I like history, and Napoleon is one of my favourite historical figures. What if we draw a parallel between ancient military commanders and modern entrepreneurs? Maybe their skills will be similar? Let's explore Napoleon from a business perspective.

In Napoleon’s time if you wanted to be rich and famous you had to be in power.

To get power you need to have an army.

With the army, you can conquer new territories and charge taxes as a subscription from people who live in these territories.

So we can say that the Army is a Sales department.

But it's very hard to build your army from scratch, without resources.

So that is why you need to manage someone else’s resources.

You need to be a general of other people's army and with time you can make this army your own.
With your own army, you can get your own territories to earn subscription income to invest in a new army and conquer new territories.

So the main question is “How to become a commander of the army?”.

The first step is “To get noticed”.

How can people appoint you as the commander of the army, I mean give you resources if they don't even know about your existence?

And Napoleon did it perfectly!

To understand all the genius of Napoleon's steps I want to make a quick note about the situation that was in France in 1793.

The French Revolution was entering its fourth year and France was on the verge of anarchy.

The French king was executed and the Jacobins got power with Danton, Robespierre, and Marat.

The other European monarchs were scared that all the people in the world would understand that life could be different and that they didn’t need kings anymore.

England, Russia, Prussia, Austria, and other kingdoms started a war with France to bring the monarchy back.

We can say that France was like a corporation with a startup approach that wanted to disrupt the market, and make changes. Other old European monarchs were like corporations that didn't want to change anything.

But every corporation has inside disagreements, and France was not an exception.

The civil war was running between royalists who wanted to restore the monarchy and republicans who wanted democracy.

Napoleon as a young officer was involved in this war on the republican side and supported the revolution against the king.

To make a long story short - there was a mess in the county.

But every crisis is a great opportunity.

And here we come to one of the most important steps in Napoleon’s career.

He published a pamphlet “Le Souper de Beaucaire”.

Where he tried to explain his political thoughts of his vision of the country to simple people, and in general this thought matched with the Jacobins’ concept.

We can say that it was pro-government content because the Jacobins were in power at that time.
Napoleon paid for the first edition of his pamphlet with his little funds.

This content did not influence simple people, but it influenced someone more important.

This person was Augustin Robespierre, brother of Maximilian Robespierre the head of Jacobins and actually the French ruler.

It’s like a brother of the Google CEO who watched your video about Google's growth strategy and introduced you to the Google CEO.

After the first publication, Napoleon’s pamphlet was also valued by Christophe Saliceti, a Corsican politician who organized the second publishing and promotion of this pamphlet.
It's like if Elon Musk retweets you.

With Saliceti's and Augustine Robespierre's help, Napoleon was nominated for the position of chief artilleryman at Toulon. This nomination was the first step in Napoleon's military career.

That is why the first business lesson from Napoleon is - to make content marketing and share your vision, even if you don't have an audience.

You never know who will consume your content. Maybe within this tiny 1000 views on your YouTube channel will be Elon Musk.

One view on your YouTube channel can change your life and Napoleon’s pamphlet proved it.

My personal experience also proved it. My first investor became familiar with me by reading my articles about startups.

“Those who cannot speak will not make a career.”

Also, your content has to be provocative.

Napoleon’s pamphlet was pro-Jacobins but a few months later, on 27 July 1794, the Thermidorian coup happened.

Jacobins lost power, the Directory came into charge and Maximilian Robespierre was executed.
Napoleon was imprisoned because he had a connection with Robisper's family but after a few weeks, he was released.

After a few years when Napoleon became an emperor, he ordered to find all pamphlets and destroy them.

Good content marketing is always provocative. You can become a king or be executed.

“Those who cannot speak will not make a career.”

Napoleon was noticed.

Now let's talk about how Napoleon became remembered.

December 1793. Royalists made a coup against the French republican government in Tulon.
This coup was supported by the British navy.

Tulon is a big seaport with a harbor where the British navy could supply the city troops and it was very hard to capture the city.

After successful publications, Napoleon was recommended by Christophe Saliceti to be appointed as an artillery commander of French troops in the Tulon battle.

