Someone tweeted a complaint yesterday about Docusign having 7,000 employees. The gist was something like, “What the heck!? Startups used to be about changing the world, now it’s just these big stupid SaaS companies doing nothing.”
I’m a big fan of discontentment and an urge to do more a better things. I love the call to pursue big crazy world changing things.
But something is lost if you can’t find a company like Docusign (or my preferred, Pandadoc) fascinating, valuable, and yes world changing.
If you’ve ever owned a business, you’ll immediately know the transformation of Docusign. Getting deals done on your phone in seconds, vs needing printers and paper and envelopes or scanners. Each instance of avoiding the old print and sign model is worth at least tens of dollars to me and I’m sure I’m not alone. Multiply tens of dollars by the dozens or hundreds of times such things need to be done and the millions of people who need to do them each year and it’s easy to see the tremendous value.
But it’s not just Docusign. The real power comes when you begin to see the wonder in every business.
As long as it’s not some bottom feeding corrupt leach of a company living off government handouts, credits, or phony contracts, every profitable company (and many a temporarily unprofitable company) is a thing of beauty.
Stop and think through all the people involved in the production, distribution, marketing, selling, and servicing. Think about what would make a buyer choose to voluntarily part with their money for the good or service and you begin to see the value creation happening. Value creation is the most progressive, civilizing force in the world. And it happens “not by the benevolence of the butcher, but his regard to his self-interest.”
How could you not be fascinated by this?!
“The world will never starve for want of wonders; but only for want of wonder.” — G.K. Chesterton