When I first read these on Herzog’s 80th birthday, something struck me: these rules could be applied not only to his brand of filmmaking—as instrumental and impactful as it was to my worldview—but also to the endeavor of a startup. A film is a commercial endeavor as much as it is an artistic one. Past a certain point, it takes money to realize a vision, and people who have money generally want a return on their investment. It took me a long time to realize this. A tough realization, but that’s it. That’s how it is. With that in mind, and through my own experience working in startups, I jot down some quick thoughts on how Herzog’s rules could be applied to building companies, while maintaining the same spirit of adventure, of daring, of creation.
1. Always take the initiative.
A successful startup is in the right place at the right time to satisfy a deep need. Without initiative, the need remains unmet for the vast majority of those seeking relief. This urgency must permeate each level of the organization, every member’s very fiber, and dictate every internal and external action. If you are not growing (market, mindshare, skillset), you are dying.
2. There is nothing wrong with spending a night in jail if it means getting the shot you need.
Startups must push the boundaries of legality, regulations, and, the most crucial and difficult, cultural norms. Laws exist to curtail existing behaviors, so you must think wildly to truly exceed the prison of small imaginations.
3. Send out all your dogs and one might return with prey.
Staying lean means staying open to experimentation. The startup is able to quickly explore many possible routes forward without the coordination overhead that would drag down a larger organization. This is a strength, and is one that the larger organization will have trouble replicating, for the lack of a will to do or the necessary muscles have long atrophied. Explore possible futures — quickly and regularly — to suss out the path to success.
4. Never wallow in your troubles; despair must be kept private and brief.
This rule applies to leadership first and foremost, in the latter part of the advice, at least. Avoiding the wallowing is general advice of all of us, no matter the types of contributions we make or the lives we decide to live.
5. Learn to live with your mistakes.
There is no undoing a botched release, a failed launch, the airing of a regrettable decision and its consequences. There is only the path forward, and that is the one you must keep your attention trained on.
6. Expand your knowledge and understanding of music and literature, old and modern.
Alan Kay said that the culture of programming is a pop culture — it is unconcerned with its history. Music and literature inform film, just as research labs and ancient dynasties inform your efforts. Yes, expand your knowledge of the arts, but also expand your knowledge of how people have worked effectively before. Good ideas, improved business practices, or even ideas on how to better run (or eliminate) meetings can come from anywhere.
7. That roll of unexposed celluloid you have in your hand might be the last in existence, so do something impressive with it.
The future is a mystery and it is unknown to us. Likewise, what you wake up in the morning to work on may be the last thing you ever work on. Ensure that it is worthy of your life energy and your efforts. Work hard at it, and take it seriously.
8. There is never an excuse not to finish a film.
You must be courageous, even in the face of an assured destruction; or worse, embarrassment. You have chosen to start this endeavor, you must choose to finish it. What does finishing look like? When you started, you must have set yourself an end condition, yes? The film has a natural end — where the celluloid runs out, when the file is uploaded to the film festival’s servers. We, in the worlds of software and business, have much more nebulous endpoints. As such, they must be decided by those bold enough to begin them.
9. Carry bolt cutters everywhere.
When the current state of your venture is an idea gestating in your mind, your access to the world’s resources will be limited. And not only that, they will be locked away by those that wish to retain those resources for themselves. You must break through those barriers to fulfill your vision. Learn to be more charismatic, and also find ways to be more useful to others. They may repay you by unlocking doors you cannot unlock yourself.
10. Thwart institutional cowardice.
Inertia is a powerful force, and even more so when its existence is hidden, or even more so when it is denied. Fear of change is powerful, especially when it brew within organizations that nominally pride themselves on innovation. Find those kindred spirits within, and hold them tight. Let them live out their fantasies through you; become an avatar to their desire for freedom and daring.
11. Ask for forgiveness, not permission.
Attempting to receive a blessing from an authority figure for something that’s even slightly outside of their way of thinking will leave you wanting. It is important to take action and prove the value and worth of what you would have waited for permission to do. Choose wisely here. A failure will necessitate a request for forgiveness, but a success will lead to momentum.
12. Take your fate into your own hands.
Failures will come, as will successes. This does not mean that you are unable to influence the outcome of your endeavors. Continue to push on the aspects you can control, and you will find that you will have more and more success.
13. Learn to read the inner essence of a landscape.
Discard your preconceived notions, again and again. You may have studied the market and the players, and developed a picture against which to act, but you must constantly revisit the field and update again. If you read everything superficially, you will become stuck in analysis. If you are able to intuit the core at a glance, you will be able to keep ahead.
14. Ignite the fire within and explore unknown territory.
If you read that landscape well, you will be able to find the viable paths out that are most likely to lead you to that which you treasure most.
15. Walk straight ahead, never detour.
Once you have decided on a course of action, commit! There is a time to explore and there is a time to act. And you must act, again and again and again, all in service of reaching your destination.
16. Maneuver and mislead, but always deliver.
There will be times when those who desire your failure will attempt to use your own missteps against you. Do not give them the opportunity. Do not telegraph your actions before you are ready to finish, or the momentum towards a successful outcome is such that only the end of civilization would stop it.
17. Don’t be fearful of rejection.
Rejection only happens in your mind. Collect these opinions so that you may prove them wrong in the long run.
18. Develop your own voice.
Do not waste your time solely imitating what others have done, nor should you waste your time chasing a competitor’s successes. What is it that they are missing? What do you see that no one else does? Find that, nurture that, allow that to grow.
19. Day one is the point of no return.
Julius Cesar knew this before he even crossed the Rubicon river. Your true first day is the day that you decide to fully commit. You will know in your heart when you are no longer pretending.
20. A badge of honor is to fail a film theory class.
What is a credential, if not a validation for others who have credentialed themselves in the same way? Theory often follows practice. Leave the theorizing to the VCs and the academics and the retirees writing business books. Your concern is developing a practice. Focus on that.
21. Chance is the lifeblood of cinema.
You will never know if your next move will be the correct move. You must take chances, and take many of them! You must be prepared to fail in many small ways, allowing for one of those many small failures to grow into a success that will see you through to the next batch of small failures. Do not be discouraged! For these failures are the fertile soil in which that one success will grow.
22. Guerrilla tactics are best.
We may recognize these as what an insurgency uses when fighting a stronger, regular opponent — ambush, sabotage, raids, propaganda, and so on. The tactics themselves, in our context, are immaterial — what we need to recognize is that there are paths forward for a weaker opponent against a stronger one, and that those tactics differ. One must not attempt to act as if one were an entrenched giant when one is not. This is a lumbering path that assures defeat.
23. Take revenge if need be.
Revenge may be a dish best served cold, particularly if that is cold hard cash. Use the slights and insults and doubt of others as fuel for your own fire. Your success will be the foundation of any revenge you decide to mete out to the deserving.
24. Get used to the bear behind you.
Because you have not yet died does not mean you will live forever. The bear is hungry, so playing dead will not save you. The bear is monstrously huge, so hiding behind a Series C or within a larger entity will not save you. The bear is fast, so you cannot slow down. The bear is always there and will always be there.
With apologies to Werner Herzog, whose original rules were written for filmmakers and borne from his experience doing the seemingly-impossible. Thanks to Robert Goldel for taking a look at an earlier version of this.