Veterinarians vs. Doctors

I was out for some early morning exercise one day this week and started thinking about the Seinfeld episode where Kramer has a mysterious cough that no one can seem to figure out.  He then meets a dog named Smuckers who has ( in Kramer’s mind ) the same cough, and resolves to go see a vet to get his cough fixed.  Kramer’s rationale is that veterinarians are much smarter than doctors because they have to know how to cure a chicken, a pig, a dog and a hamster all in the same day.  Doctors on the other hand just have to work on humans.

On that same day I had a number of things to do.  I had a meeting first thing with one of my biggest clients ( yes, I am loving saying that I now have clients ), then went from there to a lunch with another client who is involved in something totally different, came back to my office and did some coding, then ended the day by being on a call with a prospective Salesforce.com customer.  I was involved in five very different technologies in the course of the day, and at least that many different business environments.  It was a crazy day.

I got to thinking at the end of the day that I, at least for that day, was a lot like a veterinarian and not very much like a doctor.  I wonder which one is better?  Is it better to be completely single-minded as I start on this new venture, or be open to lots of different ideas and possibilities before I decide what makes the most sense?

Right now, I don’t think I have a choice.  Because I am boot-strapping the company and not looking for any funding, I have to have ways to keep money coming in.  I remember listening to a presentation by the founder of 37 Signals, wherein he talked about how they built their company.  They started out doing consulting work, got a great reputation, then eventually turned it into the success that it is today with more of a product focus after they understood what people were looking for, and also what they were good at.

This seems like a decent way to go about things.  I typically do best when I am skimming the surface of lots of things.  It keeps me engaged and fresh.  At some point I don’t want to be in the consulting business, but right now it’s opening a lot of doors and opportunities.

At some point you have to become a doctor ( I think ), but right now I don’t mind being a veterinarian.

What do you think?