Just shut up and launch already!
Starting a new business is always a particular type of challenge.
There is so much to consider when going through the process, and the knowledge gap of those who start businesses varies.
Hence, it’s always exciting to consider all the different perspectives when going through a launch.
I have been helping startups go from zero to one for the last ten years, so my experience from starting from scratch rivals the best of the best.
However, even for me, launching can be challenging for a few specific reasons.
Too Much Experience
Unfortunately, you become a perfectionist when you have as much experience as I do with this process, and your bar is incredibly high.
You know that you’ve helped people with significantly less success, yet you can’t stomach releasing less than perfect.
This is a huge identity issue and something you have to overcome by treating your business as a client rather than your journey.
Separating yourself from your business is essential in the startup process.
Too Many Skills
For those of you who don’t know, I am commonly hired in various roles as a consultant.
I am an engineer and marketer by trade; however, I frequently assist companies with customer success, product planning, development, marketing, and sales consulting.
This is a blessing and a curse. While I can fully achieve anything within a business, that will produce many options and complexity for what is available to me.
At the same time, my less experienced counterpart is more motivated to launch what they have due to limitations.
Managing Expectations
Like when working with customers or clients, you have to manage your expectations for what’s possible. This is vital, and I have to tell myself no and use my team for accountability frequently.
When it comes to your team, you need to help them understand your perspective as much as possible. You can use your internal founder team to help keep you moving forward, rather than constantly weaving around all the different potential options.
Perspective Is Everything
I would say that managing and understanding your perspective is the most crucial part for experienced founders.
Often, it would help if you were the observer, not the practitioner, which is a problematic mind state to achieve without bias.
Being able to step back and observe the business compared to those in your previous experience is crucial.
When you do this, you will often see that where you are with your new venture is months, if not years ahead of where most people start.
This will help you commit to launching and putting out a product to the market that is beyond expectations for a brand new startup without strapping yourself down with all the potential ideas and options available to you.
Moving Forward
At the end of the day, whether you’re an experienced founder or a first-time founder, the main thing to focus on is launching to your audience and gathering feedback.
The longer you sit within your box, the more difficult it will become to launch. Just put it out there and see what happens.
You can always go back and change what’s needed overtime, and often the revisions due to feedback will be multiples better than if you would have attempted it alone.
