How Vision Can Make or Break Your Startup
Picture this scenario:
You just start your own company. Everyone on your team is in love with the idea and is willing to put in the work. You don’t know much about your team, yet, the next thing you know, you’re off to the races.
Out of nowhere, disaster struck!
Nasty surprises pop up; they completely warp how things are supposed to be. The idea mutates uncontrollably, and you lose track of everything.
Morale wane. Egos clash. Chaos break!
You struggle to focus. You discuss. You argue. You pivot. And yet, nothing seems to work.
But then, you remember why you joined this team…
It’s because of the vision. It’s that “love at first sight” moment when everything seemed possible. Something compelled you to join this team, regardless of your inhibitions.
And so, along with your team, you go back to the drawing board, redefine your focus, pour all of your energy into what is truly important, and disregard what’s not.
What I had just described might hit close to home for some of you, and for me, this was exactly what happened during my first Startup Weekend. This experience made me realize something…
Do NOT lose track of your Vision!
So what do I mean by this?
According to the Lean Startup methodology, you MUST remove anything that does not help you achieve your vision. You MUST trim the fat and stay lean, keeping only the “meat” of vision, as the name implies. And more importantly, you MUST not change your vision just for the sake of pleasing others.
As entrepreneurs, we are encouraged to share our ideas with as many people as possible, in order to get feedback and improve. While this is all well and good, there is also a negative effect to doing so.
The opinions of others can be a huge distraction for budding entrepreneurs who are just beginning to form their vision. Even those closest to you — your family, your friends, and your significant other — can also be your greatest weakness. Not only can they hamper your progress, but they can also discourage you from ever reaching your goals.
On top of this distraction, the exhilarating rush of working on something new can intoxicate the mind. If we are not careful, we can let ourselves get lost in the moment and lose sight of the ONE thing that is important to us: our vision.
Our vision is why we wake up at 5:00 in the morning and stay up until 1:00 at night.
Our vision is why we brave the unforgiving waves of uncertainty that come with entrepreneurship.
Our vision is why we endure the crushing defeats… just so we could do it all over again.
Therefore, anything outside of your vision is a waste.
During Startup Weekend, I learned this lesson the hard way.
In retrospect, this event was almost like a microcosm of how startups are formed and operate. We experienced what most entrepreneurs often go through in their life: a roller coaster of emotions, going from the highest highs to the lowest lows, eventually reaching the point of falling out and giving up.
Towards the end, I was ready to throw in the towel.
We weren’t making any progress as a team, and I was fed up with it all. From the beginning of the event to the halfway point, we were bombarded with all kinds of questions and suggestions from everyone around us.
And while I appreciate the extra attention that we were given, this also made us less cohesive as a team. To make matters worse, team members were showing up at different times due to work and other obligations, and they would have to catch up with the rest of the team.
As a result, everyone was on a different page.
Our idea, Beatable, mutated into something that is far removed from our original vision, from a music collaboration software to an online music marketplace in less than a day.
Because of how distracted and unorganized we were, we wasted most of the allotted time with nothing to show for, working on many different things at once and scraping our previous progress.
Time was running out, and we were all on edge.
It was a do-or-die moment; we did not want to embarrass ourselves out there in front of the crowd and judges.
We would have been the only team with nothing to present, and there would be no excuse.
All of the hard work and dedication that we’d put forth up to this point would have been meaningless…
Thankfully, that scenario never happened.
Honestly, it would have been much easier to just give up and stop right there, but something compelled me to keep trying, to keep moving forward. Perhaps it was the burning desire to achieve that grand vision. Or perhaps I just got tired of giving up.
Either way, I decided to follow my gut feelings and shared my thoughts on our situation with the whole team. This was when I made another realization:
We lacked communication.
When I decided to open up to my teammates, they responded in kind, and for the first time ever since the event started, we were actually in-sync!
It seems so simple in retrospect, and yet, when there are a million things going on in your mind and all you want to do is to complete your tasks, tunnel vision becomes a big problem.
Moreover, the lack of trust within the team also held us back.
After the heart-to-heart conversation among ourselves, we decided to go back to the original pitch and think about what made it resonate with us. Once we had identified the reasons why, we started refining this vision.
To be able to interact with other music creators and share our music.
To be able to let our creativity flow from our minds onto our music seamlessly.
To be able to own the music that we make or any part of which we have created.
This was our vision for Beatable, and it was what makes us unique.
After regaining our focus, it was crunch time. We had very little time left: a single day to deliver on something that is remotely presentable to everyone, a world-changing idea and its vision…
However, this time, we were no longer separated. We were united under a common goal.
Everything was on the line, and everyone was determined to see it through no matter what. Having learned from our initial mistakes, we wasted no time and avoided our previous pitfalls. We blocked out all distractions and got to work.
As a result, my team and I were able to recover and placed 3rd at the Startup Weekend pitch competition. It is my firm belief that “the Startup Weekend grind,” although small in scale, is analogous to the everyday struggle of millions of entrepreneurs out there who are still trying to make their mark on the world.
Now that Startup Weekend is over, we all parted ways. Some continued to work on the idea while others went back to their daily grind: school, work, family, and other obligations.
Only 10% of Startup Weekend teams would continue to work their ideas. And while this is a very low percentage, the lessons that we’ve learned during this weekend are, without a doubt, priceless and would continue to help us through our future ventures.
The path of entrepreneurship is often a lonely and difficult one, and yet for those of us who are determined to see it through, it is the most fulfilling path that we take. For many, taking that first step down this lonesome road requires a lot of courage and determination. To make matters worse, our environment, especially those around us, can bring us down with their negativity and closed-mindedness.
Fortunately, all hope is not lost. Our vision acts as the compass that will guide us through the “fog of negativity” and set us on the path that we are meant to walk: our own path.