The previous experienced French military commanders were royalists and ran from revolution.

The revolutionary French army had problems with commanders.

In politics, loyalty is preferred over skill.

The Tulon army commander was Jean François Carteaux.

He was loyal to the French Revolution government but he was a painter without any military experience or education.

Napoleon arrived on the battlefield and saw that Carto didn't understand how artillery works in general. The skill level was very low.

It is like in corporations. People can have a very high position in the company but they may understand nothing about what they do.

So, in the beginning, Napoleon thought that these guys were joking, but then he realized the scale of the trouble.

But it also was his chance to prove himself. And he did it because he was ready.

And he was ready because he had knowledge.

At the beginning of his military career, Napoleon learned artillery mastery in famous military schools.

He learned Griboval’s modern artillery strategy.

At that time it was like when you watch videos about how Chat GPT works.

I mean he consumed the newest content about artillery mastery.

He also read ancient authors like Plutarch Ciceron, Cesar, and others.

And of course modern authors - Voltaire, Montesquieu, Rousseau.

In general, Napoleon was a well-educated person, especially in military and political history.

It was a foundation for his future military and political career.

During the Toulon Battle Napoleon started to teach other commanders artillery mastery.

When people see your expertise they start to trust you. When people trust you they can allow you to manage their resources.

Let's jump into a military operation to understand why it’s so important.

Toulon is based in a harbor that was used by the British Navy to supply the city garrison.

The previous commanders offered to capture the city with a direct attack on the well-defended city walls.

Napoleon offered a different plan. He calculated that if they captured a forts around the harbor, they could hit the British navy.

And he did it.

During the battle, Napoleon’s horse was killed under him, and he was bayonetted in the thigh by a British sergeant, but finally, French troops got Tulon.

Napoleon's brilliant plan worked.

There are a lot of details about this military operation but our goal is to figure out the main entrepreneurial step in Napoleon’s career.

Here we can learn the second business lesson - be ready and don’t waste your chance.

“Chance is the only rightful king of the universe. Chance rules the world.”

Napoleon was ready because he had learned a lot about artillery.

He was ready to show his expertise and his chance - was to be a commander in the Tulon battle.
Success comes when you have a combination of:

• Good Chance
• High Expertise
• Resources

After the battle, a lot of other military commanders said good words about Napoleon.

In any business, if people aren't recommending your product or service, then you're doing something wrong.

These words pushed Napoleon up the career ladder.

In October 1795 there was a new coup in Paris that had a goal to move the Directory government with Pool Barras and bring a monarchy back.

Napoleon was appointed as a commander to disperse these rebellions in Paris.

He used cannons and shot civilian people, and the rebellion was suppressed.

After this, Napoleon was appointed a commander of the Internal Army that defended the government in Paris.

It's like he was a chief of police in the whole country. He had 40,000 soldiers under his command.
And this is the third business lesson - Resolution.

When you get a chance, you must be decisive.

The main thing of these 3 business lessons is that with each step Napoleon got more resources than before.

1. He used content marketing skills to be noticed
2. Then, he transformed the attention of powerful people into real, physical assets - the artillery department in the Tulon Battle
3. In the Toulon battle, Napoleon proved his skills and showed decision-makers that he could do the hard job
4. When he put down the royalist coup, he got the government's trust and more resources
5. When he was a chief of police he got 40 000 garrison and a good network with the rulers of France

Each step gave him more resources like the army, influence, brand, and network

The position of the chief of police gave him unlimited influence in the country and a good opportunity to make money. He had direct access to the French government.

Another person in this situation will stop to climb on the career ladder and start just stealing government money.

But Napoleon was not just a good entrepreneur, he was one of the greatest.

Good entrepreneurs just make good money.

Great entrepreneurs want to leave their mark on history.

“Those who seek happiness in luxury and extravagance are like those who prefer the glow of candles to the radiance of the sun”.

At that time military generals were rockstars like entrepreneurs nowadays.

Who remembers the chief of police in ancient Rome? But all people know who was Cesar.

Napoleon needed more resources for the next huge victory.

