Musketeer as Entrepreneur (Part 1)

Much has been written about the proper steps to starting up a venture-backed technology company, taking the new entrepreneur from the idea phase through to launch and execution. There are great many steps involved, yet some take to it like a fish to water while others stumble about, unable to master the process. It is true that some entrepreneurs are born that way, but for the rest of us, well, we need to learn how to do it.

Yet even without native talent, it is possible to learn how to be a passably-effective entrepreneur, and indeed many other skills we assume must have native talent as a prerequisite. To give an example, years ago I took a learn-to-draw class that promised that even a total incompetent can be taught how to draw. This promise intrigued me enough to give it a shot. Up until then my drawing ability was limited to barely recognizable stick figures. It wasn't easy, but with some diligent effort and paying close attention to the instructor I did manage some surprisingly decent portraits by course's end.

The purpose of this little sidetrack is that if a drawing incompetent like me could accomplish this small victory, surely we can all learn to be entrepreneurs. All we need is role models, good observational skills and a lot of hard work. This brought to mind an interesting role model, a historical but heavily-fictionalized character brought to life by the 19th-century French author Alexandre Dumas. The character is D'Artagnan, the fourth member of the group known as the three musketeers.

This set of several adventure novels -- collectively known as the D'Artagnan Romances -- follows this fellowship from the time that D'Artagnan, an unknown 18-year old son of a minor and impoverished Gascon aristocrat, entered the scene to make his fortune, through many adventures they had both together and separately, until the end of their lives. If you are at all interesting in adventure novels with accurate period depiction and strong character development, you should take the time to read the entire set. The plot lines are highly-tortured historical fiction that catch the essence and issues of the times that manage to illuminate true historical characters and events. The torture part comes from the extreme license Dumas took to weave his fictional characters and adventures into the historical record.

The selection of these books I will focus on comes from The Vicompte de Bragalonne -- in particular Chapters XIV through XXI -- which begins with D'Artagnan who, at the age of 54 is Lieutenant of the King's Musketeers and responsible for the security of a youthful Louis XIV, decides that after 35 years of service, much of it quite uninteresting and beneath his considerable talent (all very true), decides that it time to set out on this own to find his fortune elsewhere.

This is much like talented career junior executives in a company like Nortel who, while comfortable and making a decent living, are afraid that life and the road-less-travelled is passing them by. Unlike most, this particular junior executive has decided to act. The last straw was seeing his master humiliated by his own Minister -- Mazarin -- who hold the real power and wealth that by rights belongs to the king. Louis, barely twenty, like many ineffectual CEOs, sheltered from real power all his life, does what his Minister tells him to do since he is, as they say, without a clue. D'Artagnan, no longer willing to wait for Louis to grow up and assert his power (and thereby elevating D'Artagnan, or at least making his role greater than that of a babysitter), forces an interview with Louis. His objective is to tender his resignation. This is easier for you and me to do than it was for him since it is no easy matter to quit the king's service. Let's listen in to some key passages from our hero's side of their conversation.

If I were vain enough to believe only half of your majesty's words, I should consider myself a valuable, indispensable man. I should say that a servant possessed of such brilliant qualities was a treasure beyond all price. Now, sire, I have been all my life - I feel bound to say it - except at the present time, appreciated, in my opinion, much below my value.
...
For five years together, I was a hero every day; at least, so I was told by persons of judgment; and that is a long period for heroism, trust me, sire, a period of five years.
...
Oh, sire! what a word! - later! Thirty years have I lived upon that promising word, which has been pronounced by so many great personages, and which your mouth has, in its turn, just pronounced...So I change my formula, sire; and when any one says to me 'Later,' I reply '_Now_.'

Here we see that D'Artagnan, pushed beyond his limit, is prepared to walk out of a sure sinecure into the unknown. However he has known poverty before, and so does not greatly fear the loss of his salary. He also has some small savings, and friends, on which he can rely upon to get him by for a time, and which could finance whatever he might turn his energies toward. D'Artagnan is embracing the risk of an uncertain future since he has no clear plan as yet although he has developed a passion for an audacious idea that had come to him only minutes before his interview with the king.

That is another attribute of a entrepreneur: speed. Notice how he gets the idea, an insanely-difficult one at that, decides that he has what it takes to make the attempt, and acts immediately to begin his adventure. He does not dawdle and, importantly, does not spend the time to first develop a detailed business plan before leaving his employer; he has seen the market opportunity, is confident in his abilities and he now needs his freedom to apply his full energies to the problem.

Having achieved his freedom to act, in the next of several installments to this long blog post we will follow D'Artagnan as he attempts to recruit co-founders and approaches an investor with the funds to finance his nascent enterprise. We will also learn what his enterprise will attempt and how he expects to earn a return on investment.