Important Entrepreneurship Lessons From a Fearless Mountain Climber

By Mark Harari

One of the most captivating films I've ever seen just so happens to be a documentary. Free Solo is a National Geographic film that profiles Alex Honnold, a “free soloist,” on his quest to climb the 3,000-foot sheer granite face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park—and I found it full of important entrepreneurship lessons.

If you're not familiar with the term, free soloing is a form of technical ice or rock climbing in which the climbers do so without any protective equipment whatsoever. No ropes. No harnesses. No nothing. They must rely entirely on their strength and skill.

This documentary is about Alex’s mission to conquer El Capitan. No one has ever climbed it free solo—it’s that challenging. Most consider a free solo attempt to be certain death. In fact, El Cap (as climbers call it) has long been considered “the moon landing” of free soloing.

Besides being a breathtaking, jaw-dropping, fear-inducing spectacle of a film, there are many parallels that can be drawn between the free solo climb of El Capitan and growing your business. The film is full of important entrepreneurship lessons for anyone trying to grow a business.

Free soloing and growing your business

The most obvious parallel is the risk we take as entrepreneurs. Just like free soloing, a poorly timed misstep can result in the rapid, untimely death of your business—but that’s much too obvious, and I don't do obvious.

No, one of the important entrepreneurship lessons that struck me was a moment toward the end of the film. Alex had started his climb and was about a quarter of the way to reaching the summit. The director pulls away from a close-up on Alex to a wide shot of the mountain, so you may see his relative position on the granite face. The director then “draws” a digital yellow line onto its face to show the path Alex has taken thus far, and what remains.

That's when it really hits you; Alex's climb to the summit is far from linear.

He moves upward and to the left (ten o’clock) as he passes “Triangle Ledge.” Then he moves to the right (two o’clock), and then back to ten o’clock as he navigates around “Half Dollar.” So, his progress is technically an inefficient path upward (since the shortest distance between two points is a straight line). But the path is necessary in order to circumvent the obstacles before him.

Growing your company is exactly the same. It would be great if growth were a straight line to the summit, but obstacles inevitably will hinder your path.

Sometimes you need to go down before you can go up

When Alex finally arrives at “Mammoth Terraces,” about 750 feet up the 3,000-foot face, he must move horizontally to the left. During this part of the climb, he is not advancing upward toward the summit. He remains 750 feet from his starting point for quite a while as he navigates to the point at which he can resume the climb. And as if this lack of progress up the mountain face isn't bad enough, he then must downclimb nearly 200 feet to “Heart Ledges” before he can begin his ascent again.

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It's not until Alex is three hours into his climb (yes, three hours) when he finally reaches the “Boulder Problem.” This part of the climb requires Alex to make five or six different “moves” without progressing an inch. He literally stays in one spot, exerting an incredible amount of energy for no other reason than to get his body and limbs in the correct position so that he may make the extremely dangerous reach for his next hold.

That's when it all came together for me. Not only is progress not linear—sometimes progress means staying put. Although it may be frustrating to exert so much energy without growth, it may be necessary in order to get a better foothold. There will be times when you will need to make sure every limb of your company is in the right position before you can continue your advance.

For example, I’ve seen an $800,000 remodeling company stall because their system of delivery simply cannot handle any more projects. They must stay at $800,000 until they are able to reposition all the limbs (the production department, the design department, the sales team, and so on) in a configuration that will be ready to handle the next upward climb.

Even more frustrating than moving horizontally, however, is the realization that sometimes progress means a downclimb is necessary. Taking a step back can feel like a failure, but if done deliberately and with purpose, it can be the perfect move to redirect your climb toward the summit of success.

An example would be if our $800,000 remodeler decided that his best path to growth would be to reposition his company in the marketplace. Perhaps he discovered that there’s an underserved segment in the market—there are no companies that provide handicap accessible remodeling services—and he wants to dominate that segment.

This move would corner an entire subset of his market and set his company up as the leader in the space. However, during the transition, he would likely see a decrease in sales and profitability for a year or two. He’d need to retrain employees, get certifications, and invest in rebranding and new marketing campaigns.

But the downclimb is necessary to reach the end goal. This is known in economics as a J-Curve, a trend that begins with a sharp drop but is followed by a dramatic rise.

Most important entrepreneurship lesson is to stay the course

So remember, regardless of what path you take in your journey, one of the most important entrepreneurship lessons to take away from Hammond's quest is that progress is never a straight line upwards. What’s more, it may require you to stay put for a while. And in some instances, it may necessitate a step back.

Don’t let it discourage you. Stay strong. Stay the course. You will reach the summit.

And if you haven’t seen it yet, you absolutely must check out Free Solo. I dare you to watch it without closing your eyes at least once.

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