A short YouTube talk by Scott Duffy recounting how Howard Schultz’s story about his wife’s support reframed Duffy’s view of entrepreneurship. Duffy defines the most important person in any business as the “Chief Venting Officer” (CVO) — the spouse/partner who shares financial and emotional burden — and gives practical tips for keeping that partner aligned: agree on acceptable financial/time risk, agree on a communication strategy, and choose appropriate timing for difficult conversations. Ends with a brief closing and call-to-action to scottduffy.com.
Chapters
Hi, my name is Scott Duffy, and today I want to tell you about an experience I had a couple years ago that just had an enormous impact on my life. I had an opportunity to go and see Howard Schultz speak. You know, Howard Schultz, the CEO and the founder of Starbucks? And I was so excited. I mean, I look to Howard as an uber entrepreneur. I drink his coffee every day. I'm probably his biggest fan. And I remember that at the end of his talk, I was a little disappointed because it was kind of corporate in nature. And as an entrepreneur, I was trying to figure out, how do I relate? And then Howard stood up and he told a story, and like I said, it totally changed my life. He told a story about how when he got started, he was an entrepreneur just like you. He didn't have all the resources that he needed to get started, just like most of us. How he had been working every day and every night for 18 months without a paycheck, and he was bootstrapping, like most entrepreneurs need to do. And then one day he got a call, and the call was from his father in law, who didn't live anywhere nearby, but said, howard, I just happen to be in Seattle, and I'd love to have a conversation with you right now. And Howard knew what was coming. You see, his father in law said that, look, you know, my daughter, your wife, is eight months pregnant, and she's the only person that's bringing home a paycheck. And maybe it's time to put this idea on pause. Maybe it's time, you know, to put it on hold. And Howard went home, closed early, and he said to his wife, he said, you know, this is what happened today. Here's the conversation. I'm ready to give up tomorrow. And she said, no way. She said, howard, this isn't just your dream. It's our dream. It's not just your vision. It's our vision. And they stayed up and they figured it out. And what I realized in that moment was as a young guy, I used to think that I was always the most important person in the companies that I started because I was like the CEO or the founder of fancy titles or whatever. But the most important person in every business is what I call the cvo, our Chief venting officer. That's the person at home. That's the husband, the wife, the spouse, the significant other that's usually in with us together, financially, emotionally, all those things. It has to hear about it. And so what I learned is this. I learned that in order to have our CVs behind us. There's a couple things that we want to do, two, three tips I want to give you today, and you should apply them immediately. The first is this. Go have a cup of coffee. I mean, go talk to that person in your life who's in this with you and make sure that you're on the same page in terms of how much you're willing to risk financially, how much time you're willing to risk and give to this venture. So again, you start from the same page because I would rather risk less in order to have my partner on the same page. That's number one. Number two, find out what their communication strategy is. And here's what I mean. All of us like to be like some CDOs. They want to be totally in it. They want to hear everything. They want it blow by blow. Others, it's just way too much for them. And so what I encourage you to do is find out how much information you, your spouse or significant other wants. And then the last thing is find out when to give it to them. One of the things that I learned from my wife is the last thing that she wants is to hear about a tough day right before we're going to go to bed, right? So kind of figure those things out and plan those things out, and I promise it's going to help you. One more thing that I learned from my wife, Rachel, is this love with an entrepreneur is spelled T I M E. Give your partner time. For more, go to scottduffy.com and have an awesome day. Bye. Bye.
