Saw this last week and had to share. Puts things in glaringly clear perspective.

On Monday, grocery store shelves across the Northeast were cleared of all sustenance by desperate citizens in preparation for the great blizzard of 2015. As I sit hunkered down in Brooklyn, with a full refrigerator of treasures I fought the bearded and scarved hoards for yesterday, my thoughts turned to the future of how we shop. Truth be told, shopping across all categories is broken. There is a growing gap between the shopping public and the retailers who aim to serve them. And caught in the middle, brands are trying to find new ways to wrestle some control back. On the edge is an army of entrepreneurs claiming they’ll show us how to do it all better. With that stage set, I believe 2015 will be a big year for shopping. I’m not predicting record sales or the greatest black Friday on record. This is about what happens behind the shelves. What we’ll see this year is the surfacing of multiple disjointed issues deep inside the infrastructure of shopping itself.

Read my conclusions to this opportunity on Forbes

There is a growing trend that is concerning to me. It is called Entrepreneurship. People are leaving perfectly good, safe, and predictably jobs and taking big risks. Sometimes really big risks. And for what? To do what others that have gone before them haven't been able to? To beat odds that have kept countless others with more resources, more connections, and more know-how from solving the problem you think is yours to solve? You have to be crazy to look at that and say, "Yep, I have to go do that."

If you can, you should avoid being an entrepreneur. It will take everything you have. It will change your idea of a balanced life. It will be taxing on you, sure, but it doesn't stop there. It will change your family. It will change your friends. It will change your health. It will change your life.

You have to be crazy to look at that and say, "Yep, I have to go do that."

Your LinkedIn profile won't make sense to former colleagues. You won't be able to really explain what you do at networking events or family gatherings. You'll be "that start-up guy" or the "does internet things girl." Your career trajectory won't be linear and it may be years and years before you really have anything to show for your countless hours, missteps, and do-overs.

You have to be crazy to look at that and say, "Yep, I have to go do that."

You have to try and avoid entrepreneurship if you can. Resist it for as long as you possibly can. Stifle those urges to be in charge of your own destiny. Repress that belief that you have what it takes to make a dent in the universe. Keep it to yourself that you have an idea that could change your world/industry/life. For as long as you can. Until it drives you crazy.

Crazy enough to say, "Yep, I have to go do that."

There is a decent chance that you've seen friends and connections sharing "the exciting news" that because of "how fast things are moving" they and their team "are proud to announce, We're Hiring!" (Yes, StockUp is hiring also) In the past two months, I have seen more "We're Hiring" posts than ever before and I spent some time digging into it last night on the train. There are three possible motivations behind these posts:

1) You're signaling that you're now in a position to make a hiring decision for your company.  Mommy wow, we're all big kids now.

2) You're reminding anyone reading that your company is in fact growing and moving forward. Any company that isn't currently hiring likely won't be in business a year from now.

3) You've joined the ranks of people baffled by the seeming contradiction in headlines of "Over 40% of Millennials and unemployed or underemployed" and "Companies of All Sizes Struggle to Retain Top Talent." (In a survey of top CEOs by INC Magazine last month, over 50% said that their biggest challenge right now is attracting and retaining a skilled employees.)

And that last one is the one that keeps sticking out to me.  When I look at the current head count of our team at StockUp, and where I expect us to be, both with our developer/design team and our sales/marketing team, in the next six months, I am a little bit overwhelmed. Sure, there is a lot of work that goes into finding, hiring, and onboarding any new hires, but it is much more than that.  Each one of the people that, for whatever reason, say "yes, I want to be a part of what you are building" are also saying "I trust you enough and believe in this company enough to say 'no' to everything else and chase down this big idea together." And when you're a part of a young growing company, that takes a lot more trust than when you're a well established company.

Simon Sinek, in the now most over quoted TED Talk in the history of TED Talks, says that you're not "looking for people who need a job, you're looking for people that believe what you believe."  That is our challenge, as those looking to attract and retain amazing people, drill down to the core of what we believe and be able to make a case for why saying 'yes' to our opportunity is worth the cost of saying 'no' to all other options that are out there.

So maybe, instead of "We're Hiring" the announcement should be "Open seat on a rocket ship, You're invited."

If you can listen to Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz rift and rant about all things disruption, technology, investing, and the future of our world and not say walk away with at least a handful of new ideas for your world or company, I will be shocked. This is amazing and generous to have captured this range of topics in 45 minutes.

"If you are against disruption, you are pro-status quo."