Sitemaps
Let's Get Back to Our Why
Does Startup Success Validate Us Personally?
How We Secretly Lose Control of Our Startups
Should Kids Follow in Our Founder Footsteps?
The Evolution of Entry Level Workers
Assume Everyone Will Leave in Year One
Stop Listening to Investors
Was Mortgaging My Life Worth it?
What's My Startup Worth in an Acquisition?
When Our Ambition is Our Enemy
Are Startups in a "Silent Recession"?
The 5 Types of Startup Funding
What Is Startup Funding?
Do Founders Deserve Their Profit?
Michelle Glauser on Diversity and Inclusion
The Utter STUPIDITY of "Risking it All"
Committees Are Where Progress Goes to Die
More Money (Really Means) More Problems
Why Most Founders Don't Get Rich
Investors will be Obsolete
Why is a Founder so Hard to Replace?
We Can't Grow by Saying "No"
Do People Really Want Me to Succeed?
Is the Problem the Player or the Coach?
Will Investors Bail Me Out?
The Value of Actually Getting Paid
Why do Founders Suck at Asking for Help?
Wait a Minute before Giving Away Equity
You Only Think You Work Hard
SMALL is the New Big — Embracing Efficiency in the Age of AI
The 9 Best Growth Agencies for Startups
This is BOOTSTRAPPED — 3 Strategies to Build Your Startup Without Funding
Never Share Your Net Worth
A Steady Hand in the Middle of the Storm
Risk it All vs Steady Paycheck
How About a Startup that Just Makes Money?
How to Recruit a Rockstar Advisor
Why Having Zero Experience is a Huge Asset
My Competitor Got Funded — Am I Screwed?
The Hidden Treasure of Failed Startups
If It Makes Money, It Makes Sense
Why do VCs Keep Giving Failed Founders Money?
$10K Per Month isn't Just Revenue — It's Life Support
The Ridiculous Spectrum of Investor Feedback
Startup CEOs Aren't Really CEOs
Series A, B, C, D, and E Funding: How It Works
Best Pitch Decks Ever: The Most Successful Fundraising Pitches You Need to Know
When to Raise Funds
Why Aren't Investors Responding to Me?
Should I Regret Not Raising Capital?
Unemployment Cases — Why I LOOOOOVE To Win Them So Much.
How Much to Pay Yourself
Heat-Seeking Missile: WePay’s Journey to Product-Market Fit — Interview with Rich Aberman, Co-Founder of Wepay
The R&D technique for startups: Rip off & Duplicate
Why Some Startups Win.
Chapter #1: First Steps To Validate Your Business Idea
Product Users, Not Ideas, Will Determine Your Startup’s Fate
Drop Your Free Tier
Your Advisors Are Probably Wrong
Growth Isn't Always Good
How to Shut Down Gracefully
How Does My Startup Get Acquired?
Can Entrepreneurship Be Taught?
How to Pick the Wrong Co-Founder
Staying Small While Going Big
Investors are NOT on Our Side of the Table
Who am I Really Competing Against?
Why Can't Founders Replace Themselves?
Actually, We Have Plenty of Time
Quitting vs Letting Go
How Startups Actually Get Bought
What if I'm Building the Wrong Product?
Are Founders Driven by Fear or Greed?
Why I'm Either Working or Feeling Guilty
Startup Financial Assumptions
Why Every Kid Should be a Startup Founder
We Only Have to be Right Once
If a Startup Sinks, Founders Go Down With it
Founder Success: We Need a Strict Definition of Personal Success
Is Quiet Quitting a Problem at Startup Companies?
Founder Exits are Hard Work and Good Fortune, Not "Good Luck"
Finalizing Startup Projections
All Founders are Beloved In Good Times
Our Startup Culture of Entitlement
The Bullshit Case for Raising Capital
How do We Manage Our Founder Flaws?
What If my plan for retirement is "never retire"?
Startup Failure is just One Chapter in Founder Life
6 Similarities between Startup Founders and Pro Athletes
All Founders Make Bad Decisions — and That's OK
Startup Board Negotiations: How do I tell the board I need a new deal?
Founder Sacrifice — At What Point Have I Gone Too Far?
Youth Entrepreneurship: Can Middle Schoolers be Founders?
Living the Founder Legend Isn't so Fun
Why Do VC Funded Startups Love "Fake Growth?"
How Should I Share My Wealth with Family?
How Many Deaths Can a Startup Survive?
This is Probably Your Last Success
Why Do We Still Have Full-Time Employees?
The Case Against Full Transparency

