A nice cold beer in a lively bar surrounded by friends, can anything good come from this? If you know the Warby Parker story, you know something exquisite can come from bars, beers, and napkins. Warby Parker as presented on NPR’s “How I Built This” podcast, showcased entrepreneurship as the result of a solution to a widespread problem . . . expensive eyeglasses that people often lose or break. The co-founders and friends created a company offering quality inexpensive glasses online with excellent customer service. It took a simple ‘bar, beer, and napkin discussion’ to produce a business plan, which was initially seen as unconventional but later proven effective. Neil (co-founder) used the term “deliberate serendipity” along with luck and timing to describe their success, and I agree. However, it was not just luck and timing; there were some significant recognizable actions.
The Warby Parker story reveals some characteristics of entrepreneurs that you might expect. I would like to highlight some of the aspects that I found interesting and share an application and personal example of how I used one of the aspects.
The Warby Parker founders discovered a problem and used out of the box thinking to address the problem. They did not listen to naysayers. They devised their business plan in the bar over drinks with napkins. The bar and napkins seem to be essentials in coming up with great ideas and plans. The Warby Parker founders invested their money, worked without a salary for over a year, and ultimately sought a creative way to continue funding their business. They also consistently overcame a variety of unforeseen issues. However, I would posit that their friendship and willingness to embrace customer service proved invaluable to the success of Warby Parker.
I think bars, drinks, and napkins create an atmosphere of creativity, which can be used to address typical everyday problems; such as re-designing a class or updating a service. Why not leave the classroom or the conference room and go to the local pub for beverages and conversation that leads to great ideas or plans? When meeting at the pub, you can use out of the box thinking to energize the conversation, of course depending on the beverage choice; the beverage may stimulate just as well. But all kidding aside, I think there is much to be gained from approaching problems in a relaxed atmosphere.
Personally, I find engaging people over food and drinks is a fantastic way to learn about them and their ideas. I often used dinner parties when I served in leadership positions in the United States Air Force to build camaraderie. The camaraderie permitted us to address problems more efficiently when in the formal work setting. I never considered my parties to be entrepreneurial, but after listening to the Warby Parker story, I see that my parties served as the bar that ultimately led to a work environment that permitted the generation of creative ideas that allowed us to solve problems.