Read the full transcript of author Steve Waddell’s talk titled “Start With WHO, Not Why” at TEDxWarrenton 2024 conference.
Listen to the audio version here:
TRANSCRIPT:
The Problem Solver’s Dream
STEVE WADDELL: Alright. Have you ever wished you could turn on a faucet and money would pour out? That was my crazy dream. But where to start? A classic approach would be to start with why.
But what if I told you don’t? Let me introduce you to the problem solver. That’s me. For twenty-five years, I worked at Newport News Shipbuilding, building American aircraft carriers, massive ships powered by two nuclear reactors. Nothing says “I can handle anything” like working with enough power to light up a small country.
As a problem solver, I created solutions to complex problems that still navigate the world’s oceans. I was feeling pretty good about myself. I mean, I wasn’t inventing time travel, but close enough. Alongside me was Captain Y, the embodiment of my passion and motivation. He was always there.
You know that little voice in your head that says, “You got this”? Well, Captain Y was like that. Yet every day and every night, I faced a simple nagging problem. I had to crane my neck under the faucet to rinse after brushing. I thought, “This is ridiculous.”
Captain Y whispered, “You can solve problems on massive ships. Why can’t you fix this?” Solving problems is valuable. Right? Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Sarah Blakely, they all solve problems and ended up swimming in pools of money.
The Wantrepreneur’s Dilemma
I didn’t want to be like some of the people I’d worked with in the shipyard. There were people Mark Cuban would call wantrepreneurs. They were smart men and women, but they never took action. I vividly recall one guy at lunch.
Every day, he’d talk about his idea, and he truly believed it could work.
But every day, he’d still be there. Eventually, either the idea would fade or someone else would invent exactly what he’d been thinking. That wasn’t me. I wasn’t a wantrepreneur. With Captain Y by my side, I was going to set sail like Captain Jack Sparrow, minus the rum.
The Bathroom Faucet Problem
So let’s face it. Bathroom faucets weren’t designed to meet our needs. Right? Rinsing under a low faucet is awkward. I was a full-grown adult working on a multibillion-dollar aircraft carrier yet craning my neck to rinse in a wet toothpaste-splattered sink.
Absurd. Now I know what you’re thinking. Steve, there are other ways to rinse, and there are. Perhaps you’re a hand cupper, cupping your hand like cavemen did from streams thousands of years ago. Or perhaps you use that cup by the sink.
You know the one. It’s got the little dusty white toothpaste residue. Right? And it’s filled with toilet spray that’s been floating in the air. Or perhaps you’re the type that wet your toothbrush under the faucet and suck three drops of water off of it.
That’s about as effective as eating soup with a fork. For me, twice a day, I thought “This is crazy.” In the kitchen, we have options. Right?
Sinks with pullout sprayers, touch, and motion-activated faucets. But in the bathroom, twice a day, I had to crane my neck. So I thought about Simon Sinek and his golden circle. The golden circle says people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. Captain Y stood tall proclaiming, “This is your why.”
You want to make rinsing after brushing easier. Jeff, Elon, Sarah, scoot over. The rinse revolution is coming.
The Birth of an Idea
So I set out to do what I do best, solve a problem. I found a video of two little girls at a street fountain in Rome called an Nasoni. When they plugged the bottom, water popped out like a water fountain. I thought, “Yeah. This is it. My faucet is about to go all fancy Roman fountain on people.” I could make that, and I did.
I bought a faucet. I drilled a hole in the top, plugged the bottom, and water popped out like a water fountain. Nailed it. Problem solved. So I launched my entrepreneurial ship.
I hired an engineer to refine the design, and I filed for a patent. And Captain Y was right beside me like a motivational life coach. “You got this, Steve. You’re going to crush it.” But then something unexpected happened.
The Krakens Appear
Krakens. Krakens are mythical beasts known for their ability to sink ships and drag sailors to their doom. My first kraken appeared as a patent issue. You see, I filed a patent too soon. It changed.
