First printed book was the not most important one

April 4th, 2012 § 1 comment

I’m reading Guttenberg the Geek, fantastic essay / biography by Jeff Jarvis, focusing on entrepreneurial aspects of famous inventor.

Several topics here are super interesting, like similarities between inventors, geeks, entrepreneurs, and what it means for the future of mankind.

Guttenberg Bible

Guttenberg Bible (Photo credit: Joe Shlabotnik)

However, one is not so obvious, but it might be inspiring for new generations of entrepreneurs around the web – Guttenberg spent a lot of time, energy and risk in building out the typeset and printing the first book.

The situation was much harder than anything today – he could not know if he will even survive the project, but let’s still compare this risk and emotional investment with today’s entrepreneurs – geeks between 20 and 30, who choose the uncertain but shiny path of building their business.

The project you are working on, should compensate for the conditions of extreme uncertainty. Compensate by reward and/or importance for yourself, human kind, the planet.

The product you will be judged upon should encapsulate the shiny core of the promise, of the better world. That’s why Guttenberg wouldn’t stop until he fulfilled his mission and printed the Bible – there were several smaller projects before it, to perfect the technique, but nobody really talks about them these days.

He was able to change the world because he endured on his journey until he could crown the disruptive technology, with a really memorable crown. Respect.

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