The startup road trip
I’ve tried to startup multiple times. There was once I went so far as to register the business and actually started to run the business. However on most occasions I’ve failed to go beyond just dreaming about the idea and waking up to go back to my day job (The day job is not too bad, don’t get me wrong :D)
I came across a Ted Talk by Bill Gross and I think it neatly summarizes my startup journey:
- Idea!
- Look for a team
- Execute
- Iterate/ pivot till you run out of money or patience
The one ingredient between my idea and success was timing (apparently).
Idea!
Most of us have a lot of ideas. Some brilliant, most are better left in the imaginary realm to save ourselves from embarrassment.
Experiences help stimulate new ideas. Meeting new people, going to new places, trying new things. As creatures of habit, we like the comfort of familiarity. Over time, new ideas become stale ideas repackaged to look new. Boldly trying something different pulls us out of a safe comfort zone and throws us into the war zone of uneasy discomfort. From the conflict and bombardment to the senses, new ideas are born. Our mind has amazing abilities to combine and permutate random experiences in our lives to something we can make sense of.
Armed with an idea, what’s next?
Team
It’s rare that anyone ever works alone. Even highly successful folks like Jobs or Gates had a Woz or an Allen to help them.
Building a team is tricky. It goes beyond looking for one soul mate. you need to look for multiple partners with the following attributes:
- Skill sets (right as well as complementary)
- Cultural fit (able to accept common cultures but still provide diversity)
- Speed of thought and execution (the parties should be close to equal for the bond to be stable)
My greatest challenge (and the step I failed in) was finding an appropriate team (I’m still looking. My old team was nice, but they did not help to execute ideas fast enough)
The perfect (yet still realistic) team from past experience are the folks who drive each other forward. Have complementary skills and character (i.e I’m a big picture guy and I always look for a meticulous person to pair with).
So what’s the first step? Take the plunge. Trust tends to play the biggest part in working with anyone. However, if you don’t try you can’t trust. My past experience, I’ve had people I want to work with, however the difference in speed and willingness of time to invest in the venture creates friction. Even with setting expectations, jumping to do a startup requires a huge investment in time and energy (money as well, but that is more manageable).
Execute + pivoting
With the right team, you can execute any idea (even the crappy ones). If the right team is found and the idea is good that’s great. If it’s not, pivot and iterate quickly. Team fatigue tends to set in after 2 to 3 pivots. Even the best teams will need wins to keep them going.
Realistically, you will only have 2 to 3 chances before investors also run out of patience and close the investment tap.
Timing
I think as the decision maker there is also some responsibility to look after the investors, partners and employees. The original idea could be amazing, but it’s so grand it will take a decade to achieve, by which time, the whole team would have starved to death.
Boring and quick win revenue streams does not sound like much fun, but they help to pay bills. Gaps in industries are the fastest (and most mundane) way to create revenue streams. Partners that were persuaded to join based on the original grand idea will need to be encouraged from time to time to keep them to stay on.
It is difficult to say whether first to market is better or having a competitor educate the market and then moving in after they have done the groundwork makes more sense. This is really up to chance and timing.
The element of luck cannot be understated for businesses to succeed. Before lady luck visits, balancing everything is necessary. You and your team are just waiting for one opportunity. Until then, keep dreaming, keep working and keep moving forward.
There’s an interesting alternate response to Bill Gross’ Ted talk if you’re written by David Siegel