This is the fourth Business lesson - Set big goals and tell people about them.

People follow those who are stronger than they are.

If you have small goals, you will work with small people.

It's very difficult to make billions with people who are excited by a million dollars.

Napoleon's big goal was to win in Italy.

To understand how he did it let's jump into the military situation in the spring of 1796.

It is two years after the great Napolon's victory on Tulon.

The main theatre of the war was on the river Reyn.

The Italian theatre of the war was the second.

The French army of Italy was equipped and supplied very poorly, soldiers didn't get a salary. Some soldiers even didn't have shoes.

Last two years Napoleon was an artillery commander of the army of Italy and he built an artillery battery in this area.

It means that he knew this area. In other words, he was an expert in the market which he wanted to enter.

“The place of the future battle is a chessboard of military leaders. Actually, the choice of location shows the high or low level of the commander”.

If you closely look at all successful entrepreneurs the main reason for their success is the right choice of niche at the right time.

During these two years, Napoleon offered a detailed plan for the Italian campaign.

Also, he married Josephine. She was Barras's lover.

Barras was a ruler of France and as a wedding present, Barras appointed Napoleon as Commander of the French troops in the Italy army.

And here we come to the fifth Napoleon business lesson - Create an executive summary and show it to the right people.

Napoleon’s got good traction in Toulon. It's like a startup that got a pre-seed round of investments and got first customers.

After Napoleon learned about the market and created a detailed executive summary of how he would get this market.

And finally, he showed this plan to the right person. The men who had a resource and motivation to invest in this venture.

That is how Napoleon got a whole army under his command.

“Oh, how this young Bonaparte walks! He is a hero, he is a miracle - a hero, he is a sorcerer! He conquers both nature and people. He walked around the Alps as if they were not there at all. He hid their formidable peaks in his pocket and hid his army in the right sleeve of his uniform”.

Napoleon's first Italian campaign was one of the iconic military lessons in history.

It started in April 1796 near Cairo Montenotte “Battle of Montenotte” and finished in October 1797 in Austrian Leoben, near Viena.

For six months, Napoleon conquered Italy and invaded in Austrian Empire’s territories.

New territories - new subscription revenue. All of Italy started to pay to Napoleon.

As I said before, at the beginning of the campaign French army in Italy was poorly equipped, and without payroll for soldiers.

But Napoleongot money for scaling. In business language, it is like a young startup that raised only a seed round of investments in a very competitive market, and nobody believed in it.

But after only 6 months it becomes the most profitable and fast-growing startup in Europe.

At that time the main theatre of the war was on the Rhine River where the French army was losing battle after battle.

The good news to Paris came only from Napoleon.

Suddenly, Napoleon's startup became a new main revenue stream for France.

During a few months of the Italian campaign, Napoleon got 11 victories and gained respect from his army and generals.

At that time he was only 26!

For example:

• General Serurier was a 54-year-old professional general who first fought a decade before Napoleon was born
• General Augereau was 39
• General Massena was 38

All these generals had decades of military experience.

It's like when you have been coding last 15 years and then a junior developer comes after the 6-month course and starts to command you.

Imagine how hard it was to get a respect.

In the army, you can’t buy respect. You have to deserve it.

And Napoleon did it after a few victories in northern Italy.

At the beginning of the Italian campaign, he became just a rising star, but not an idol.

And here we come to my favorite Napoleon’s business lesson that changed my thoughts on how to manage people.

It was November 1796, during the Arcole battle.

After a few victories at the beginning of the first Italian campaign, Napoleon's army controlled half of northern Italy.

To control all of Italy Napoleon needed to get Mantua fortress which was in the middle of the country.

Napoleon began the siege of Mantua.

Austrian general Varumzer got 20,000 men inside a Mantua city.

Napoleon left 15 000 men to make a siege and with the rest of the army, he went forward, in Austria's capital direction.

But the Austrian army got two new armies, in the north, there were 20,000 people with Davidovich as a commander, and Alwinci in the east with 30,000 people.

Napoleon had less army than his rivals and he was in the center.

