Entrepreneurial Polygamy

If you work on several venture ideas in parallel, is it like polygamy, where no venture gets enough attention? Or is it more like having several babies, which is normally valid?

If you’re like me, then part of your “curse” is that every now and then you find a brilliant idea, and after quick validations it seems that about every month you have a new promising solid venture idea to work on. The problem? ”All covet all lose”.

When you’re expected to be “fully dedicated” to your venture it means that 100% of your free resources should be spent on your venture. Since you probably fell in love with your new venture, dedication will come naturally. But then comes another idea, and another one, and they’re all valid. Then what? If the “entrepreneurial characteristics” in you had driven you to start working on the first venture idea, then are they gone when a second idea pops up?

I found out that when a new opportunity comes and I don’t do anything about it, the bad feeling of missing out the opportunity is very similar when you’re not working on anything yet, and when you’re already working on something. So I invented a new concept: “entrepreneurial polygamy”, and here’s how it goes:

You take one venture to be your “baby”. The one you love the most. You spend 100% of your free resources on it. Then you give 25% of your remaining resources on another venture which you think is also very promising. Then half of that on another one, and so on, until you dedicate one breath a day on the last venture.

Entrepreneurial polygamy stops at the moment you define as the time when a crucial barrier one of your ventures passed (e.g., initial funding, media coverage, successful prototype, etc). Then that particular venture becomes your only venture, your one baby. This means entrepreneurial polygamy is made only for the pre-funding stages.

Downsides? Plenty:

1. You actually lose the ability to live (I’m not even talking about “happily”) for that period
2. You’re not REALLY dedicated to ANY venture, so you can’t really satisfy your part as a partner
3. It’s like cheating on your partners

Upsides? Several:

1. You shoot in all directions, so you have better chances to hit
2. You become knowledgeable in various fields
3. You satisfy your egoistic entrepreneurial needs

Bottom line is, entrepreneurial polygamy is a crazy concept. Then again, that’s the beauty of it. It scares me and attracts me.

So what do you think? Is working on several venture ideas in parallel like polygamy, where no venture gets enough attention? Or is it more like having several babies, which is normally valid?