Mar 3, 2022
IT’S MY PARTY AND I’LL {TRY} IF I WANT TO! — FOUNDERS’ ISSUES
“It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to” hit #1 in the April 1963 US pop chart for Lesley Gore.
In January 1985 Clive Sinclair launched the C5 at Alexandra Palace, London. It was an unmitigated disaster. No market research had been done and, in the event, very few were sold. Sinclair had made a fortune with his computers so, flushed with success and over-confident, he pushed through the C5 purely on his own conviction. Bad plan! Now, over thirty years later, the C5 is a cult item for collectors, a quirky reminder of the value of the tried and tested New Product Development (NPD) process, particularly Concept Development & Testing.
Perhaps then, it’s no surprise that however excited you might be about a new product or service concept, it’s not a bad idea to check if others are quite as excited as you.
“Where is the need?” is the first question to ask oneself, because the world is full of lovely ideas that are not always really needed.
So, is there a willing market for your idea?
It doesn’t have to be as unique and world-changing as post-it notes or tea-bags. It can be a development of something already around, an improvement. So many successful products are based on other peoples’ inspiration and — sometimes — failures. Sinclair’s “failure” was that he was simply too early. The technology he needed for success hadn’t been developed yet. He was an intelligent man, so had he checked and looked behind the bright, glittering lights of belief, he wouldn’t have gone ahead.
Then there’s how to start the process
How to expose your still sensitive and vulnerable concept to a skeptical and very busy world?
It starts with the need for you to be realistic as well as excited.
Test your idea with those you trust. If you don’t fully trust them, get them to sign a NDA. Welcome skepticism — it’s really helpful in honing your idea, in developing clarity of purpose. At the same time, keep your faith and enthusiasm going. James Dyson made 5,127 prototypes of his DC01, the bagless vacuum cleaner, and asserts the important role of failure in success. Unlike Sinclair, he didn’t launch until he was completely satisfied his ideas would work and had tested them thoroughly.
This essential realism includes being clear about your own abilities and the skills needed to make your idea a success. If your heart is in design and concept development, do you really want to set up a whole new production company yourself? From scratch? You could consider doing a deal with those already established to make, distribute and sell, sharing the burden, keeping your precious energies for maximizing what you do best.
There are some brilliant people out there needing innovative ideas with which to keep their machines and employees busy: you can help. Or you can buy in the expertise and the experience you need in your team, either through a sharing, partnership deal with agreed benefits when the product launches or employing people now. In either case, you’ll need to protect your idea, your Intellectual Property.
Self interest — other peoples’ — is useful here, enabling someone you need in your team to benefit now — or later — from being a Director and/or minority shareholder of your enterprise.
The same principles of clarity and realism apply to seeking investment: would you risk thousands in your idea? Really? You sure?
If you would, if you are thoroughly satisfied it will fly, if you’ve got corroboration that it’s a goer, don’t go “cap in hand” to the angels! Follow the Max Mantra: “Be the shopper, not the shelf.” Be clear about the value and worth of your concept, don’t give it away through need but instead look for the very best deal you can get. Employ the Deprivation Principle: “That which is easy to get is less attractive than that which is difficult to attain.” So be a little hard to get — nicely! — with those potential investors. Counter intuitive? Perhaps. But it works in business as well as romance!
When you are contemplating starting a new enterprise, bringing a cherished concept into realisation, it’s wise to think ahead as far as is possible now to the kinds of issues and challenges you’ll likely face, such as what kind of leader you’ll be. Because the maelstrom of success can sweep you off your foundations unless you’re well anchored and right now you have a little time to debate, to decide and to plan.
Here are a few things to consider...
You might start with your governing principles, your values when it comes to commerce, and how they’ll be expressed through what you do and how you do it, your brand. It’s good to build in regular team monitoring and reviews of your values and their relevance/efficacy and in building a strong team around your values you can also accommodate other peoples’ beliefs and principles, operating collegiately with as much equality as possible. And, of course, there’s that early market testing.
Where are you in the NPD process and are you alert to and informed about the changes, opportunities, and threats out there?
Another crucial consideration is what kind of leader you want to be and how you will monitor yourself. How you will exercise your power as founder. Will you recognise the power of humility and leading from behind? Could you regard leadership as delivering gifts to those you lead — skills, wisdom, experience — and see yourself as a coach to the project and those delivering it with you?
After a while you might recognise that the project belongs to others as well as to you, despite the fact you started it.
To help with this sometimes-powerful transition, you could do worse than regularly inform yourself on how other successful leaders lead. And leave. Because, crucially, you’ll need to know when it’s time to step back and let go, make a graceful, satisfied rather than anxious exit.
Make a checklist of these and other issues and pin it up somewhere you’ll see it every day.
In their book “The Starfish & The Spider”, Brafman & Beckstrom show how Spider organisations can be stuck with their founder and find it hard to evolve. Starfish organisations, on the other hand, can rejuvenate and thrive away from their founder, growing and adapting to change and opportunity.
Which is yours to be?
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