Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue

"What????? You gotta be kidding me." I said to my mother's friend as she said that my wife to be had to have "Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue..."

"What kind of friggin wives' tale...?" I thought to myself - "This must be some white people sh*t"...

"What does that even mean?" It was nearly 25 years ago and I was about to get married.

I just didn't get it. Why was this so important to her? Almost 25 years later - it makes all the sense in the world. I'm the old man in the office now. Now I love quotes, and sayings. I drive the young people in the office crazy with stories and sayings.

"Something new" stood for hope and optimism for the future. "Something borrowed" from a happily married friend or relative to bring good luck for the union. The color blue stood for love, purity, and fidelity.

The tradition is based on an Old English rhyme that dates back to 19th-century Lancashire. It describes the items a bride should have on her wedding day: "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, a sixpence in your shoe."

See even back then people knew that marriage can be tough and you need all the help you can get. A startup company is just like a marriage (....in more ways than one - believe me). It can be the best thing in the world, it can be the worst thing in the world - it can consume you, it can improve you, fulfill you, it can hurt you, and drain you. Sometimes all in the same day. Just like marriage.

Machiavelli has the best quote for a startup:

“There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.

Wow! Just wow! Man was he right about that one...

I know this post is fragmented and a little hard to follow, but that's on purpose because I want you to think. Relationships with people are hard, taking the lead in the introduction of something new is hard. Being in a startup means you want to do both - quite possibly without any money. This is going to be hard!

I work for a startup studio called CyberMe (shameless plug), and I moved to Saudi Arabia as well. I'm going to be here for at least two years (see the new marriage parallel). CyberMe isn't making 1 startup - it's making several per year (can you hear Machiavelli).

Tony Robbins says:

It’s not the lack of resources, it’s your lack of resourcefulness that stops you.

Let me know if you are crazy enough to be interested in working at a startup as a CEO, CTO, Product Manager, Project Manager, Lead Developer, Developer, or QA - just bring be sure to bring "Something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue..."