There’s a thing I call Startup Bro Culture. Basically, it’s self-efficacy but lack of self respect disguised as authenticity.

Note: “Startup Bros” doesn’t necessarily refer to employees of all startups. The disease is just particularly prominent in the startup community. 

Startup Bro Culture is difficult to pin down because it pretends to be what’s it’s not so effectively that it’s almost impossible to spot.

It:

• Is based on validation
• Asserts productivity but only to hide from lack of focus
• Advocates brevity and assertiveness but results in garbage writing
• Enables “talking”

It’s based on validation. Startup Bros do things to be noticed. They want to change the world so the world sees them change it. They choose to be recognized before choosing to do something significant.

They are primarily motivated my glamour, prestige, and status. They have the longest LinkedIn profiles, by far.

Isaac Morehouse makes a distinction between the ascendant and the elite. In these definitions, Startup Bros are elites.

It asserts productivity but only to hide from lack of focus. When a diet change or meditation can solve depression or a productivity block, SBC holds grinding and just getting shit done as solutions.

Everyone in SBC has written the same productivity blog post and spent the rest of the week tormented by their inability to think or get things done. It doesn’t focus on catalyzing productivity. It focuses on the act of being productive and makes that act the solution to not being productive.

Usually getting more Vitamin D or cutting soda is all that’s needed. SBC never talks about this.

It advocates brevity and assertiveness but results in garbage writing. SBC results in a sort of writing that can only be described as: I’m being authentic because I’m writing in this authentic and “real” way.

Startup Bro writing is unbearable. Almost every piece has a “What’s Stopping You?” attitude that’s presented in an uninspiring way.  It’s rooted in the idea that just telling people to do things is more effective than guiding them to the conclusion.

It’s no different than “You Can Do It!” writings and seminars, just less mushy.

It enables “talking.” Startup Bros love to talk about how ineffective talking about things is. The culture requires members to constantly pat each other on the back, even when it’s not warranted.

If a Startup Bro can maintain good posture and make the occasional “There is no excuse to not go after your goals” Facebook post, they’ll have a steady supply of people to have an afternoon-wasting comment dialogue about productivity.

Conversations in SBC seem exciting to an outsider. The three men at the coffee shop sitting confidently and moving their hands in that way must be doing something big. In many cases, they are. With Startup Bros, they’ve been there for four hours.

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Here’s the thing. Startups Bro Culture isn’t just totally dominant in one cult of people. It’s in all of us.

Each and every person can fall in the trap of becoming an inauthentic pleaser. We’re all susceptible to having our actions be different from our words. Everyone can play feeling productive without actually being productive.

There’s only one way to break the pattern. Unwavering authenticity and a conscious effort to maintain values that are suitable to your goals, not just to your community.