INFLECTION POINT
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
In the arena
What is it like to start a new business? Fortunately, I can answer that question based on my experiences now instead of reading about it on Quora or a guru blog.
It felt like being in the arena described above by Teddy Roosevelt. It required an emotional stamina for the turns and twists that at times exceeded my capacity. It felt exceedingly rewarding when things fell into place, like when paying customers signed up.
With nearly 2/3 of workers indicating they are dissatisfied and desire to change their jobs, the byproduct of spending time on my passion and doing my first plan was a freedom from the “work” of working. Yet, my full ambitions were never realized…
A Partner
And then I found another partner, a different kind of business partner; a life partner. Our recent wedding date marks the start of not only a joint venture for living; the proverbial game-changer but also the cornerstone around which a new structure is being built. In the day-to-day execution of the buildout, that has meant moving to a new place together, merging accounts and deciding which of the 5 slotted spoons we are going to keep. And did I mention there is a dog sleeping on my bed?
The life changes are both superficial (slotted spoons) and far-reaching (becoming less self-centered) and extend clear through to my professional life.
Carry Forward
So what will I carry forward into my next professional opportunity at this current inflection point?
Data-driven approach. One of my favorite stories is of the time I planned my 2010 vacation to Japan, returning there 10 years after I moved back to the US from Tokyo. The cherry blossom season is spectacular and the Japan Meteorological Agency tracks the time and intensity of the blossoms (yes its a big deal there!) The published blossom forecast had an r square value of 0.6. Actionable! I showed up in Tokyo with my friend lamenting the lack of cherry blossoms and then a full bloom 2 days later. Stats-based vacation planning! With Fitness Super Pass, I split tested multiple product messages based on available features and found an 80% click-through increase for the winning message. At metroPCS, my sales forecasting model led to the lowest inventory levels company-wide. Big Data keeps getting bigger and the need for those who can deliver on the promise of Big Data has never been greater.
Resourcefulness. I am grateful to my boss at Toshiba Medical who first recognized this quality in me stating, “ You got a lot done with a little, because I know I didn’t give you much to work with.” Thanks a lot Jim! or maybe thanks a little….Maintaining cost efficiencies is a key aspect of all businesses, even more so in the early stage of a business. Curious about how much I spent on Fitness Super Pass digital content creation such as this custom motivational image, this infographic and this video ? $0.42, $10 and $20 respectively. Extending our marketing dollars at Fitness Super Pass necessitated landing page optimization rather than optimizing for the sake of running a design contest or testing competing theories.
Leadership. Dwight Eisenhower said “The supreme quality of leadership is integrity”. Much of the current startup company ethos is centered on receiving funding from angel or VC investors as the goal of the endeavor and measuring stick of achievement. Contrary to this prevalent notion, my partners and I were in agreement that organic revenues were more important and that we would only seek external investment dollars at later stages of development. I am proud with the way we carried out our plans in this respect. Although Fitness Super Pass had many of the ingredients sought after by investors, we never looked to an investment infusion to cover up our execution shortcomings or for a bail out to take care of our customer acquisition questions. Taking an investment at the time would simply have been an attempt to mask our execution issues rather than a way to scale up and return value to the investor.
Next
It is time to know and to live out the meaning of life partner…
Time to figure out how to be a “doggy daddy” (huh?)…
Time to continue honoring the Author of the Original Inflection Point.
And it is time to open the next professional chapter of my life…
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