DNA Drives Everything

Science Inc.
Sep 5, 2018 · 2 min read

The DNA of a company sets it up for success or failure years in advance. Bad DNA can leave you open to competitive threats that kill your business years down the line, and good DNA can take you all the way to a lucrative exit. Once your company has grown, it’s impossible to rewrite its DNA, so as a founder in the early days, you need to be stringent about what will define how you do business.

In the strand below, fill in what your DNA looks like, then fill in the DNA for your closest competitor, whether that’s a direct competitor or an incumbent you’re targeting. Think through the core features of your business that drive it forward and can’t change, such as how you track data, a key product feature, built-in SEO or something else. See what the differentiation looks like and think hard about how that DNA is going to have an impact on your business long-term.

TradecraftScience

Tradecraft, written by Science Inc. co-founder & CEO Mike Jones, gives aspiring entrepreneurs access to advice that comes from decades spent starting and running companies and from thousands of conversations with founders around the world.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade