We recently connected with Shane Ashton and have shared our conversation below.
Shane, thank you so much for joining us. You are such a positive person and it’s something we really admire and so we wanted to start by asking you where you think your optimism comes from?
My optimism stems from a deep belief in the significance of my goals, intertwined with the inspiration I draw from what I’m building. When your creation holds personal meaning because you can envision the positive impact it will have on others, it ignites a powerful creative spirit—like an engine roaring to life. This ignition fuels a sense of optimism: a vibrant, confident excitement about the potential of what you’re bringing into existence.
For me, as a creator, optimism is closely linked to the ability to visualize the reality of my creation before it comes to fruition. This visualization is crucial; it offers a glimpse into a future where my work has already made a difference. It becomes a source of encouragement during the toughest times, helping me push through obstacles. So, while optimism involves a belief in the quality of what you’re creating, it also requires the imagination to foresee a world where your vision has already taken shape.
But beyond just being inspired by the visualized benefits of your creation, a great part of this optimism comes from the sense of purpose you have while building it. The purposefulness itself can be an additional source of inspiration that immunizes you against doubts and setbacks like a strong gravitational field. I can really appreciate the power of purpose when I think about the past year. I had just graduated from law school and took a job as a lawyer at my parents’ urging though I had other creative longings in me at the time. I spent about six months working, and during that six months my spirit and mental health rapidly deteriorated. It reached a point where I was so depressed it was often difficult to get out of bed in the morning. There was this profound disconnect between where my heart was going and what I actually spent my time doing, so that each day I worked I couldn’t recognize myself or my own life. There was little satisfaction and it felt as if I’d vanished completely and was no longer part of the world. This feeling I know now was due to a lack of purpose.
This challenge of lack of purpose was fatal, because if you can see no way out, it can begin to feel like a lack of hope and optimism too. This was one of the most challenging times, because it required me to mend the rift in my life by aligning my actions with my creative desires, which was the only way I could become whole again, but would entail tremendous risk and uncertainty. But at exactly the moment I accomplished this change of direction, my optimistic vision was able to inspire an acquaintance of mine to provide the six-figure seed funding required to build the initial application I’d been incubating in my head for the longest time. And though now risks are high, life is more unpredictable, responsibilities are far greater, and earnings aren’t as lucrative as they had been as a lawyer, my sense of purpose is phenomenally strong. And consequently, so is my optimism and genuine belief that extraordinary things lie ahead.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
What excites me most about what I’m building? I love the idea of taking an interface similar to Uber’s, but instead of a car, you get a person. Yes, it sounds strange at first. But each of those people is a carefully selected “Host” of a certain “Escape.” An Escape is a thrilling nonobvious creative experience that a host has put together for the enjoyment of a guest based on what the host is deeply familiar with and loves. The idea of being able to spontaneously whisk yourself away with a spiritually generous and charismatic person who’s passionately cultivated a thrilling experience based on her own knowledge and personal interests is what I find most exhilarating. Everyone has some skill, some specific appreciation of what make’s life electrifying, especially in culturally rich urban environments. So we hand select the most passionately committed individuals who have a superpower they want to share, onboard them onto our platform, so that Guests can effortlessly request them like a magic carpet ride to that experience.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
One of the most important skills was vision. The ability to visualize in your head something in the world that wasn’t there before. You don’t need to be a fortune teller. You don’t have to se the future. But you SHOULD be able to see your idea’s future. And for that you need to have an inspired and thoughtfully detailed picture of your creative direction.
Another important skill is kind of stubbornness. Many people will tell you what you’re doing works, and as many or more will tell you why this is ordinary, or makes little sense. If you are easily shaken, especially during criticism or times or doubt and setback, you won’t stay the course and the endeavor will never flourish. It’s like a tree in a storm that doesn’t get uprooted. Your stubbornness is the depth of your roots, and your roots are attached to your idea. While adjustments to the root network or fine (that is, the relationship you have to that idea), being easily dislodged from that idea is a dealbreaker.
A final important skill is emotional sturdiness. Being anxious or over self-doubting or critical means chances are higher a founder will be more sensitive to challenges that arise. With all the difficulty of being in charge of an endeavor whose trajectory you determine without assistance from a higher authority (there’s no boss), you need to have the emotional stability not o collapse under the weight of that pressure, and oftentimes, that uncertainty.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
We are looking for passionate product managers who want to contribute an original creative voice to the enrichment and augmentation of the social features of our platform. We are always open to new inspired collaborations and are receptive to contributions and communication from the outside on an open basis. Just contact Shane.Ashton@fantascape.io
Contact Info:
- Website: Fantascape.io
