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…)