Behind him, there was a 20,000 Mantua garrison.

In front of him, there was Alwinci with 30,000.

Also, there was Davidovich with 20,000.

He had to defeat the enemy troops one by one or be surrounded.

The final battle filed was in the city of Arcole.

French troops were in a bad situation and they needed to get to the other side of the river. And it was only one wood bridge that was controlled by Austrians.

And it was the bridge where Napoleon's legend was born.

We have unique notes by Polish Adjutant Uzef Saulovsky who was in this place.

Here are some words he said:

Napoleon realized that on this bridge the fate of the battle and all campaigns was decided.

Davidovich with his army would be soon, behind the Mantua Fortress.

It was a catastrophic military situation for Napoleon.

He realized he had to do something to inspire the soldiers.

When Napoleon came to the bridge cannons shot at the crowd.

YOUNG OFFICER Muron covered Napoleon with his body.

Soldiers started to run out of the battle, and Napoleon fell into the river and was almost captured.

Bridge assault was failed.

This is the photo of this place. The new bridge is built in the same place.

Imagine how hard it was to assault this bridge when thousands of people and cannons were shooting at you.

The news of Napoleon's feat electrified the army. Napoleon became an idol in the minds of the soldiers. They figured out that he was ready to die for them.

And here is the sixth Napoleon's business lesson - Show that you can do hard work too

Sometimes we ask employees to make 100 cold calls daily or some coding stuff and they answer that it is impossible. But when you take the phone and make 100 calls, they can't tell you that it is impossible.

So show the leadership in your example.

From Arcole battle, we can learn one more lesson.

At the beginning of the Italian campaign, Napoleon met a young and very talented painter Antoine-Jean Gros.

Gros also said one phrase that changed his life. It is also a good lesson for designers and freelancers.

He came to Napoleon and said:

Of course, Napoleon took young Gro as his painter. Also, there were other painters in the army.

During all battles, painters made very detailed sketches and depicted the situation.

Napoleon made some notes about how camping was going.

So, translating on our days. They made stories on Instagram like a case study.

All the time Antuan Gro was near Napoleon and was waiting when Napoleon would make a feat.

On Arcole bridge, Gro saw it, because he was near Napoleon.

After this event, he left the army, went to Milan, and started to paint one of the famous Napoleon Portrait that was named “Napoleon On Arcol Bridge”

All witnesses of that event understood that it was on the Arcole bridge where the legend of Napoleon was born.

During Napolon's life, he showed this story in different content formats.

Here is one of the images on the Triumph arch:

In the army, he used letters to inspire the army because there were no microphones at the time, and all 50,000 men couldn’t hear the commander.

He wrote letters and spread this content through officers and next, officers read this propaganda to soldiers.

In general, Napoleon was the master of marketing of his time.

He used evergreen content like the Triomphe Arch and victory column to capture an iconic moment of his career.

Newspapers for capturing and retention everyday people's attention.

This is the Seventh Napoleon business lesson - Record successful case studies and keep people's attention.

In other words - do content marketing to build your personal brand.

The Napoleon image is one of the most recognizable images in human history.
If I ask you how Napoleon looked you probably will answer:

• Cocked hat
• Grey frock coat
• Hands in the vest

But in the beginning, Napoleon was depicted in luxurious clothes as kings had.

Soldiers wanted to see a person who understood them. A person who lives the life as they do.

That is why we can see the clear brand transformation from luxurious style to let's say soldiers style.

Nowadays it looks obvious but 200 years ago it was an innovation because all rulers wanted to look like kings and not like common soldiers.

This trick is done by other famous entrepreneurs nowadays.

They are billionaires but they look like common guys you can hang out with.

And this is the Eighth Napoleon’s lesson - Build a recognizable, unique personal brand

Other Napoleon's innovations were changing the way how people could build their careers in France.

In that period, all of Europe was a monarchy and people didn't have a career ladder.

If you were not from an aristocratic family you couldn't be an army commander.

You could be just a soldier and that’s all.

The French Revolution turned everything upside down.

In Napoleon’s army, a common soldier could become a marshal.

