The short and obvious answer to that is no. But read on.
We were sitting at the office as usual, working away at Scred’s upcoming version 2 (yes, it’s still on its way) and I found I was playing Snog’s ‘Third Mall from the Sun’. This is an album which is almost completely dedicated to criticising corporate gods, greed and consumerism. It is not, however, built with your usual run of the mill anarchist rage and angst, but is actually a wonderfully constructed album with clever lyrics and imagery, beautiful ballads and a vocalist with a voice not unlike the throaty dryness of Leonard Cohen. Mixed with samples and electronics, the result is magnificent.
Obviously I should be less than convinced by the theme, but I’m not. In fact, I find myself nodding my head now and then. I have a severe dislike of corporate bullshit. The stuff fed to the world by overly large slugs, with policies, hollow brands and smiles, committees, committees for committees, offensively bad documentation systems and heavy project management. All coupled with a lack of respect for the intellect and humanity of their employees. The lack of innovation is ever more depressing when one considers how often they themselves misuse that word. As if repeating it will make a difference. The thing is, I’m not convinced a large corporation has to be run like that (and I’m sure there are many good exceptions). They need not become behemoths, but they do so for fear and for limited vision, often to their eventual peril.
Even more distasteful is mass consumerism. People content queuing up for their chance to purchase another low quality disposable garment from H&M, or people who stick to green because, well, that’s what the magazine says is in fashion. Or even people who set up their flavour-of-the-week social network as they think that will make them rich, quick (boy are they in for a surprise). Anyone, indeed, who does nothing but follow the lead of others.
What people forget is that this is not capitalism. It’s just a lack of imagination. One of the great things about the net is that it is very decisively eradicating the total stranglehold of mass culture. It is allowing ever more opportunities for the individual to question the norm and to form their own reality. We now have the power and the means to take consumerism into our own hands.
And what of the entrepreneurs who changed things in the past? Created something wonderful or useful, against all odds? Who stuck to a dream and eventually made it into a success? Robert Stephenson, Alexander Bell and let’s not forget Otto Rohwedder and his proverbial sliced bread. To be an entrepreneur is a chance to build something new and to make a difference. It is a chance to topple those giants and change the world.
In fact every interesting startup will want to be a rebel of some kind. Their dream is to take on the Big Boys at their own game, and beat them. Like that annoying young upstart who just refuses to believe age brings wisdom. The David and Goliath. But being a rebel isn’t something to be afraid of. After all, rebels are more interesting than your average corporate manager. The key here is to be the right kind of rebel.
Many years ago we visited an anti-capitalist “discussion day” out of curiosity and for our love of a good debate. The idea was apparently to form some kind of dialogue, but mostly it was just people from the inside there. We asked the one key question which nobody seemed bothered to ask:
“So say you get rid of our current government? What then? What will you build in its place?”
We thought that was a very important question, especially considering how the event was a mix of anarchists and communists — two groups which in reality couldn’t be further apart. The response was mind-numbing. We were told that, well, they hadn’t really agreed on anything, but they were all of the opinion that the current system sucks, and that’s what united them.
That’s a stupid reply for two reasons: one, how can anyone be sure something sucks if they haven’t created anything they know to be better, and two, bringing down a system and having no plans for the aftermath is a strategy with a long history of total failure. With these groups being so ideologically far apart, it would most definitely lead to disaster.
So the point is, you can’t just go out there and blow things up. You have to have something to replace it. To be a constructive rebel. This is what the very best startups will be.
Not that this stops me from singing merrily along to the juicily catchy lyrics of “Old Atlantis”, from the album that started this rambling. What a brilliant way to end another long day at the office.
