What Zootopia taught me about entrepreneurship

Over the years, Pixar and Disney have evolved in their storytelling narrative to be more than just a fairytale or a cartoon for kids, but to bring across a deeper message, and reflect on life in an alternative universe, in order to bring across certain lessons for us in this one.

Zootopia is one of them, despite the seemingly comical nature of the movie. The movie starts off with a young rabbit’s (Judy Hopps) dream of becoming the first ever bunny cop in the city of Zootopia.

The scene then transits to a grown up Judy Hopps, who has to convince her parents that she wants to live her dream. She subsequently enrolls into Zootopia’s Police Academy, defies all odds to graduate, and finally travels to a faraway city to start her journey as a police officer.

This somehow closely resembles the journey of a startup entrepreneur. These are the lessons I learned from the film that I could relate to while building my startup, Thinges.

Don’t give up easily on your dreams

Judy Hopps, an optimistic bunny who’s new to Zootopia’s police department. Photo credit: Disney

As a young bunny, Judy had big dreams. She wanted to be a police officer. She wanted to make a difference and change the world. But there were many who kept trying to talk her out of it. Her parents, her coach, her classmates. Everywhere she went, people told her, “There’s never been a bunny cop.”

 Everywhere she went, people told her, “There’s never been a bunny cop.”

Even so, she was determined to do what she believed in. Even when she entered the Police Academy and was struggling to keep up with her peers, she grit her teeth and worked hard. She eventually defied all odds to graduate from the Police Academy at the top of her class.

Throughout the times people told her she couldn’t make it, asking her to go back home to be a carrot farmer, Judy never let any of that put her down. As a startup entrepreneur, you’ve probably faced the same opposition. There will be many times people will tell you that you should go back to finding a job, that your idea wouldn’t materialize, that it wouldn’t work out.

And it’s hard when people around you are not that supportive of your vision. But ultimately, it’s still your choice whether or not you want to pursue those dreams.

Train yourself to get better

Photo credit: The Disney Wiki

When Judy started out at the Police Academy, she had a hard time keeping up with the course. Her coach was shouting at her all the time. Even going to the toilet was a pain, because she was so much smaller than the rest of her peers.

But she took extra time to train herself and figure out where she’d gone wrong, and she eventually improved by leaps and bounds. By the end of the training, she was far more nimble than many of her classmates.

Understand your own limitations (and strengths)

Entrepreneurship is not a bed of roses