Some of the biggest moments in any business begin with two simple words:
What if?
After these words, the potential for great opportunity can follow. Businesses launch, discoveries are made, and actions are ignited around this simple curiosity. These words help uncover the right problems to solve. They help discover the best solutions. They may lead to failure or success, but they should always lead to action.
The value of what if
The risky step to action.
What if are the first words of any entrepreneurial venture. This question is the spark that leads to the notion that a simple idea could change the world. It brings with it the opportunity to explore untrodden territory with no guarantee of success. Sometimes the what if leads to, “Well, that didn’t work.” Yet after failure or loss, the two words can move you past the failure to explore the next possible outcome. Almost all of our modern world has been shaped by this curiosity.
Facebook would not exist if Mark Zuckerberg had not considered, “What if we launch a social platform from a dorm room for college students?”
Instagram would not have sold to Facebook had Mike Krieger not explored, “What if I just learn to code and build my own app?”
Warby Parker would not be valued at over one billion dollars for selling eyeglasses online had they not considered, “What if we mail glasses to people to try on at home?”
Patagonia would not be a leading outdoor brand had it not stopped to consider, “What if we ordered rugby shirts and sold them to climbers that use our climbing hardware?”
Now I’m not saying that each of these founders or companies wrote down or said aloud, “What if……”, but the willingness to be curious and take action even in the face of risk is a resounding WHAT IF moment.
Increase curiosity and courage.
Great and worthwhile risk will always be tied to fear. Fear wants to paralyze. It wants to stop you from taking action.. It’s that feeling right before you pick up the phone and make your first cold call. It’s with you in that moment before you push your first app to your early customers. It’s that feeling right before you make your first inventory order before sales have even started.
A good reminder in these moments of fear is to ask yourself, “What if?” This shifts the attention away from fear and straight to curiosity. What if that next sales call lands the big client? What if asking the investor for money springboards your company to growth? What if you pivot your company’s direction and finally find traction? What if you launch without adding all the features?
Curiosity is an incredibly powerful mindset. It opens our minds to a willingness to try new things. It allows us to practice empathy and sparks an eagerness to test assumptions. This doesn’t mean we should constantly be distracted by the next what if? Broad-mindedness allows us to explore new ideas and opportunities and teaches us how to become better at recognizing opportunity moments. What if is the driving question for curiosity to flourish. It inspires us to take action and test our hypotheses and assumptions.
Start finding problems and failures.
What if also leads to uncovering failures, problems, and bugs. In creating a new app, ask, “What if the user does X?” You might find that all things go precisely as planned. Then include,“what if the user does X after doing Y?” The conditions are different. The path was unexpected, and now they are stuck. And the experience is no longer effective. Having a mindset of what if means that we have to be prepared to look at both the problem and solution at different angles and test and measure the impact of those possibilities. With this we find bugs in our code, inconsistencies in our designs, and breaking points in experience being delivered to the customer. Thankfully, our what if mindset also gives us the freedom and confidence to address these issues head on.
Some what if questions for businesses
Great what if questions can challenge you and your organization to do amazing things. Here are some what if questions to ask yourself as you are starting or growing a business:
What if we invested in our culture?
What if we talk to a lot of potential customers even before creating a product?
What if we stopped having so many meetings?
What if we had a clear mission and vision statement?
What if we created our own competitive product before our competitors do?
What if we don’t innovate?
What if we show our work-in-progress product to customers for feedback?
What if we added or changed parts of our product or service offerings?
What if we removed parts of our product or service offering?
Things to consider when asking what if?
What if requires action.
If used incorrectly, what if can lead to paralyzation. Trying to look at every possible angle and outcome can be very overwhelming. When considering to explore the answer to your what if, be sure to consider if the idea is worth exploring now or later. Even consider asking what if we wait to explore this. If the assumption is that there is a missed value opportunity, then take action. If what if is not followed with an action, or at least explored, then nothing will change. The possibility dies with the what if statement.
What if is not the same as “it will.”
What if is clearly a risk. It’s a question that entails uncertainty. Think of holding your ideas loosely. True to the scientific method, or to agile and lean practices, try to be very clear about your assumptions. Then take action to see the potential results of these assumptions. Without what if, no assumptions can be proposed, no ideas generated, no problems validated, nor can a solution ever take place.. Instead, what if should be used to create assumptions about possible outcomes. Don’t use the question to create a definition. It’s not meant for this. It’s meant as a way to explore, test, and validate.
What if at Crema
Two years ago, my business partner, Dan, and I sat down after several years working with our tight-knit team of less than 10 employees. We always envisioned Crema small and boutique. But what if? What if we grew? What if we looked ahead for what might be next for Crema?
Now Crema has grown. The answer to what if we grow was anything but easy, but nowwe can look back on our learning through many ups and downs of that growth. Expenses increased as we expanded the office space and team size. To cover these expenses we found ourselves saying yes to bad clients when we should have said no. We watched what we thought were great clients never sign and walk away. We built up reserves and then burned through reserves.
Through the journey we learned how to answer many more what ifs… What if we created a way to rate our right client fit? What if we invested in team members learning new skills? What if we refined our services? What if we created a weekly vlog to get the word out about Crema? What if we partnered even more closely with our existing clients?
We learned that the answer to what if we grow would mean that we would now be working with great clients and on projects that could change the world. Along the way we’ve built a team of people that we trust and admire. None of this would have happened had we not asked, What if?
As we enter 2017, we’ve challenged our team to use these same words. “What if?” What if Crema continues to refine and focus? What if we look at the future of digital experiences? What if we produce more content? What if we take bigger risks with our clients? What if we make margin to innovate more for ourselves? What if we raise money for those innovations? What if we refine our process? What if we grow more?
In conclusion
What if are two powerful words that drive ideas to action. By creating a mindset of curiosity for a possible scenario or outcome, you are free to explore new problems and solutions from a fresh perspective. What if followed by action could be the start of the next world-changing idea. Challenge yourself. Step outside your comfort zone to explore your what ifs. Cultivate a willingness to try and fail until you try and succeed in finding the next great possibility.
