I recently saw the movie Dreamgirls, since I’m a huge Beyonce fan. What some people don’t know is that Dreamgirls is a loose translation of the story of the Supremes, the most successful African-American singing group of the 1960s and one of the most famous all-girl bands of all time. The band was founded by Florence Ballard, widely seen as the group’s most powerful and best singer. Ballard ended up dead at age 32 largely due to chronic depression and alcoholism. She just couldn’t get over the fact that she essentially lost control of her dream for factors that had nothing to do with her or her talent, namely that Diana Ross was slimmer and looked more biracial and thus more appealing to a predominately white audience in the US in the 1950s / 1960s (remember that the legal segregation of blacks and whites ended in the US only in 1954 ).

In some sense, Dreamgirls is an all-American story of Rags to Riches. But why is it that the founder and most talented member of the group ended up dead and bankrupt while the less talented back-up singer became an international star with millions of dollars in her bank account? As I watched the movie, it made me reflect a lot on my current project, migoa.com, a vertical search engine focused on homes, jobs and cars that we will launch soon. Finding financing for an ambitious start-up is not easy in general, but even less so in Spain, and there have been many times when I have related very much to Florence Ballard’s frustration over the fact that her dream was in danger of being taken from her. It’s easy to become frustrated when you realise that:

• A lot of times, the key ingredient to success is not talent, it’s luck. Or put another way, being in the right place at the right time. The most important skill in this regard is being able to identify the opportunity and try to take advantage of it, but even then you might still end up failing for reasons that have nothing to do with you or your individual talent:
• It’s really painful to watch as your dream is taken away from you or at least severely compromised, particularly when others might profit more than you do from your original ideas, dedication and passion. A lot of entrepreneurs end up being forced to leave their own companies when outside investors / VCs decide to bring in better, more professional management. In many cases, it might be the right business decision, but it still sucks if you are the entrepreneur that founded the company.
• Life isn’t always fair, and complaining about this truism is pointless. You just have to get over it and keep moving forward.

As a matter of fact, the most celebrated part of the movie “Dreamgirls” comes when the Florence Ballard character gets kicked out of her own band, and she sings one of the best and most powerful songs ever written: “And I Am Telling You That I’m Not Going”. (I’ve attached a copy of the original Broadway version of the song sung by the legendary Jennifer Holliday in 1982.) The point of the song is that she’s telling the other members of her band–and a former lover that profited from her initial leadership–that no matter what, she’s not going anywhere. She sings: “I’m staying, and you’re gonna love me!” That has become my motto in life! The song is really about perseverance, single-minded obsession, determination, borderline insanity and above all else passion. Despite the tragic elements of the story, these are the traits that I most identify with as to me they define the essence of a true entrepreneur–the mix of passion and determination with a hint of insanity and almost evangelical faith.

So as people talk about “dead pools” of web 2.0 companies, or about the fact that the majority of start-ups fail, I just keep telling myself that “I’m Not Going”. Life is tough sometimes and it’s often not fair, but that’s just too bad. Adapt or die, but you’ve got to continue dreaming, having faith and working really hard, of course.