Jean-Baptiste Bessières was a barber. Jean Lannes was born into a peasant family.

So Napoleon's army provided an opportunity for all people to make a great career regardless of their origin. That was impossible a few years before.
This is the ninth lesson that can be named as one of the famous Napolens quotes

Every French soldier carries a marshal’s baton in his knapsack

Ask yourself “Do your employees have a chance to become millionaires and make a career in your company?”

After decades of war in 1812 Napoleons owned half of Europe.

But how he did it from the management side

“There are two levers by which people can be moved: fear and self-interest.”

At that period the main resource was the land.

If you own land you can charge a subscription as a tax from citizens and become rich. It was a SaaS model of that time.

That is why being a landlord was a main motivation for people because it was the most profitable business model back then.

But before the French Revolution, you could own land if you were an aristocrat.

If you were not you could never be a landlord.

Napoleon did innovations that are common for all startups now.

It is named - Equity sharing

If you look closer at all 26 Napoleon's marshals they all became dukes and landlords and most of Napoleon's marshals were of simple origin.

In 1804 Napolens renewed Aristocrat mode again because it was canceled after the revolution.
70% of aristocratic titles were given to military people, other 30% was to the previous elite as a legal bribe.

It sounds like I give you 30% of the company, and you agree that I'm a CEO, I make decisions and you support me. If you don’t, these 70% of military people will come to you and say “We need to talk”.

Yes, you heard right.

Napoleon got power because he was fighting against aristocrats, to cancel aristocracy. When he got the power he did the same.

It happened not because he didn't want to make changes. He did it because it is the only management approach that really works in politics and business.

And it's called Oligarchy.

If you closer look at how big business works you will see that big companies are owned by groups of people. Startup founders, key employees, investors, and of course, C-level managers.

And with centuries it hasn’t changed. People fight for resources and resources are the territories.

Imagine that Eupore was a cake. Napoleon was a majority stakeholder, and if you helped him to conquer new territories you could take let's say 1% of the empire.

That is why he could find motivated people who were ready to start as an employee and become C-level managers and stakeholders in the future.

This is the tenth business lesson - Give people a small part of a big cake

For ambitious people, It is better to have a chance to get 1% from a big company like Europe than to own 50% of a local bakery, and also it was a good filter.

Imagine people were ready to cross the world and die in Russian winter, but potentially get a small part of the Big European cake.

That is why if you are building a business the potential prize has to be so big that 1% of the company can make a fortune for employees and C-level managers.

For example in 2024 Apple CEO Tim Cook has a net worth of 2 billion dollars when the Apple market cap 2.8 trillion dollars. It is only % 0.07.

Mark Zuckerberg has 13% of Meta.

Steve Ballmer, the Former CEO of Microsoft, has worth 110 billion when Microsoft's market cap is 2.7 trillion and it’s 4%.

The main point of this lesson is the cake should be very big. When the cake is big, talented managers will come to you.

The next lesson is about management.

Napoleon had a lot of talented marshals.

All of them had different pros and cons. Some of them were wise and good at strategy. Some of them were good at tactics.

But now I want to talk about one person who was the foundation of Napoleon's success.

His name was Alexandre Berthier.

Berthier was a chief of staff, but I think he was like a Chief Operating Officer.

Napoleon's military style is famous for its maneuvers, troop movement speed, and of course brilliant strategy.

Napoleon was responsible for genius ideas, but Bertier was a performer who could execute them.
I realized that it is the same in business.

All successful startups are set up by entrepreneurs and hackers, but when the company gets a product market fit the operational managers come.

In most cases, these people are in the shadow of their CEOs.

Google was scaled by Eric Schmidt.

Microsoft was scaled by Steve Ballmer.

Facebook was scaled by Sheryl Sandberg.

So we can see the management model is not changing with time.

If you are an entrepreneur it is very important to understand the character of people like Berthier.

Because unless you have Berthier you will not build a great company.

This is what contemporaries said about Berthier:

Berthier worked with Napoleon for 20 years until the end.

