doing certain things, or will you let your company find its own way depending on what its strengths are (hint: it’s probably wise both for people and companies to do the latter)
The company can be conceived in all kinds of ways, too:
- Company conception can be the result of a number of bad decisions.
- It can be done under duress. You didn’t want to make this company, but you think somehow it will hold your relationship with the other person together, even though you secretly think it may not be wise.
- It can be a thoughtful creation with the best of intentions
Whatever the family situation is like for a company or a child, it grow up to be happy and successful, or end up broke and penniless. But conditions among the parent(s) are important in determining the odds of a child being the next Lebron James, Karl Rove, Barack Obama, or Whitey Bulger; your opinions of these (in)famous people will likely determine how you’ll raise your child or company.