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There is no Us without I - We all need to start our own business

Writer's picture: Max BrenesMax Brenes

I registered becausewhatif.com at the same time I registered the highcrowdfund.com domain. Back then, I already had it clear in my head that highcrowdfund would be for all of Us, for the community. Even though I would be a heavy user myself (after all, I thought of the concept because I didn’t have a good place to share my own wacky business ideas!), I also knew that sooner or later, Cadejo Dido’s observations, rants, personal projects, realizations, and in general opinion pieces would need their own place.


I am still in the process of organizing the site and doing the split, but while listening today to Jen Cincero’s “You are a Badass” I had a realization. She was talking about how one of the most important things she did was to make her motto: “I just want to see what I can get away with.”


That really resonated with me because it really encapsulates the core reason for becausewhatif.com. I can now see clearly how there is a powerful thread that connects all the non-business ideas posts I’ve written until now. “I just want to see if I can start a successful business, I just want to see if I can sell my art, I just want to see…” are literally mentioned by Jen and also embedded in my own path.

However, Jen’s message to me then is not to go ahead and do things. I have never been afraid of taking risks, giving opinions, and advocating for myself. My problem has always been exactly what I just wrote in this very same sentence: my tendency to find flaws and barriers that delay or undermine what can be done now and in the future. Because there is no future without the now. So do something that gets you closer to something you want, whatever it is. Progress and iterate.


I’ve always prided myself on my ability to think strategically, consider all angles, and plan around issues or limitations as much as possible. I think Jen (and certainly my wife) would argue this is almost always self-sabotage versus PPPPP (“proper planning prevents poor performance”). I would have dismissed this and rolled my eyes, just as I have dismissed most of the self-help advice I have received. I am finally starting to see their point though.

I launched highcrowdfund.com as a work in progress exactly to get around this tendency. I often allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good, shutting down early feedback to protect my feelings and insecurities and setting myself up to feel down when the more polished version is not a success overnight.


In business terms, highcrowdfund and becausewhatif are both essentially lowering the barriers of entry; the former, in creating opportunities for capital creation, and the latter in healing and further understanding of the world. My hope is that highcrowdfund does the same for as many people as possible and that some might find inspiration to move forward from what I share in becausewhatif.

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