Good things happen when you’re helpful

Doug Crescenzi

Good things happen when you’re helpful

1*IdAiAhzSD24b4PI1s-RmMA

Five years ago I dropped out of a PhD program and started my first company. I had no idea what I was doing and made every mistake you could imagine. Needless to say that business didn’t last very long.

Since then I’ve gone on to start three more companies — one venture-backed, two service-based — each with varying levels of success and failure.

From these experiences there’s one lesson I’ve learned that’s remarkably simple, exceedingly powerful and virtually universal: good things happen when you’re helpful.

Clear a path and make others look good

I was recently introduced to Ryan Holiday’s “canvas strategy”. In short, his “canvas strategy” speaks to the notion of identifying mentors and actively finding ways to support them and their missions. It’s about being humble, doing the dirty work, making them look good and learning from your experiences along the way.

“Find and make canvases for other people to paint on.”

This apprentice model has proven tremendously successful throughout history. Holiday describes the best apprentices as the ones who are able to “clear a path” for their mentors.

“The Roman’s had a loose word for the concept: anteambulo and it meant a person who cleared the path in front of their patron. If you can do that successfully, you secure a quick and educational power position.”

However, many of us nowadays are too anxious to lead. That or we lack the humility to do the unsexy work that no one else wants to do. Yet the reality is if you clear a path for others, you ultimately help steer its course. At the same time you create a unique path for yourself.

So, how should you go about instituting your own “canvas strategy”?

Identify opportunities to compliment the skills of others — remove their distractions — save them time

When it comes to being helpful and instituting your own canvas strategy, you should attach yourself to people and organizations who are already successful. Additionally, you should hone in on the shortcomings they have that you can address with your strengths.

If you can identify the right people and organizations where your strengths will compliment their weaknesses, you’ll be well-positioned to make them even more successful. At the same time you’ll see first hand how they operate, the diverse problems they solve and why they do things the way they do.

Complimentary skill sets however aren’t always enough. Sometimes it’s a matter of doing what needs to get done. I.e., helping them save time and removing distractions that will hinder their progress and focus. This may not involve the most compelling set of tasks and responsibilities, but it’s an investment in your development that’s worth making.

Invest in the long-term

Too often too many of us feel entitled to success. Our egos cloud our judgement and stymie our progress. The canvas strategy, however, requires modesty and patience.

To successfully institute the canvas strategy you have to be willing to set aside your ego. It’s a long-term investment and there are significant and meaningful returns to be had.

Be comfortable playing the long game.

Help your mentors who you respect and admire succeed overtime and in parallel learn how they lead, operate and execute from within their organizations. This will present you a highly unique and vivid picture into the underlying characteristics and systems that ultimately make them successful.

“Greatness comes from humble beginnings; it comes from grunt work. It means you’re the least important person in the room — until you change that with results.” — Ryan Holiday

We approach our work with our clients in this way. That is to say, we strive to clear a path for them, compliment their weaknesses with our strengths, and invest in their long-term growth and success.

It’s rewarding work, but at the end of the day we’re entitled to nothing.

Therefore, it’s paramount we make ourselves indispensable and constantly seek to identify new canvases upon which they can paint. It’s remarkably simple, exceedingly powerful and virtually universal.

Good things happen when you’re helpful.


Also shared on Upstate Interactive.

Find this article helpful?

This is just a small sample! Register to unlock our in-depth courses, hundreds of video courses, and a library of playbooks and articles to grow your startup fast. Let us Let us show you!

Submission confirms agreement to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

Already a member? Login

No comments yet.

Start a Membership to join the discussion.

Already a member? Login

Create Free Account