Author: blogginggazelle

“It’s never too late to be what you might have been.” – George Eliot

A lot of people in middle age have had entrepreneurship thrust upon them by way of a job loss or other major life change.  Perhaps it’s the kick in the behind that got them going on starting their own company.  Maybe it’s a point of having no other choice.  Regardless the reason, they are now on their way.

Others choose to retire but not.  A serial entrepreneur I know is fond of introducing himself as one who is constantly failing at retirement.  He’s pushing 70.

Solving problems for people is not the domain of any particular demographic.  While youth may have energy and cutting edge technology on their side, those with years experience have been through failures that have informed their leadership and ability to make good decisions.

You don’t have to be in your twenties to start a company.  You just have to have a customer with a problem you can solve.

Blogging Gazelle is published daily by Shawn Carson

“Don’t speak unless you can improve on the silence.” – Spanish Proverb

I was listening to a news report on the radio yesterday.  The interviewer asked a tough question of a Marine General, which was followed by about 6 seconds of silence.  Although 6 seconds is not a long time, the interviewer found the silence so excruciating that she had to finally say “…OoooKaaaay….”

Silence is a very powerful thing and yet we seem utterly terrified of it, which is why we live in a world with a constant drone of noise.

This finds it’s way into our company pitches, elevator pitches, company tag lines and branding.  In all these things, less is always more.  I’ve coached enough company pitches now to know that 8 minutes is a better time constraint than 12 minutes.  The lesser time forces you to really think about the most important things to say and leave it at that.  Of course this takes time and a lot of practice.  This is the way with excellence.

As for story telling, slow down and relax.  And if you really want to grab the audience’s attention, pause your narrative for about 6 seconds. Do it deliberately and look at them in the eyes.  The tension will grow until it’s brittle and bound to break.  When you break it, make sure it’s profound…

Blogging Gazelle is published daily by Shawn Carson

“We didn’t actually overspend our budget. The allocation simply fell short of the expenditure.” – Keith Davis

Finance is hard, it’s not fun and nobody likes it.  And until you start generating cash, there’s no way you’ll be correct in your projections.  So why do it?

Because of yesterday’s quote; it’s not the plan, it’s the planning.  Going through your financial planning exercises is one of the most revealing activities you can do.  It reveals what you really know about your business. It forces you to think about pricing.  It shows what you know about your market size and growth trend.  On the cost side, it let’s you know how much money you are going to need to raise and what your burn rate is.

Knowing your value proposition and your market segments are vital but financial planning will answer if you are going to have a business.

Get help and spend the time.

Blogging Gazzelle is published daily by Shawn Carson

“Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower

Steve Blank says that no business plan survives first contact with the customer.  That’s a riff on a quote ascribed to Helmuth von Moltke,  a German general from the 19th Century who said “no battle plan survives first contact with the enemy.”

The point is that the value of the plan is in the planning; in the understanding about your customers, products and markets.  It’s in the learning of your strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats.  It’s about pivots and reacting to what you learn when you enter the market.

A plan gives you a set of objects to get started but immediately, you run into things you didn’t anticipate.  Your planing should include “what-if” scenarios and careful measures to provide data on how you are doing.

It always takes longer, costs more and is more challenging that you expect to get your company launched and your product in the hands of the customer.  Stay lean, flexible and pivot!

Blogging Gazelle is published daily by Shawn Carson

“You’re only going to be as good as the people you surround yourself with” – Austin Kleon

Jim Collins says to get the right people on the bus even before you decide where the bus is going to go.  This is bold advice, especially when you are trying to attract people to your vision – you should probably at least have the vision.  But I think it’s about tactics more than vision.  Of course you need to have an idea of the problem you are going to solve but you should get the team together before you start to figure out all the details.

This is for two reasons; you can’t know everything and you can’t do everything.

Success and sustainability depend on execution more so than planning.  And there’s always more to do in less available time.  Highly motivated people will naturally gravitate toward doing the things necessary to get the job done, even if those things are outside their experience or comfort zone.

