This is the philosophy behind Great Simians and why I love apes, not a detailed description of the company Great Simians. That can be found on our site greatsimians.com
How it started
It actually started many years ago. I needed a handle online and since I loved apes I chosed Silverback, or to be honest, I tried to, but naturally the handle Silverback was already taken. Second best was Silverbakk. I used Silverbakk as my handle for many years in all channels. Please note that this was in the early days of the internet, when not real names were used. Along the road real names and trust / relationships started to surface and I started to use my real name instead. Still today my handle Silverbakk is around on services that do not support change of usernames.
A handle turns into a company name, Silverbakk
Apes and particular gorillas are close at heart. The live in families and there is a dominant leader of that social tribe, the Silverbakk. Since I was about to start a online analytics and measurement company and we wanted to be the dominant leader of that social tribe, we went for Silverbakk as the company name. That company is still around and still run by my former colleagues. In some ways it actually became the leader of it’s tribe.
Is it only gorillas?
I love all apes, but to be honest gorillas and orang-utans are my favourites. Orang-utans share 99% of the DNA with humans and due to our really bad behaviour toward mother earth we are currently on a good way of helping the orang-utan to extinction. These intelligent animals that share so much with us, deserve to be preserved.
The gorillas live peacefully in harmony with the nature and its peers. They are vegetarians and live with their families. Led by the dominant male, the Silverback, they only become aggressive (by instinct) when the family is threatened. It might sound harsh, but I really like their overall behaviour. The male gorillas that not yet are up for a place at the throne as Silverback leave the group when they are around 8 years and live with other bachelors (these gorillas are called Blackbacks) until it is time to form their own family around 13 years of age.
There are other apes that are just amazing as well.
What does Great Simians mean
In simple words Simians means “higher primates”. Those include both the new and old monkeys as well as apes, yes, even the lower apes, the Gibbons. So, do I mean that we all are apes or monkeys? In a way I do, since we as homo sapiens actually also are a part of the Simians.
The connection
Since I believe that each individual is best at something and that we are better in teams then as individuals. In that I found a great connection between my vision and how many apes live. So the greatest Simians are the ones that I want to work with and have around me in the future, don’t you?
Personal reflection and background
I have been working professionally for over 20 years. As a military officer in the Swedish Special Forces (security forces / counter terrorist) I spent most of first 6 years as a professional in strange locations and with a small team of likeminded around me. I miss those days, but if I am lucky I am about to repeat that journey. Hopefully will the teams I will be working with, will by the entrepreneur version of those special forces teams. A small unit that operates in an environment that is not suitable for the big companies and solving problems few are capable of!
As the old SAS (UK Special Forces, Special Air Service) saying
Who dares wins!
Startups are the special forces of business.
Special forces, or special operations forces, are military units highly trained to perform unconventional, often high-risk missions.
Source: Wikipedia
Photo credit for Gorilla to Flickr user nix6658