It was a perfect tandem. Napoleon made strategic, genius, hard decisions but couldn't execute them. Berthier couldn't make hard decisions but he could perfectly execute someone else orders.

And this is the eleventh Napoleon’s lesson:

If you are an entrepreneur find a great Chief of Staff.

If you are more a manager than an entrepreneur find your own Naploen as a Co-Founder.

Every Napoleon needs his own Berthier.

Now let's talk about Napoleon’s mistakes.

From the military side of course it was an invasion to Russia.

But I think the more important thing is why he did it.

To figure this out let's jump into the political situation before the invasion.

In 1805, the British Navy and Admiral Nelson won the Trafalgar battle. France couldn't compete with its main rival on the sea.

British controlled the majority of trading paths and sea ports.

The British king, George III made a royal decree to blockade French ports.

In response to this Napoleon issued the Berlin Decree on the Continental Blockade in 1807, Napoleon and Alexander went by raft in the middle of the Neman River.

Signed the treaties of Tilsit in addition to France, Italy, Holland, Spain, Denmark, Austria, and Sweden.

Russia and Prussia joined the continental blockade, so Napoleon formed a coalition against Britain.

But all these countries had their interest in trading with Britain.

If you want to create a monopoly you have to offer something special to all players.

If you deal with weak companies, you can order them. If you deal with strong companies, you need to negotiate. The interests of all parties must be taken into account.

But after Napoleon's brilliant victories in Austerlitz, he thought that he would be a master of Europe forever.

Russia's interest in Europe was not heard and Russia started to trade with Britain again, and Napoleon decided to invade Russia and punish them.

The main point of this story is that all big guys want to have a monopoly, but the problem is that a monopoly is not a sustainable construction.

You can find a lot of examples in history when the countries didn’t have a monopoly and lived for centuries. and you can find monopolies that were on the top not for a long time.

If you take a closer look into the business you also will find a lot of companies that had a monopoly but only for 20-50 years. But there are a lot of companies that are 200-300 years old.

It is better when you have a couple of players in the market and game rules. For example Auto industry or BIG tech. Apple doesn't try to destroy Google. BMW doesn't try to destroy Mercedes.

Of course, they compete with each other, but they have unspoken rules of the game, and red lines that they do not cross.

The worst situation that can be when you try to kill your competitor and to survive he needs to have a deal with your other competitors.

And they become allies against you because you become so dangerous.

Napoleon fell into this trap of his monopoly ambitions.

In June 1812 the Greatest army in the history of that time invaded Russia. It was called Grand Arme.

Napoleon planned to quickly defeat Russia and Sign a peace treaty on his terms.

He planned to do it before winter.

In business language, it's like doing a quick launch, getting fast traction, and showing investors that you are good and raising money.

In September 1812 there was a Borodino battle. After that Russian army made the biggest trap in military history.

General Kutuzov decided to abandon Moscow and leave.

Napoleon had a difficult choice. Go forward, get the Moscow, or come back to Smolensk city for a wintering.

Napoleon chose the first option and moved to Moscow.

He knew that he would face problems with supply and food. It was a big risk.
So why did he do it?

I called it “Trying to be fit for investors”.

Napoleon invaded Russia with words like “We will win in a few months. It will be easy”.

He couldn’t show it to the army and the people of France the undefeated grand army had big problems.

To go to Moskow was a political step, not a military one.

After capturing Moscow Napoleon tried to negotiate with the Russian Tsar 3 times. But Alexander didn't respond.

This is the biggest mistake thinking like - “If we get this, they will give us this”.

Translating to the business language, Napoleon's startup burned money for growth and tried to impress investors to raise the second funding round.

He bet all for this sake, and he lost everything.

After that, Napoleon lost all battles and lost his power.

Only one mistake cancels all his conquests for the last 15 years.

In my startup career, I also made this type of mistake. I tried to impress investors by spending money on quick growth hacks to show the tractions.

But Instead of these, it would be better to invest in other things that work in the long term.

Here we come to the final, twelfth Napoleon’s business lesson:

Don't try to impress investors, or someone else, if this action can kill your company.

February 2024