My design changed, and the patent was no longer valid. So we had to refile. Captain Y locked eyes with the beast and said, “We fought bigger monsters.” Easy for him to say, he wasn’t footing the bill. But I pressed on.
Right? Because that’s what entrepreneurs do. I secured an investor. I found a manufacturer in China, and I placed an order for 2,200 faucets. I was in deep water, and Captain Y was guiding me through.
But then the second kraken struck. This one was the financial kind because, of course, it was. Right? You see, the US government implemented a 25% China tariff, and all of a sudden, my faucets now cost $50,000 more, devouring my entire marketing budget in one brutal gulp. That’s equivalent to some startup’s entire seed round disappearing overnight.
But I pressed on. Trade shows would be my salvation. Right? Networking, handshake deals, the works. But the kraken wasn’t done. You see, it was 2020, and a massive kraken rose from the deep. COVID. Trade shows? Canceled. Nobody cared about bathroom faucets anymore.
They were all fighting over toilet paper. This time, the kraken was sinking my entrepreneurial ship. I can almost hear it saying, “Nice faucet idea, Steve. Too bad nobody cares.” Then it did something unexpected.
You wouldn’t believe what it did next. It started eating Captain Y. I needed answers, so I searched for the perfect guidebook, something like “How to Build a Product-Based Business for Dummies” or “How to Become a Billionaire Without Your Y Being Eaten by a Kraken.” But they didn’t exist. Trust me.
I checked. Instead, I ended up with a pile of books, one on marketing, one on sales, one on licensing, one on patents. And it was like a treasure map, but each chapter was written in a different language. Suddenly, I wasn’t an entrepreneur anymore. I’d become a full-time student, frantically treading water.
The Shift in Perspective
So I started talking to people. I talked to my wife, and she said, “You ought to think about a grant.” I’m like, “What am I going to do with a grant and a faucet?” And then I talked to my 83-year-old stepfather, and I showed him my fountain faucet. I was all excited.
And he goes, “What are you going to do with that?” And I said, “Well, you know, when you rinse after you brush, you either gotta cup your hand, tilt your head, or use a cup. Right?” He looked at me totally straight-faced and said, “No.” I said, “No?”
“What do you do?” “Oh, I just take my teeth out and put them in a cup.” Alright then. Lesson learned. Not everyone shared my pain.
So that’s when First Mate Who steps in. First Mate Who is that little voice in your head that says, “Maybe it’s not all about you, Steve.” I realized it hit me my why didn’t matter as much as I thought. So I started listening. And the more I listened, the more I learned.
An occupational therapist told me how the faucet could help people with spinal cord injuries live more independently. A mother told me how her daughter in a wheelchair struggled with basic hygiene. Someone else told me how the faucet could help their elderly grandfather wash his hair in the bathroom sink and avoid a slippery shower. My wife even used the faucet to rinse her face before bed. I realized I’ve been focusing on my problem, and I should have been focusing on theirs.
The Birth of a Valuepreneur
You see, that’s when I also realized I needed to shift from being a problem solver guided by Captain Y to becoming a valuepreneur, guided by First Mate Who. Valuepreneurs, when I embrace the valuepreneur mindset and followed a proven map, everything changed. You see, valuepreneurs don’t set sail without a map. They don’t just YOLO into the ocean of business and hope for the best. They follow a structured approach that helps them avoid the krakens because, trust me, there are krakens.
Doors started to open. We secured $5 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health to help people with spinal cord injury and develop version 2.0 of our faucet, a smart sensor-operated version. We’re collaborating with universities on clinical trials for spinal cord injury, Alzheimer’s, and dementia. We’ve hired a disability consultant to help us develop the first-ever universally accessible bathroom faucet. Don’t start with why. Start with who.
By starting with who, we build a ship strong enough to handle any kraken, not just fueled by passion, but guided by wisdom and the real needs of others. Be a valuepreneur. Let who inspire you, the process guide you, and impact define you. That’s what the essence of a valuepreneur is.
That’s how we’ll not only launch our ships but sail into new horizons. And that’s how we truly change the world.