Read “Steal Like An Artist” by Austin Kleon

 

Blogging Gazelle is published daily by Shawn Carson

“A validation is a third party endorsement” – John Morris

The concept of validation is fundamental to the startup and it makes all the difference in how you track progress and how you create value early.

The strategic planner says to form the strategy, generate milestones and then relentlessly pursue the milestones.  This is true but it’s not enough.  Milestones are a measure of what you accomplish but not everything you accomplish adds value to your startup.  A great example is the formation of your company.  You have to do it but nothing about having an LLC or a C-Corp in itself will cause a customer to buy your product or an investor to invest.

It may be months before you generate any tangible evidence of value – that is, generate cash!  So how do you create value in lieu of cash?  By getting others to respond to your efforts – a third party endorsement.  This is the definition of a validation.  Examples of validations include:

  • Paying customers!!!!!! – early traction is fine but it’s better if you get paid
  • A stellar team – good people have plenty of opportunity.  All the better if they close to join you
  • First class advisors and mentors – these people bring their contact list and their influence
  • Key partnerships –  companies that add value for upside in your success
  • Investment capital!!!!

All of these are evidence that others are willing to bet on your vision and have put their skin in the game.

Checking off milestones is fine but they don’t mean anything unless they lead to validations.  Measure these and highlight them in your company pitch.

 

Blogging Gazelle is published daily by Shawn Carson

“The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘EUREKA! (I found it!)’ but ‘That’s funny…'” – Isaac Asimov

Nylon, sticky notes, the microwave oven, and velcro were all discovered while the inventors were looking for something else.  Perhaps the important questions to ask are “I wonder, what if…, ” or “I wonder why that is…”

This is why we like to say that innovation is not about invention.  Most often, it is about solving a common problem with a unique application of an existing idea.  Rather than viewing experimental failure as an impediment to proving the theory, perhaps it’s better to understand why it failed in the first place.  Then be open to go down the path that opens before you.

In the customer discovery process, this is where pivots come from.  You test a value proposition with customers, typically to find out your original idea does not resonate.  It’s important to understand why because the answer may lead you to a bigger, more important problem to solve.

Thanks to Louisa Rispoli for this quote in her email footer…

 

Blogging Gazelle is published daily by Shawn Carson

“It doesn’t matter when you go into beta testing – what matters is that you come out of beta testing.” – Guy Kawasaki

Shipping product is one of the biggest validations a startup can accomplish –  especially shipping the first product.

There’s a rule among sound technicians who run the sound systems for live music performances.  If you can’t hear a certain instrument or singer, the first reaction should NOT be to turn it up, but to turn everything else down.  As soon as you start turning stuff up, then you can;t hear other stuff and it needs to be turned up…and so on.

So it is with getting the product out of beta.  The more you test the more you find wrong and the more you want to fix.  Plus that time gives the engineers more time to release new features.  Instead of “turning up” all the features that need to be fixed, think first about those your first customers could do without and perhaps turn them off until the next release.

A minimally viable product is about deciding what NOT to ship.

Read “Reality Check” by Guy Kawasaki

 

Blogging Gazelle is published daily by Shawn Carson

“Interviewing customers is not what most people get out of bed every morning dying to do…, – Rob Adams

“…but in the end, it’s the utlimate way to produce value in the market and it is a sign of an execution mentality.”

We talk plenty about the importance of the customer discovery process and Rob Adam’s quote from “If You Build It, Will They Come?” is dead on.

But I’d like to focus on the last eight words, “it is a sign of an execution mentality”.  This is subtle but it’s really very important.  Investors are a skeptical bunch and most tell you, all other things equal, that they invest in the management team.  The question in the back of the mind is always, “Can this person pull it off?”

The ability to show results and data from a well documented customer discovery process is a huge validating activity that shows you know how to get things done.   But it also shows you know how to do hard things that aren’t fun but very import to the process.