The Spiritual Side of My Entrepreneurial Journey

My entrepreneurial journey is profoundly entwined with my spiritual journey.  My faith in God is my underlying foundation and north star as a startup CEO.

My coming to faith as a Jesus-follower coincided with beginning my adventures in startups. 

Growing up, my family was not particularly religious. Excelling in college and graduate school, learning the world of finance, and mastering the skills of rapid learning, synthesis, problem-solving, and selling as a management consultant were all experiences that reinforced my independence and self-reliance. 

Yet even as I forged a career, I kept encountering impressive mentors that I admired who were also men and women of deep faith. Their faith puzzled me because, at the time, I felt like relying on a “God” that I was not convinced existed was a crutch. Yet, I was intrigued because these believers were people of brilliance, profound competence, and strong character.  Some were Ph.D. scientists and engineers. Others were business executives. How could they believe in God?

Ultimately, over the course of 11 years of exploring and endless patient conversations, God brought me to the end of myself, confronted me with some stunning losses, and invited me into an active relationship with Him. In 2001, instead of continuing to question whether God was real, I encountered Him myself while I worked in my first startup, and it changed my life forever. Now, with the perspective of 19 years of hindsight, it is hard to fathom life without His essential presence.   

There is not enough space in this blog to describe all of the steps along my spiritual journey and the lessons God has taught me along that path. Maybe, at some point, if there is interest, I can unpack the process further, but for now, let me just share how my faith sustains and supports my work in startups,  with a few of the practices that I leverage routinely:

• When I found or begin to lead a startup, I commit that startup to God and His purposes. The journey of a startup inevitability gets messy, gritty, discouraging, and complicated sometimes. When the going gets tough, it helps to remember that there is something bigger than me, purposes greater than mine, results and outcomes that are in His hands. He is the foundation I can rely on no matter what comes at me in the process.
   
• Building a company means attracting a team and stakeholders. I ask God to assist in that process, bringing us the investors, team members, consultants, service providers, and other stakeholders who can weave together their time and talents into something remarkable.  There is, of course, no requirement that someone must be a Christian to join our team. Indeed, many involved in my companies are not Jesus-followers, and some are profoundly committed to other religious practices.  And yet, everyone in a company that is committed to God’s purposes (which I make sure is true as CEO) is serving Him, even unknowingly.

• I do pray for the company and the people involved in it. Rather than praying for particular outcomes or specific results, I pray for a path of integrity and authenticity to walk as I seek to trust in Him for where we are going and how we will get there. I am continually learning to relinquish control, trust and forgive others, and rely on my foundation in God in the turbulent river of unexpected and sometimes unwanted happenings. I seek to pursue life on His terms, not mine.  

• My faith is essential to my role as a startup CEO. It enables me to love people as a foundational orientation in my life, take bold risks, and connect with people by thinking of how to bless them. I try to remember that there are bigger things afoot, bigger purposes to accomplish, and that the startup is just a vehicle for blessing the people who are connected to it. I trust the Lord with the lives of our team, our stakeholders, our suppliers, and our customers. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

Working hard in a startup is emotionally intense. My faith and relationships provide emotional stability and energy to power through dark valleys and drive up to peaks. Others may need to find that stability and strength from other sources, but make no mistake, it is essential to find concrete ways to sustain yourself for the marathon.