Blog #6: My Identity Kit (Real or Mushfake?)

The human nature to connect and become proficient in a new discourse is both challenging and rewarding. At times, individuals are in a position where he or she may have to ‘mushfake’ their presences to obtain validation. Within a business pitch meeting, ‘mushfaking’ is a fine line to walk, the difference between being taken seriously or as a joke.

At an early age I developed a business type mindset, where whatever I want in life I would have to create my own path to success. After attending Philadelphia University for one year, I decided to drop out in pursuit of starting my own business. From this initial commitment, I had “partial acquisition coupled with meta-knowledge and strategies to make-do” (13).

Young and ambitious, I knew my strengths and weaknesses. Thereby I needed a partner to counter the areas in which I did not excel. My best friend growing up was the right fit, for we are both similar and different in the areas essential for a consumer entertainment-based business.

Although we both had previous work experience, we were far from knowing what starting and running a successful business truly entailed. Upping the ante, our business plan was based in the Cayman Islands. Clearly this was going to be no easy feat, but we knew proper planning prevents poor performance.

Financially our business would require an investment from venture capitalists, thus we had to build a professional business plan and presentation. Setting the pitch meeting six months away put everything in perspective.

To curb the level of ‘mushfaking’ we spent endless hours on researching and developing each aspect of our business plan: the cover page, executive summary, company overview, industry analysis, customer analysis, competitive analysis, marketing plan, operations plan, management team, financial plan. The reality of the situation was initially overwhelming, but as we expanded our knowledge we felt more confident. Fast forwarding, one week before the pitch we wanted to add more credibility to the business plan and ourselves. We decided to ‘mushfake’ our business name by falsely presenting it as trademarked. Also, generally professional people have business cards, so we created and printed out some on an offhand software. Looking back, lets just say the thought is what counted!

The Pitch! Walking in, suit tie binder laptops, we were feeling nervous but our passion and excitement solidified our confidence; strong positive body language. Our presentation went well overall, but the realization of ‘mushfaking’ was soon uncovered from the venture capitalists through critical questions. How would currency exchange play into the profits based on that the Cayman Islands use KYD? How much time have we actually spent in the Cayman Islands to understand the market? Why not branch onto an already established business, less risk and barriers to entry?..etc.

Not knowing or have even thought about some of their questions did hinder us, but a respect factor for us remained strong. If anything, the questions they presented allowed them to uncover the areas where they could give us guidance. They supported us and our idea, but the first thing they needed was for us to actually move to the Cayman Islands to understand the industry first hand. They also recommended to expand our knowledge and language that we should read The Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup by Noam Wasserman and The Portable MBA in Entrepreneurship by William D. Bygrave, DBA & Andrew Zacharakis, PhD.

Taking their advice we planned out our move to the Cayman Islands. However, right before leaving my business partner’s mother was having health issues. As a result, we ended up putting things on hold, which lead to things falling apart and ending this business plan.

Looking back I wouldn’t change a thing, for what I learned from that experience still encompasses who I am today. The knowledge from not only the work and research put into the business plan, but also from ‘mushfaking’ is invaluable to my current venture. Additionally, I have worked higher-level jobs where I had to manage people and essential aspects to the companies. Parallel to those jobs, I have also gained perspective and language from my college courses.

My past and current life experiences are evolving me from a once aspiring entrepreneur ‘mushfake discourse’ to simply now a discourse. I believe one will always have to ‘mushfake’ it in some aspect because the world, people, and industries are in a constant state of progression. The only way to curb this is to define what ‘IT’ is to you, then as Amy Cuddy states, “don't fake it till you make it. Fake it till you become it. Do it enough until you actually become it and internalize.”