We said no to a $60,000 project.
A story about what it means to focus, and to say no.
2022 was crazy year for us, with an insurmountable challenge ahead, these kinds of revelations happen once in a life time. I’m sure I can’t even begin to scratch the surface of what we learnt from this.
One of the three core team members (who had been with us from the start) had left the company. Not just that, we had to deal with some immensely difficult HR situations, which includes: incompetent employees burning us money and very competent employees suddenly believing that a post-graduate degree is the future (I still wish them all the best though).
However, while these were obviously crippling problems, it wasn’t really the cause of them. The cause was simple: We were clueless as to what we wanted.
Let me give you some context. We were three kids, fresh from college and incredibly naive about how the world works… yet we were somehow filled with immense confidence about our abilities to put a dent in the world (we still are, but now we’re conscious of our unfounded confidence). What could possibly go wrong?
We started off as a simple Web and App Development Agency. Building websites, web apps and mobile applications for different clients. We were doing alright for ourselves, with the ticket size of each project growing at a reasonable rate, but at the same time, nothing really clicked.
Something was holding us back from committing to our company. The days felt slow, we lacked that spring in our step and as much as I hate to say it, we just couldn’t commit to the idea of being an agency. The worst part, it caused all sorts of crazy things to happen.
We would wake up and say, “Let's automate processes for other companies.” Without any fruition, because our hearts weren’t in it. We would wake up and say, “Let’s start offering ‘Branding’ as a service.” Then we thought why not introduce ‘Digital Marketing’ as a service. Nothing EVER materialised. Simply because we didn’t want to be one of “those” companies.
“Let’s make a blockchain product!” said one founder to another.
What we really wanted was to be a big, mean million dollar startup. We wanted to be a product based company that could do millions of dollars in ARR, with mind-blowing traction. That’s where our minds, and more importantly our hearts, were at.
We had the drive, but there was one problem: We didn’t have an idea. We were stuck. We kept looking for ideas, and great ideas aren’t found, they are created. They’re random light-bulb moments when you would’ve least expected it.
Eventually the looking got tiring, frustrating and aggressive. We couldn’t agree on anything. That was when one of our core members left (it was amicable, don’t worry).
Finally, the last of us, decided to accept our fate. We realised that we either had to shut shop, or commit to being an agency. We chose the latter.
Things got a bit clearer, we started landing more clients. Bigger clients and then something even better happened.
As we were working with all these clients, we realised there was a gap in the market. We realised that there is a huge issue with how people with an idea launch their product! We realised we could make it easier for them to launch their products, and we started fleshing the idea out.
That’s when clarity hit. We stopped development and started focusing on design as a service, and we set up a clear cut R&D team. It felt amazing.
Decisions become easier to take, and things started aligning. We were finally able to think long term. We could say no to things which distracted us, and focus on what was important. Most importantly, the team felt like they could work endlessly, because we could actually see where we wanted to be.
Honestly, when you feel that clarity is when you’ll truly understand why it made sense to say no to a $60,000 development project.
“Bro, we just said no to $60,000. That’s a lot.”
“It is what it is.”
