Burning Down The House

"I was in the house when the house burned down".

So sang Warren Zevon on his Album "Life'll kill Ya" in 2000.

Now I've never lived through a world war, but I've had my share of family losses and lived at more than 20 addresses. At work I've lived through two recessions, the dot com bubble burst, and 9/11 (when working in travel).  I've been in 5 companies that have been acquired and three that have had to lay off staff.  I've been through several VC funding rounds.  As an Ops Manager in travel and eCommerce I've had to fire staff, lay off staff and deal with; the death of my customers, vehicle crashes, flight delays, server outages, terrorism threats and avalanches.

So, when I heard Zevon's lyrics, it kind of made me feel - well - old.

Also - I realised that all that experience at the sharp end does make for better intuition and decision making.  Looking back at the younger me coming out of university in the early nineties - I hardly recognise him  - but it's still the same old me.

The thing is - when you're young, you have no way of knowing that something won't work, so you go for it anyway.  Business rewards risk that succeeds - and some of our best entrepreneurs and innovators are young, ballsy and blissfully ignorant of burning houses.  Passionate, energetic - and full of belief.

Increasingly I'm seeing that pairing up experienced hands with youthful vision and energy surely must be the best ingredients for start-up success.  I guess that's why Silicon Valley is a magnet for start ups; experienced VCs mentoring and funding youthful creativity.

If I ever go into business on my own, I'll be Butch Cassidy to a mother-f crazy Sundance Kid.