Ozan Sonmez maps Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey onto startup founding, from the initial idea through crossing the threshold of leaving your job, the road of trials with constant failures, and the return where you mentor others. He explains why he tattooed the Hero's Journey on his arm and shares personal stories about the pattern every founder lives.
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Hey everyone, this is Ozan, also known as the Brutally Honest Mentor. I'm back with another dose of brutally honest advice and to showcase one of my favorite books and how it relates to the world of the founders. We'll be diving into Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey, and we'll talk about the key concept that can help you as a founder in your own journey, and most importantly, why I have actually got a tattoo of the hero's journey on my arm. So if you're ready for the truth, let's go. Let's talk about the first part of the hero's journey, which is the— let me draw this. This is where it starts. It's the call to adventure. This is in every founder's life. You can go and understand that critical moment, relive the memory of where an idea was implanted in your mind, where a conversation started that kind of intrigued you, where some inner motivation started building up because you understood a problem. You understood the challenge and you started being curious about. This is where for the founders, it's the call to adventure starts. It's the moment where it begs to be explored. It's the point where you decide you actually are getting closer to build something, build your own company, work on some problem. There is no shame in admitting that there's a point, this is also a point where you got scared a little. Which is the natural part of the journey. This is not an easy thing, being a founder is not an easy thing, and this is probably if you go back to your story as a founder, if you're listening to this, or if you are trying to build something, this is the moment where you go like, hey, wait a second, like, is this the right thing, where there's some sort of fear. And usually this is also the first step where you get into the second page. Which is the supernatural aid. In the books that Joseph Campbell wrote, he talks about this, the moment where you meet your mentor. The whole process, which is the monomyth, the spiritual aid is really critical. This is where the hero meets something or somebody, a mentor, some— like the firing bush. Message from the heavens, somebody that they bump into on the road, and that's where things get exciting. In the startup world, programs like Y Combinator actually plays this role really well. They offer guidance, they offer resources, they offer valuable networks, and actually they are the ones who kind of start pushing you into the direction where, as a founder, you need to be going. This is where you start being very proactive and getting towards the purpose. As someone who has mentored in global programs like the 500 Programs in Philippines and Middle East and other places, I can attest to the value of having someone being brutally honest here, telling you that you can do this, there is a way to do it, and don't be afraid. So that's also the point where you jump. This is where you cross the threshold. This is the status quo, where you used to live, what you used to do, the company you used to work for, and now you're getting into the nitty-gritty. This is the moment where you're kind of fully committing to your venture, you're leaving the safety of your old life behind, you start facing countless unknowns and risks, but yeah, so what? That's entrepreneurship. I mean, as a Star Wars fan, you can think of this moment where Luke Skywalker has met the mentor Obi-Wan, and now they're trying to move, and they have left Tatooine to join the Rebel Alliance. This journey might not be as epic as saving the galaxy, but it's your own personal rebellion against mediocrity, complacency, or mediocrity. And so you still need to embrace the uncertainty and be prepared to adapt. This is where you're testing your skills. And this is also the road to trials. You're going to face a lot of problems. You're going to face a lot of crises as an entrepreneur. And this journey is a series of tests and challenges. It will push you. It will get you to your limit as an entrepreneur. You will feel down. You will feel upset. But you're trying to move forward. And again, remember, Failure is part of the learning process. Failure is part of the entrepreneur's agenda anyways. The key is to move from the road to test back to safety, back to— we'll go through the steps— is to remain focused, stay resilient, and be open to change. Think about the dystopic and utopic elements of your life. Oh, can I do this? Can I not do this? What should happen if I do this? Like, you're trying to figure out what's going to happen, but this is really difficult. And in these trials, you get success, small successes where you're actually feeling right. Maybe this is your first customer. Maybe this is the moment you launch your product and it gets closer and you're getting wins up until the point where you get your ultimate tests. Maybe for you, this is fundraising. This is getting into your next stages of your product development. You are after the goal, you're after the prize, but before the prize, you need to work yourself through it, you need to get a lot of resources, and this is the moment where you beat the— for example, in the game analogy, you beat the end of the level monster. Achieving your initial goals is like trying to get to the ridge of the mountain, the top of the mountain, and then all of a sudden, you only realize there are lots of mountains ahead of you. But now as an entrepreneur, you know you can do this. You're able to finish this journey and this is okay for you now. So this is one victory and the other, but you're still very passionate going forward to become even more successful. And then these tests that you get into lead you towards becoming more sane, becoming more sage in a way, until You start your journey to get back, not necessarily where you left. So, even though it's like a 2D version, you're elevated. You have a better purpose. You have better know-how. You actually are more comfortable in moving, maybe going back into the same cycle if this point is where you have an exit, or this point is where you have been building a sustainable company, or where you have an IPO, whatever that return journey looks like to you. Now you have left the perils, you're successful. And maybe this is where you start mentoring the next generation of entrepreneurs. Maybe this is where you start investing in the other startups as an angel. And maybe this is the time where you build your, um, use your newfound knowledge to create a course, much like we're trying to do. So this is the moment where you start giving back. Uh, actually this ties to why we're doing this whole thing. We have been doing a lot of work with founders from all over the world, and the more we work, the more success we got, the more startups we invested, we have seen that there's so much room of improvements with the startup world as well. So, we decided to do these videos and the podcast to be able to give you back what we think is very important. So, hope you enjoy this short recap. I didn't go through the formal chapters of the book, but you can search it, you can download it. You can listen to it, it's a great book. But this hero's journey always ties into what we teach. We are playing roles in all of these chapters for the entrepreneurs. So if there's anything you'd like to share on your journey, anything you'd like to share about Star Wars, please join us. Send us comments, send us communications, and you can subscribe for the Brutally Honest Mentor videos and to the podcast. Awesome. for more guidance, more tips, and truth bombs. So until next time, stay strong. May the Force be with you on your entrepreneurial journey. Thank you.
