Plan, It’s simple stupid
I’m in a startup and I love it. But 90% of startups fail. And one reason for it is the lack of internal organisation. This post is written to give recognition to the corporate life and its well put together processes.
I’ve always worked well in organised environments. I was first in my class during my school years, well regarded in my work places. Subsequently landed the jobs that I wanted, as taught by my parents and my teachers.
Leaving that safe environment and diving into the shark tank of the entrepreneurial life was, by far, the most complex thing I have ever done. More complex than my Bachelor Thesis robot that wiped the dust, more complex than my face recognition app or my two Google Summer of Code projects. More complex than developing tools for Nokia or building my own 3D printer.
But without all that previous experience I couldn’t have done it.
Portraying entrepreneurs like creative, free unicorns that change the world for the better is definitely charming. However, fulfilling that dream of change requires efficiency and focus. Here’s what I’ve learned during my corporate jobs, a few talk about, but more startups should apply.
planning is key
Working in a startup is very exciting and many times reactive. Giving the users what they want when they want it can be very pressuring. However this can lead to a hectic work style that overburns the founders and crowds the apps with unnecessary features
work smart, not hard
Since I joined the startup life, I’ve been hearing “You have to work hard” from everybody. For me working hard is a given. I don’t need to visualize it, to impose it. If you really are passionate about what you develop, it will be a no brainer. What we sometimes need to be reminded of is to work smart and focus.
deadlines are important
One of the perks of working for your own business is that you take the decisions, you drive or withdraw the progress. However, working aimlessly, without a clear goal and a period of time to develop that goal can demotivate the team. You as a founder lose track of what is really important for the time being
a team is as strong as its weakest link
Maybe more important than in a corporation, a startup relies on the team. They can make or break an idea. Choose wisely
tools can ease your life
Use tools. The more management and communication tools, the less issues your team has to address themselves in this area and find suitable solutions for. Others already did it for you. But choose wisely based on your needs, make sure they bring in the right amount of structure to make you efficient and they don’t actually slow you down.
roles,
just like plans, help you distribute and hold responsibilities. Delegate! Delegate! Delegate! and make people responsible for their parts.
work in iterations
In my corporate jobs we used to have sprints that usually lasted for two/three weeks. Developing your product iteratively helps you redefine long term goals if they seem unrealistic or unsuitable for your current implementations. They help you fail fast. Fast is always good in startups. At the same time iterations can help you work towards a company-wide goal, allowing you to integrate change whenever necessary.
review your iterations
Reviewing your work and establishing success and failure stories after each iteration can highlight impediments, bottlenecks in your flows and again help you hold responsibility and solve issues faster.
Plans and organisation will give you control over your startup, but they should be applied as long as they still give you room for innovation, reactiveness and the empowerment of decision making.
They should be used as tools that channel the creative stream of an entrepreneurial mind.
One of a startup’s goals is to find their own right recipe to push users down the marketing funnel and convert them to customers. The same principle applies to efficient product development. In the end, your startup is like an improvised Goldberg machine that suits your team’s personality and needs, but gives them the efficiency they need to make things happen.
I am Melania and I am a creative unicorn that sets goals and plans before work. Will that make me succeed? I don’t know, but I sure have a chance now.
