The Racing Line in Entrepreneurship
For those familiar with cars, Formula 1, or playing Gran Turismo, it is an ubiquitous term tied with winning:
The racing line.
The theoretical best route around the track. The fastest way through a turn. The path to winning.
Success on the racetrack shares the same principles as in entrepreneurship. Hyper focus, the ability to pivot, pushing the limit with risk management, just to name a few. Most importantly, success in both require consistency in executing on the small things to set up for the win. In motorsports, losing 0.1 seconds per turn on a 10 turn track is an enormous 1 second loss per lap. Hence, staying on that racing line will lead to the optimal lap and winning, so how can we apply the racing line to entrepreneurship?
This is the Way
There is a famous mantra pertaining to the racing line for a turn: “Slow in, Fast out”. It focuses on correct positioning opposed to speed for being overall faster around the track.
Slow In
The driver slows down to approach the turn and positions themselves correctly to take the optimal route. Come in too fast and braking late can result in missing the apex, which results in lower speed. Even worse, it can lead to going off track and potentially crash. Proper positioning for the turn allows hitting the apex at the right angle to minimize overall time through it and allow the driver to go full speed again sooner.
Hitting the Apex
The next phase in the turn is hitting the apex. The apex is the innermost point of a turn on the driving line, usually generally described as the center edge of the turn. Hitting the apex means the driver is at the ideal point of the turn and positioned themselves correctly for exiting the turn.
Fast out
After hitting the apex, it is pedal to floor as the driver is accelerating full speed out of the turn. By correctly hitting the apex, the driver can accelerate sooner which leads to a higher exit speed into the next segment of the track. Miss the apex and the driver will have to wait to accelerate, resulting in a lower exit speed and slower lap times.
Throwaway Corner: Missing the Apex on Purpose
A driver may ignore the ideal racing line for a corner to better position themselves for a more important section up ahead, like one for passing a competitor or preparing for a long straight. These are known as throwaway corners, as the “ideal” line for these are sacrificed for the next segment of the track.
The Line in Entrepreneurship
If we treat the apex like an important event such as product market fit, optimizing positioning for the event is better than speeding towards it. Position yourself incorrectly for the apex affects the exit speed towards the next goal. Speed isn’t everything as it is a product of correct positioning.
We place such emphasis on speed: the importance to being first to market, fast iterations and releases, scaling faster than competitors. It is no question that speed is important and those that fail to go fast lose, but positioning is more important than just blind speed. In order to get product market fit, what features do I need to maximize my chances in finding it? Go too slow with not enough features risks more iterations cycles to find it. Go too fast with too many features may sacrifice precious time built on features that were not deemed necessary by the market.
Not every apex in business is required, and some may be “sacrificed” in order to be in better position for a more important one. This is like choosing to not raising a round quickly to instead focus on closing that client which will help you land a more lucrative round and better equity terms.
Maximum velocity of a business is determined by optimizing the sum of these apexes, not just a single one.
The Geometric Racing Line Vs Yours
Often how the racing line described is what is known as the geometric racing line. The geometric racing line is the optimal line based on the geometry of the turn, hence the name. A purely mathematical construct, it fails to acknowledge other factors like weather and track conditions (ex. oil or wet track), others cars in the way, car type, etc. Not everyone’s racing line will follow the geometric line, and will widely differ based on time, external conditions, and preference.
Similarly in entrepreneurship, there is not a designated path to success. Successful paths will be similar, but never the same due to the myriad of conditions that are different for everyone. Conditions such as economic climates, global pandemics, and founder skillset will influence the “apexes” on the entrepreneurial racing line.
As any good driver or entrepreneur will attest, the perfect racing line is unique for everyone. The more one practice’s learning the line, the faster one can find it.
Interested in applying the racing line outside of business? Learn to drive your car on the racetrack with Track Manual, a free online resource on motorsports and an introduction to track driving.
About the Author
When taking a rare breather from the world of crypto and NFT.com, you can find Kent searching for track days that fit his booked work schedule and trying to optimize the “it should work” aero on his track car.
