Messy Middle — Take a break. Recharge.
A startup is a temporary organization in search of a scalable, repeatable, profitable business model. ~Steve Blank
The keyword to note in the quote is temporary. One dominant nature of any startup venture is that it is temporary and hence in transition. Most Entrepreneurs fail to understand the nature of a startup. In fact most entrepreneurs or founders, fail to understand the underlying nature of any phenomenon, let alone the nature of a venture. Some may recognize the nature of technology-they-use, some know the nature of the market-they-address, but definitely I have found most lacking an understanding, of the nature of their venture, and most importantly they lack awareness of their own nature. This is endemic.
Most of you might still be wondering what am I talking about, and what do I mean, when i say, knowing the underlying nature of any phenomena? Look its simple, let me give an example. Let’s say you are trying to glue together 2 broken pieces of a metal. Now you might have researched the surface area of the fissure on both sides, the pattern of the crack, the optimum structural way to glue, and even the best features of what glue to use etc… But if the nature of the 2 pieces is to repel each-other, simply because underneath, they are ferromagentic metals, even with all our effort, will we be able to work against their magnetic nature? No. Luckily, with magnets its easy to sense that they repel. Have we developed a similar sense of knowing the underlying nature of human interpersonal incompatibilities, technology-market incompatibilities, or human-business incompatibilities?
So, knowing the nature of technology, nature of markets and nature of psychology of how?, all of it comes together is vital to ensure success. Knowing the nature is the first step, to developing the ability to handle the messiness of any phenomena. Entrepreneurship is about handling the messiness of technology, messiness of markets, messiness of psychology, together what we call the Triple Messiness.
Triple Messiness Explained — Nature of Technology, Nature of Markets, Nature of Psychology.
Nature of Technology vs Feature of Technology:
Clear distinction needs to be made on Nature and Feature. Nature of Internet/Ethernet is broadcast. As a consequence, issues around data security, will keep coming up, that is the nature of internet technology businesses. An essential feature hence, is to enable secure socket layers. Likewise most people know other natures of technology exchange, which are used today for creating internet based businesses.
- Centralized vs Decentralized (e.g. block-chain is decentralized in nature)
- Client-Server vs Peer-2-Peer (e.g. Torrents are Peer-2-Peer, ie., both client & server pieces of software can act either as client or server at the same time)
- Cloud-based (distributed) vs App-based (monolithic)… etc.
Today, since technology stands for scale, you cannot just create a scalable business without using scalable technology below, and hence not knowing the underlying nature of, which technology scales, which does not, is almost deemed as criminal negligence.
Nature of Markets vs Feature of Markets
Understanding the distinction between Nature-vs-Feature of Markets, is as critical as knowing the distinction between Nature of Technology vs Feature of Technology. Nature of Capital-supported-markets is Winner-takes-all. Hence markets in all capitalism countries tend towards monopoly. An essential feature of these markets is hence, to raise capital. If you haven’t noticed this primary difference between nature-vs-feature and you are an Entrepreneur trying to raise capital, its time for you to rethink your business. Likewise most people know other natures of markets. Few of them are enumerated below..
- Long-tail vs Shark Fin Markets based on nature of distribution (Shark fin distributions (zipf curves) are metaphorically represented as Unicorn Spikes, Venture Sharks etc)
- Markets based on nature of exchange (e.g. B2B, B2C, C2C, B2B2C, etc) and so on..
Today, if you are out to create technologically scalable and profitable businesses, not stochastically knowing the nature of the various exponential/parabolic/hyperbolic curves, is also deemed as criminal negligence.
Nature of Venture’s Psychology vs Feature of Psychology
Its probably very clear by now that dealing with the nature of any phenomenon, whether its nature of technology, or nature of markets, is what separates success and failure. I have previously argued here, that ability to handle psychology issues, is the vital missing link today. Do you realize that the nature of markets and nature of technology are bound-in-the-middle, by the nature of the venture? Understanding the nature of the venture from a psychology-standpoint, both from the founder’s psychology perspective as well as risk-psychology perspective, is the most critical piece missing today in the Entrepreneurial system and its the most criminal among the Triple Messiness, if its neglected. Just like the nature-feature confusion in technology/markets, similarly in psychology, most advisors or mentors in the startup ecosystem confuse a psychological-feature, like one-time pain-relief, or chronic-cure, as the psychological-nature of a venture. No its not. Like I said, at the start of this essay, one of the dominant nature of startup ventures, is that it is temporary and hence in transition. So, lets get to the bottom of such natures. What is the nature of transition itself?
Nature of most transitions, follows 3 universal psychological-stages. Named variously as Rites of Passage, Initiation, Startup or Transition, etc., the 3 stages however, have a common theme. Call the stages themselves with whatever names, such as
- Before, Middle and After
- Thrownness, Betweenness and Expansiveness
- Endure, Optimize, Finish etc
One thing that repeats in all of that above, is that the middle is messy.
Whether its betweenness of mid-life or Optimization of business, its the ability to deal with the dreaded messy middle, that defines our ability to cross the mental rubicon, and emerge triumphant on the other side.
Personal Growth or Business Growth, Navigating the Messy-middle is Crucial.
Its abundantly clear that the messy-middle is about dealing with the nature of a venture from psychology perspective, and there is very little professional psychological help for Entrepreneurs. Highly profitable sports professions already employ psychotherapists or psychiatrists as part of their personal and career growth.
Top professionals in lucrative fields have realized that messy-middle is where success is born. The same is urgently required for other professions too, particularly the Startup world, where the failure rates are 90% or more. Navigating this high-mortality psychological messy middle of entrepreneurship, is not easy. Add to that, there are enough quacks (fake healers) in the ecosystem, masquerading as mentors and advisors, promising all sorts of help and support. How does one navigate this messy middle?
A startup itself is in the middle of an idea and a profitable-business. Perhaps that is why all startups are messy in nature too. Messiness of a startup is in its emotional roller coaster. Fellows at Refreshed.space have looked at this roller coaster journey and have created psychological models, to cope with the various stages of a entrepreneur’s emotional journey.
In the process, defining the messy middle with a clarity not seen before in the ecosystem. So, in conclusion,
- By understanding nature-of-technology and dealing with its messiness, you can create scale.
- By understanding nature-of-markets and dealing with its messiness, you can create profitability.
- By understanding nature-of-psychology and dealing with its messiness, you can create repeatability.
Thus satisfying the search for scalability, profitability and repeatability, articulated, by Steve Blank. If you are a Startup founder or Entrepreneur, looking to understand the nature of your venture, looking to navigate the messy middle, hoping to endure the roller coaster nature of your startup, wanting to finish strong and avoid the pitfalls of many other entrepreneurs, then you need to talk to the fellows at Refreshed.space. Refreshed.space is a community, where Entrepreneurs help other Entrepreneurs. Refreshed.space is a recharging space for Entrepreneurs, to super-charge their well-being as well as the well-being of fellow Entrepreneurs in the Startup Ecosystem.
My dear founders, whatever messy middle you are currently in, take a break and meet us! If you are in the middle of a mess, please mandatorily take a break and meet us! If old mindsets remain entrenched, psychological messiness will remain unaddressed, either in the individual-founder or in your startup organization. Change can only happen if you willfully seek it and make it happen volitionally. So then, what are you waiting for? Apply here to participate and spread the words to your friends and fellows. Look forward in anticipation to work with each and everyone of you. Good luck and all the very best!
