Slowing Down to Speed Up

This post was written by Lorne Jenkins, founder of Mini Money Management

Thursdays class was focused on refining our customer segments and diving deep into our main one. I got a little bit cocky last class and tried to focus on multiple segments, but Harris (EforAll’s Longmont Executive Director) was adamant that I focus on one and really go for depth. This was some of the most helpful advice I have gotten in awhile. The main focus of today was identifying what assumptions we have about our main customer segments and this was a relatively daunting task for me. Halfway through the class, I realized that I have made a large number of assumptions about my main segment, teachers. The problem with this is that I have done very little to ensure that some of the more crucial assumptions are accurate.

I had a minor freak out and then the real value of the EforAll accelerator came to the forefront. Evan (the workshop specialist) and Harris came over to me separately to discuss what my assumptions were, and how they were impacting me moving forward. I told Evan that I had made a long list of assumptions about my teachers and was worried about how many there were. He smiled and reassured me that this was actually for the best. This meant that I had thoroughly thought through my customer segment and was aware of what I was assuming. Harris then came over to discuss and I expressed to him the worry that I had not tested a lot of these assumptions, and that if they were wrong that everything I was attempting to build would fall apart. Harris got a very similar smile and said that this was the entire point of the E for All accelerator in the first place. We want to be aware of what our assumptions are, and then find ways to test them. “We are working on surveying next week Lorne, don’t panic, and remember, you have to slow down to speed up”

This is what made me want to do this accelerator in the first place. I have a real desire to build a business that could grow nationwide or even worldwide, but I also know that I want to have the strongest possible foundation before I do that. The term “slow down to speed up” is an inherently difficult concept for me to accept because I want things to move at 100 mph at all times. But looking back over the business I am trying to create and making sure that my foundation is as airtight as possible is really making me focus my efforts on what to work on and why I am doing this. As a Longmont native (moved here when I was 6 but close enough to a local) and someone who swore to never come back to this small town, I couldn’t be more excited to see all of these incredible ideas in one amazing accelerator all in my hometown.

Can’t wait to see what the future holds.