When you read about successful entrepreneurs, you find that most have had moments when they had to take leaps of faith. Moreover, successful entrepreneurs have almost universally exhibited “grit” – the ability to solve seemingly insurmountable problems. I thought about this last night as we decided whether to green light the new location, despite some issues.I was out of the office most of last week; but, I kept tabs on things remotely. The rest of our team went to the potential site this past Thursday. Our team had a big day planned – giving various consultants and vendors tours of the site and negotiations with the landlord. We were almost giddy with enthusiasm about the visit, hoping to wrap things up quickly.

By the end of the day, our mood was somber. One consultant had identified a sizable potential issue. The landlord was unwilling to fix the problem. We went into the holiday weekend with this issue weighing heavily on our minds. By today (the first working day after the long weekend), our mood was downright melancholy. I had lunch with one of the team members, and she told me that she was seriously worried about being “bored” with her job if we didn’t land a location soon. After all, we’d be a startup without a business.

I played the manager role, trying to put a positive spin on things. But in doing so, we began to talk about workarounds to the identified issues. By the time we finished our lunch, we were feeling fairly good that one or a combination of the things we discussed could work. We needed to get engineers to run calculations to actually confirm this though. After lunch, we talked with my partner about our ideas, and he agreed that there was some promise there. In the late afternoon, I spoke with an engineering consulting firm. They were going to run the calculations, but they didn’t state by when.

Unfortunately, we don’t have the opportunity to wait for the calculations. My partner received a call around 6 PM from the property manager. Apparently, another party went to look at the site today and wants to take it. The manager told us that if the other party shows up with the deposit tomorrow, he’ll rent it to them. He made clear that giving us some extra time to decide is not an option.

It’s an open question as to whether the property manager is lying about the other party. However, our team agreed that we had a decision to make: Go or no-go. The lawyer in me was screaming out that this is a mistake – if this doesn’t work out, we’re out a lot of money. However, I’ve learned through reading about and speaking with others that to be successful as an entrepreneur – especially in China – you’re likely to have to take a few leaps of faith. While we were deciding tonight, I thought about one successful entrepreneur I know. He told me that he once had to forge his wife’s signature to refinance their home in order to meet payroll. I also thought quickly about Richard Branson, and the calculated risks he’s taken over the years.

We decided to go for it. Time will tell whether this leap was prudent or stupid – I guess the more experience you have with this sort of thing, the better you can judge within the moment. We’ll also certainly have to be gritty to make successful workarounds - plus, maintaining a positive attitude when the going gets tough. After our team unanimously agreed to proceed, I looked at the colleague with whom I had earlier lunched and said “At least you won’t be bored now.”

(My partner called the manager, and told him we’ll take the place.  The manager said it’s ours.  I just hope that he doesn’t screw us by leasing it to the other party anyway…)

Dec. 18 - We went to look at a new production location first thing this morning. Even better than the one we almost rented! And, we think these guys are sincere and want to move quickly. Fingers crossed…

Dec. 17 - Bad, bad day.  We were supposed to get final comments from the to-be landlord of our first production location.  Even half-expected to sign the lease today, but no later than tomorrow.  The final comment was “I just found out from my boss that we are going to tear it down in two years.  You may not want to rent it after all.”  WHAT???!!!!

The silver lining was that we didn’t rent it, only to have to move out in less than two years.  As a friend pointed out, many landlords’ M.O. would be to rent it to you anyway.  Good point.  But then, were they telling the truth?

No, they were not telling the truth.  My partner is Chinese and pretty guanxi-nated.  He made a call to somebody who knows somebody much more senior than the people with whom we were dealing.  The word came back: There are absolutely no plans to tear it down. 

It turns out that we could have applied pressure to get them to sign the lease.  However, they could make life hell for us on a day-to-day basis, since somebody at the property level obviously doesn’t like us.  So, there went the better part of two months’ work down the drain.  I had even cancelled a trip to Bali with my wife in order to work on this.

Nov. 29 - Today’s drama also revolves around the office move.  We negotiated to have one of the 4 bathrooms on the floor exclusively for our company.  Thing is, it’s a squatting toilet.  Squatters are definitely not one of China’s better contributions to the world.  We went to B&Q to buy a new toilet.  They said they could send it over, take out the old toilet, install the new one, etc.  When they found out that they’d have to take out a squatter though, it was a different story.

We can’t install it.  Too much work.  Even for more money?  Yes, even for more money.  Then it turns out that we found out the salesperson doesn’t actually work for the store (B&Q), but rather for the toilet distributor.  When we asked whether another brand’s distributor might be more enterprising, the salesperson categorically said this would not be the case.  Unfortunately, none of the other salespeople would speak with us because they didn’t want to cause the obstinate one to lose face (or a sale).  Finally, after a lot of persuasion, one salesperson gave us the card of an independent installer.  Seeing as how we could actually get it hooked up, we then bought the toilet.

Someday, we hope that we can actually do some work…

Nov. 27 - We moved offices today.  It’s typical of China that the things you expect to cause trouble don’t; but, the things you don’t expect to cause trouble actually do.  Moving the furniture to our new office went smoothly actually.  The big surprise of the day was the locksmith.

We called a locksmith in to replace our lock – standard practice when renting an office or apartment.  The guy showed up, didn’t really say anything, and just got to work.  Nobody really paid him much attention, but after a while I noticed that he was gone and there was no lock on the door.  I didn’t think much about it, as I figured he was downstairs getting parts or whatever.

 About one hour later, around 4 PM, he called my partner to say that he was outside, and wouldn’t be able to come back until the next day to put a lock back in the hole.  Unf—kingbelievable!  He wasn’t too concerned that our furniture and IT equipment would all be unsecured.  Anyway, we fired him and told him not to come back.  He had the audacity to argue that we owed him money!