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Don Quixote as an entrepreneur

Guest post by: Christopher Golis

Article Overview: Some thoughts on Don Quixote as an entrepreneur and Sancho Panza as a venture captial investor

Don Quixote as an entrepreneur

My last post was on the lessons for entrepreneurs that could be learned from Solar by Ian McEwan. I have just finished reading all 940 pages of Don Quixote. For those who are not familiar with the work it is actually two books. The first book was published in 1605 and contains many of the incidents for which the book is famous. The second book was published ten years later and Cervantes wrote it because a follow-up book had been written by another author and Cervantes wanted to set the record straight. Intellectual property disputes even happened four hundred years ago. I found the second book more interesting than the first, particularly as Cervantes has Don Quixote and Sancho Panza discussing both the first book and the false second book with characters from the false second book!

Don Quixote, while mostly a rational man of sound reason, has read to excess books of chivalry. He comes to believe every word of these romances to be true, though for the most part, the content of these books is clearly false. He decides to become a knight-errant in search of adventure. The book then follows his adventures. During these incidents, Don Quixote not only lets his imagination run riot, he argues eloquently that his vision of the world is correct even when events again and again prove his vision wrong. This is when I had my moment of epiphany. His arguments in favour his version of world sounded just like those presented to me by the entrepreneurs as their own dreams became vapourware. The emotional force of his arguments combined with his different take on reality resonated with me throughout the book.

There is an interesting video produced by Stanford professor James March titled Passion and Discipline, where he argues that Don Quixote demonstrates three key lessons for leaders: imagination, commitment, and joy in what you believe in. I have my doubts whether these necessary characteristics for all leaders, but they are certainly a necessary triad for entrepreneurs. The problem as Cervantes points out is that if what you believe in is not grounded in reality (ie good science) then problems start. In the end of the novel Don Quixote admits he has believed an impossible dream and dies a disappointed man – just like so many entrepreneurs.

The foil to idealism of Don Quixote is the realism of Sancho Panza. Sancho is driven by two objectives, avoiding pain and filling the belly. He truly believes that hunger is the best sauce and his first question on hearing about a new village or inn is “Will chicken be available?” While not an investor of capital, Sancho Panza could be seen as one of the first angel investors, investing his time with Don Quixote as a form of sweat equity. I must confess as a former venture capitalist I identified far more with Sancho Panza. His objectives of risk avoidance and tangible and quick returns matched those of many venture capital investors that I have met.

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Article Tags: Don Quixote, Sancho Panza



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