There was just something about The Founder that made it an instant classic movie to watch for entrepreneurs.
The first Steve Jobs movie was meh (sorry Ashton). The second one with Michael Fassbender was great, even though there were really only two scenes in the entire movie. And don’t forget The Social Network made everyone obsessed with the pursuit of a billion dollars.
But there was something about The Founder that put it in a league of its own. What follows are the three biggest entrepreneur takeaways from this movie. Here’s what I can tell without ruining the whole experience for you:
Persistence
Ray Kroc was a travelling milkshake machine salesman in his 50s when he first met the McDonald brothers. Think about that for a second and let it sink in.
Just like the founder of KFC, Ray had to go through many years of struggle, failed ideas, and dead ends before he hit the jackpot. Most of you reading this article right now are probably in your 20s, 30s, and maybe 40s. How long do you think you could wait for success?
Are you willing to keep going, day in and day out, and not see even an ounce of success until your 50? I know most people probably would give up long before then. But not Ray Kroc. He had an insatiable desire for success that pushed him to keep trying the next thing. And do you know what kept Ray going?
Persistence. That human quality that you can’t teach in school. It’s a trait that all of the greats share in common. To high achievers, failure is just a stepping stone on the path to success. And the only way to reach success is to possess a dogged persistence that will help you overcome any obstacles in your way.
So the next time you catch yourself growing impatient, or on the verge of giving up, just remember Ray Kroc. Remember how long he had to wait before he stumbled upon the McDonald brothers and turned their small operation into a billion-dollar machine.
Ambition
I applaud the McDonald brothers for what they started. The iterations they went through to create the first successful McDonald's restaurant were straight from the playbook of the Lean Startup Methodology. But, unfortunately they couldn’t see the bigger picture like Ray Kroc could.
The McDonald brothers were worried about one operation when Ray envisioned thousands across the nation. And throughout the movie there were multiple points of contention between both sides. Ray would have an idea to grow the business, and the McDonalds would shoot it down because they refused to do anything that didn’t align with their brand.
For entrepreneurs, this is an important point. Yes, you should defend the beliefs your company was built on. But what happens when your beliefs don’t help the company scale successfully?
The most famous example is when Steve Jobs was thrown out of his own company. But where Steve Jobs had the tenacity and persistence to eventually earn his company back, the McDonald brothers were ultimately run out of the very business they started.
Why did this happen? Because they didn’t have the same ambition as Ray Kroc. While the McDonalds were content to keep running their small business, Ray was out to build an empire. And if it wasn’t for Ray Kroc, we may never have known the name of McDonald’s outside of San Bernardino.
The moral of this lesson is be careful who you let in bed with you when you are the founder and CEO of your own company. It’s ok if you just want to run a small business successfully. Just be careful if you join forces with a VC or partner who have different ideas in mind.
Ruthlessness
There’s really no other way to put this: Ray Kroc was a ruthless son-of-a-gun. I’m not going to give away some of the things he pulled off in the movie, but by the end of it you just feel bad for the McDonald brothers. However, there is a lot we can learn from Kroc’s ruthlessness rather than just signing him off as a terrible person.
In case you didn’t notice, the land of startups is a dog-eat-dog world. As a startup founder, you are constantly under attack from all sides. A billion-dollar incumbent may release a new product feature that is in direct competition with yours (*cough* Facebook/Instagram *cough*). A new entrant receives a $200 million funding round with an idea that could put you out of business tomorrow.
As a founder, if you aren’t ready to do whatever it takes to win, then you might as well quit because you’re playing the wrong game. As the great Ricky Bobby once said, “If you ain’t first, you’re last.”
And that’s why Ray Kroc won in the hamburger business. His ruthlessness wouldn’t allow him to lose this opportunity, especially not after 50 years of mediocrity. Ruthlessness, just like persistence and ambition, cannot be learned in school. While there may be downsides to being ruthless, some of the greats used it to their advantage.
There’s a reason why Steve Jobs built Apple into the greatest company in the world. There’s a reason why Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant would destroy you on the court without a second thought. These people did whatever it took to win in their respective arenas, and it certainly paid off.
So ask yourself, are you willing to win at all costs like Ray Kroc? If not, the closing scene of The Founder will show you exactly how well that worked out for the McDonald brothers in the end.
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In conclusion, The Founder is the best movie to watch for both aspiring and current entrepreneurs alike. Go catch it in theaters before it’s too late!