Snowfall — Why Every Entrepreneur Should Watch Part 2
🚨 SPOILER ALERT!!! 🚨
If you haven’t already, check out Part 1 of Snowfall: Why Every Entrepreneur Should Watch
I saw it fitting to write a Part 2 and add to my list of lessons that startup founders and/or raising entrepreneurs can learn from watching Franklin’s journey because Part 1 only covered Season 1 and the first half of Season 2. And if you are an avid watcher like myself, you know that the second half of Season 2 was nothing short of superb. With so much to unpack, I had to double back and readdress the topic.
Competition
“When you pioneer, if you’re lucky, you get a 2-year head start. When we launched Kindle, Barnes & Noble launched Nook 2 years later. When we launched Echo, Google came out with Google Home 2 years later.” — Jeff Bezos
Despite market competition being at the heart of the capitalist system, even the purest of entrepreneurs attempt to create barriers to entry when they establish a new market.
As the neighborhood’s first crack kingpin, Franklin had no competition and was left free to reign. In an effort to maintain control of the market and protect his competitive advantage, he kept “the recipe” within his tight-knit circle despite the bottleneck it created.
Unfortunately, when his “best friend” Kevin let the secret out, Franklin learned the hard way that a competitive advantage based on a tactic is not sustainable. In Michael Porter's article ‘What is Strategy?” he explains that strategic positioning is “Performing different activities from rivals’ or performing similar activities in different ways.”
As the pioneer of crack in LA, Franklin was able to compete by performing different activities than the other drug dealers because he was the only one who could produce and sell crack. However, now that the cat is out of the bag, Franklin will need to find his true differentiator. Will it be taking a page out of Ray Kroc’s book by expanding to new markets/cities or improving his current product’s quality?
Moreover, time and time again, in business, we’ve seen what a company believes to be their competitive advantage be duplicated by a competitor. A couple of years ago, we saw Instagram single-handedly put Vine out of business when they added videos to their platform. Then a year or so later, blindside Snapchat by adding filters and IG Stories.
In a recent interview, Jeff Bezos said he still remembers the day Barnes & Noble announced that they would start selling books online. Wall Street and all the top media publications predicted that this move by Barnes & Noble would surely put Amazon out of business.
What the naysayers didn’t know was that Jeff had cracked the code to being a successful entrepreneur. He said to his team, “as long as we focus on the customer, we’ll be ok.” This philosophy, which he built Amazon around, allowed the company not only to withstand its initial threat from Barnes & Noble but to become the second trillion-dollar public company in the US.
Gabriella’s organization is much larger than Franklin’s. And although she has the power to put him out of business, if Franklin leverages the secret Jeff Bezos uncovered, focusing on the customer, he can still come out on top.
Accountability
“Most people do not really want freedom because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.”
In the pilot episode, Franklin said to Mel that he was after “freedom…freedom from all of it”, and by the end of Season 1, he had achieved it.
In fact, in one of the last scenes of the Season 1 finale, Franklin tells the ice cream man not to come down his block without stopping. At that moment, money’s ability to fix problems appears to have no bounds. However, in Season 2, Franklin matures in his relationship with money as he’s exposed to the realization that money can only solve money problems.
In one of the most memorable scenes of Season 2, Jerome says to Rob, “Slap yo daddy. Slap yo GotDamn Daddy.” This scene was preceded by Mr. Volpe admitting to Franklin that he couldn’t pay back the cocaine he stole. He then goes on to say, “You know Avi was my connect, right? If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t be in this business. What I’m looking for is a bit more gratitude and for a little bit of my generosity to be repaid”. To which Franklin responds, “well, I wish I knew your generosity had strings attached.”
Properly assessing the situation, Franklin realizes that Mr. Volpe’s entitlement was rooted in his lack of accountability, not malice. Instead of looking in the mirror to figure out why his business was struggling financially, he points the finger at Franklin, blaming him for eating too much food when he lived with them. #FakeEntrepreneur #Wantrepreneur
We witness this same sense of entitlement emerge from Kevin after his cousin Delroy died. Refusing to take responsibility for his role in Delroy’s death, he takes $5,000 from the truck without asking, communicating that Franklin and the business are to blame. Forgetting that he’s the one that brought Delroy into the business and didn’t stop him from serving in the Pico Union. #FakeEntrepreneur #Wantrepreneur
Accountability is the cornerstone of entrepreneurship. Without it, entrepreneurs make excuses instead of adjustments when met with a challenge. Unfortunately, in society, most people do not want to be held accountable for anything.
Relationships: You Have to Pay to Play
“Don’t burn bridges. You’ll be surprised how many times you have to cross the same river.” — H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
In episode 3 of Season 2, Franklin agrees to continue working with Reed under one condition: they both visit Avi. Emotion/pride would drive most to cut ties with Avi because it would mean better prices, more product, and less hassle. But reasoning argues that ending the relationship with Avi now would be too costly.
