One of the fun things we did as part of writing “The Titanic Effect” was explore stories of startup successes. One of the first stories we dig into in the book is that of Randy Hetrick who created the TRX fitness system. So, let’s talk about how he developed this product.
Randy Hetrick was a Navy Seal on deployment on an anti-piracy mission in Southeast Asia in 1997. He was looking for a way to exercise in the limited confines…
The Titanicwas a powerful and inspiring metaphor for us to draw on for our book, as an epic failure that resulted from many decisions over time. We thought it interesting and relevant to share some pieces of the story here in the blog. And here is a link to 25 popular myths about the sinking of the ship: https://www.thetravel.com/25-things-about-the-titanic-we-thought-were-true-but-are-actually-false/
The iceberg that is believed to have caused the sinking of the Titanicis actually the punctuation mark on a much broader array of choices and actions that resulted in the calamity—a perfect visual representation of the visible parts above the water versus the hidden aspects that lie underneath (our Hidden Debts). To understand the sinking of the Titanic, it is helpful to understand the history of the White Star Line, the organization that owned, designed, built, and operated the ship.
The most important job of a startup in the early stages is figuring out product/market fit. Turns out that this is much, much harder than it sounds like. You know the basic story:
- Entrepreneur has a great idea for an unsolved problem to fix
- They envision what they think needs to be done to fix it
- They built that product (BTW – when we say product, it could be either a product or a service)
After 3 years of development, 18 months of writing, and a seeming lifetime of editing, revising, and fine-tuning, it is finally time to commit to being done. Our book The Titanic Effect: Successfully Navigating the Uncertainties that Sink Most Ventures is complete and going to design.
By “clicking to send” the final document to the publisher and design team, we are committing to being done with writing. It is actually quite an agonizing and unnerving step! But we hope that whatever blemishes or inconsistencies remain will be graciously ignored or accepted by our readers.
Given the stage of transition, we thought we would share a brief overview of our journey as we created this work.