5 Questions For Founders
with Jochen Boeykens
Energy Management and Learning from Your Struggles
I originally started my career in a venture capital fund, but I found out very quickly that I wasn’t adding value to the founders as I had no experience. And so, I used the savings that I had at that point and and took out a bank loan to buy myself into three startups that had just formed. That’s how I got myself involved with several companies in a leadership role. I was maybe the second, third or fourth person in each of these companies, so I did basically everything — from sales to finance to raising capital.
All of them got acquired, and I suddenly found myself in a comfortable position financially. I was at a point that I didn’t really need to worry anymore — I was beyond the point of survival.
However, I found out that being there wasn’t the blissful oasis I thought it would be. For a couple of years, I spent a lot of time searching for the reason why, and I realized that I actually find a lot of value in the struggle itself. It came to me that the struggle of building something and trying to change something in society is the real value, not the payoff at the end.
That’s why I founded Torus Capital, which is a VC fund formed by entrepreneurs who have previously sold their companies. We want to direct our capital and energy into projects that build the world we want to live in. So far, we’ve invested in four companies, and building this fund has been my passion for the last year and a half.
After a few successes, I had the feeling, I have to do something new, I have to “prove” myself even more. I started a company which we had to pivot, and eventually shut down. I realized I did not start the company for the right reasons. I was trying to fill a void for myself, not solve a problem for society..
And so, I decided to take a sabbatical. I signed up for a 10-day silent retreat. My family was quite happy about it because I had become pretty negative — not exactly a fun person to be around. I took that time off and came out feeling a lot better, but I still didn’t know what my purpose would be.
However, that experience set up a chain of exploration into myself. I came to the conclusion through many programs that there are a lot of examples of people who found their happiness and purpose when they were struggling. At the peak of their struggle, they suddenly found something that made everything worthwhile, or that made them understand that the struggle is part of the journey, and is actually the pathway to learning more about yourself and the world — to broadening your mind. Now, what keeps me building companies is what I gain from the struggle, rather than what the outcome might be.
If I had to synthesise it into one word, I would choose “energy”, because for me, that’s what it’s all about. As a founder, you’re dedicating 100% of your energy to a certain purpose. That purpose needs to be really strong, and the more energy you put into it, the more you get out of it. At the end of the day, it’s really a transformation of energy.
If you’re not passionate or energetic about what you do, you won’t be able to build the culture you want around you — you won’t attract anybody to help you with your purpose.
One resource that helped me a lot was a mindset that I cultivated through my experiences, which is to think about the worst case scenario. I mean, it’s not a very optimistic way to spend your time, but it’s usually when I think about the worst case first that I come to a conclusion that it is pretty acceptable. That’s what gives me a lot of confidence in doing my work and to continue doing it.
People generally feel their failures a lot longer than their successes, right? Ultimately, however, that experience gave me a lot. It brought me to a lot of opportunities, and I personally have grown a lot more from my failures than my successes. That’s what I mean when I say you should think about your worst case scenarios — if you know you can learn and grow from your failures, it almost always makes the worst case seem very acceptable.
The advice is that I would really recommend thinking about why you’re starting a company, because in the beginning, for me, it was definitely financially motivated. However, that’s a very short-lived motivation, and it’s not a good energy source.
I’ve come to realize that it’s much better to have a higher purpose or to approach it by first experiencing a problem, trying to find a solution, and when you’ve found a solution, then choosing to start a company. For me, that’s what I see as the best reason to start a company. And if it is truly just purely for financial reasons, then as soon as you get a big check for your shares, it’s very likely you’ll sell and then you’ll find yourself stuck in a deep hole without a purpose. That’s what happened to me, and so this time around, I really took the effort of thinking: why should I start a fund? There’s already thousands of them, but as it was something that I thought I would be able to draw energy from for a long time, I decided to pursue it.
Listen on: Spotify | Apple Music | Google Podcast | Red Circle | Stitcher
Learn more and request an invite here.
