Startups are at war. You have to outwork and outsmart the competition if you expect to win. You and your team will put in 12 hour days, week after week, year after year. It gets tiring and trying, to say the least. To deal with all the perspiration, you and your team will need a lot of inspiration. What inspires you and your team to work so hard, and refuse to quit against all odds? What motivates you to go the extra mile when your brain is fried and your body begging for rest?
A surprisingly easy and effective way to get your team fired up is to identify a “bad guy.” Set your sights on a direct competitor or evil empire that you and your team want to beat. This competition makes your struggle very real, because now you have a tangible enemy to aim at. You can track their activities, and use that as fodder to get your team fired up. Everybody loves the underdog story, and no one more than the underdog. Pump your team up with little competition and get them excited about crushing the bad guy.