Although Reed was able to salvage Franklin’s life and business, the relationship between him and Avi was damaged. But Franklin’s commitment to restoring the relationship led him to give Avi $80,000. This decision resulted in him discovering that Reed is not just an ordinary drug dealer rather a government-employed dealer.
Information is king in business. It’s how the old boys club was created, and it’s why the internet has turned the world and business as we know it upside down. Because now information, for the most part, has been democratized and made accessible to the masses.
However, despite having the world in their palms and access to tons of free information, why do so many of the world's most successful entrepreneurs pay upwards of six-figures to be in mastermind groups — peer-to-peer gatherings that are often led by thought-leaders and industry titans. It’s because the members of the group provide their peers with business insight and feedback.
Paying Avi $80,000 in the midst of a costly legal battle seems crazy. Many would argue that he should be saving money for his case. Like many other business professionals who elect to be apart of mastermind groups, Franklin recognized that you have to pay to play. It’s unknown how long it would have taken Franklin to figure out who Reed really was without speaking to Avi. But what is known is that the longer he went without knowing, the less valuable and the more detrimental to his freedom it became.
Business & Friends
“Not all of my friends would be a good fit for our culture, and that’s fine, but those who have been a fit understand that friendship isn’t a substitute for accountability. Hiring or starting a company with friends is not a choice I would make lightly, however, the implicit trust and chemistry is invaluable if you can make it work.” — Joshua Backer
In the drug business, the stakes are life and death. As a result, trust becomes the most valued currency. Naturally, most kingpins attempt to leverage the trust established in other areas of their life to build businesses. But mixing business with friends is an art only a few have been able to master. Unfortunately, Franklin had to learn this lesson the hard way.
“My mistake was giving Kevin too much room because we were boys. Now I know how to do things. Anyone mess with the program, break a rule they out don’t matter who.” — Franklin
Having watched most of the tv shows and movies centered around kingpin drug dealers, from The Wire to Paid & Full, I’ve seen the protagonist’s narrative of having to kill his best friend numerous times. But why? In the 48 Laws of Power, Robert Greene said, “The problem is that you often do not know your friends as well as you imagine. Friends often agree on things in order to avoid an argument. They cover up their unpleasant qualities so as to not offend each other.”
As I mentioned earlier, in the dope game, the steaks are life and death. Unfortunately, Franklin didn’t initially see that Kevin’s major flaw is the Achilles heel of entrepreneurship, emotion. And when he did realize, Franklin thought he could contain Kevin’s emotions, but he couldn’t.
Having emotion in entrepreneurship results in short-term thinking. In the Acuna Park scene, Kevin says to Franklin, “Don’t want me stirring up trouble because it’s bad for business…I thought this changed you. But then I realize it’s who you’ve always been. It’s who you are. You’re a traitor to your people…My aunty cries herself to sleep every night. While he’s buying houses. That ain’t right.”
Kevin was so consumed by his emotions that he couldn’t see the bigger picture. That revenging Delroy and Victor’s death wasn’t just bad for business, but that it would start a war, they couldn’t finish. A war that would only result in more people they loved dying. His emotions wouldn’t let him see that not seeking revenge today didn’t mean that Delroy and Victor were forgotten. Rather if they were patient, the time for revenge would come down the line.
Don’t Claim Defeat!
“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” — Maya Angelou
A natural visionary and strategist, in the past, Franklin has survived by outsmarting his adversaries. However, Kevin’s death and the consequences that followed caught him off guard. He wasn’t prepared to be charged with murder in the first degree and spend time in jail; it was too much to handle.
But as the great Mike Tyson once said: “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” At that moment, Franklin was on the ground, it was almost a 10-count, and he was ready to accept defeat. Difficult to watch, having witnessed him become a confident, charismatic Young OG over the course of the 2 Seasons. But it was humbling seeing him at his breaking point.
Every entrepreneur reaches a breaking point where it appears that all hope is lost and when accepting defeat seems like the only viable option. But what allows some entrepreneurs to get over the hump? Aside from pure will and determination, it’s how they are supported by their loved ones and their ability to remember who they are.
Franklin experienced both during his time in jail. First, Leon plants the seed when he says, “Any person that tries you beat the F*** out they face! Show them who the f*** you is!” The seed was planted, but not until the scene when his parents visited did the seed receive some needed fertilizer to harvest. His father saying, “I’m here for you,” got Franklin charged up. It reminded him of who he was, a self-made man. Who was able to learn how to be a man without the help of a father. After that moment, he dropped the feeling sorry for himself act and bossed up!
In conclusion, I’m super excited for Season 3 to see what’s coming next in Franklin’s journey. If you haven’t already watched it. I’m sorry for the spoilers but catch Season 2 on FX and/or Hulu.