In our last blogpost, we discussed the biggest debtbergs in the Pre-Revenue stage. This blogpost is focused on the MVP stage. As a reminder, at this stage a startup has begun building its management team, is developing an MVP (Minimally Viable Product), and is engaging with customers for proof of concept. But, it probably is self-funded or has friends and family for financial support. Now, the biggest debtbergs to avoid have changed from the Pre-Revenue stage…
Our goal in The Titanic Effect: Successfully Navigating the Uncertainties that Sink Most Startups is to help startups steer around hidden debts, or debtbergs, on their path to success. These debtbergs arise because there are decisions startups have to make where the best possible path is uncertain. And, the consequences of these choices are like icebergs in that they are only partially visible. In the book, we detail 33 different debtbergs a startup might encounter, across the four Oceans of Human, Marketing, Technical and Strategy choices. As we’ve started using these materials with different audiences, we’ve recognized that the biggest, most dangerous debtbergs vary based on the stage of the startup. So, this blogpost and the next three detail the biggest debtbergs to manage at each stage of a startup. Check out the biggest debtbergs at the Pre-Revenue stage…
To the Titanic Effect followers: This is an exciting week for us. The printed copy of the book was released earlier this week! If you are new to the party, here is a brief video summarizing the book’s contents, with props from a few endorsers: http://bit.ly/TitanicEffect.
We have been writing a weekly blog since October. It has been a lot of fun and a good learning experience for us. We’ve creatively thought about how to package the book’s key contents in bite-sized morsels. To be honest, it is also a lot of work! But our followers have grown over that time. We hope this effort will continue to “scale” as the book gets out there. We also realized that the long scrolling list of blog topics online is quite a challenge to “navigate.” In fact, a newcomer might find it intimidating. Even a hard core follower might have difficulty finding that blog they liked on product/market fit, for example.
With that in mind and to celebrate the book launch, we are using this week’s blog to recap our blogs by category, with a brief guide to how to “consume” them. This is a longer blog than usual, but we wanted to be comprehensive.
You have to be aware of your competition in order to establish customer value and differentiate yourself. That premise applies even to books like The Titanic Effect: Successfully Navigating the Uncertainties that Sink Most Startups. So, it’s time for us to take a look at our competition.
Most retailers are a bit of a “walled garden” in that they have lots of data they don’t share with the vendors whose wares they sell. This includes books. What we do know is which are the best-selling books in the categories of “startups,” “new business enterprises,” and “starting a business.” Of course, which specific books are in the top 3 to 10 do change over time. But for the last year, two books have held steady in the top 10, typically at #1 and #2. They are Peter Thiel’s Zero to One and Eric Ries’ The Lean Startup. So, let’s look at what makes our book different from these.
In a prior blog, we discussed the difference between PoPs (Points of Parity) and PoDs (Points of Differentiation). Now it is time to talk about PoC—Proof of Concept. While this seems relatively straight forward, there are actually many nuances to and perspectives on what constitutes “Proof of Concept.” Understanding how to frame and set expectations about PoC is an important discussion for the budding startup.
We’ve all heard the phrase, “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” But after reviewing several dozen startup updates and seeing blogpost after blogpost with lists of metrics, it feels like a founder could spend a significant amount of time just compiling and tracking metrics. Every investor has their favorite metric. So, many startups end up monitoring nearly everything. Or, the opposite – monitoring nothing.
One of the “oceans” of hidden debt that we discuss in The Titanic Effect is the Human Ocean. The Human Ocean includes the founders, advisors/investors who support the startup, and employees hired as it launches and grows. Each of these “seas” (or categories) can provide help to a startup. But, they can also be a source of danger or debtbergs that drag down or sink the most promising new venture….
We’ve started doing workshops using key ideas from our book, The Titanic Effect: Successfully Navigating the Uncertainties that Sink Most Startups. The goal of these workshops is to help startups identify which icebergs can be the biggest challenge by startup stage. Because, the primary tasks a startup undertakes changes by stage. So too, do the challenges they face.
It’s clear that startups cannot “go it alone.” First, a founder needs to be coachable - learn more about coachability at our previous blogpost on Foundersplaining. They need supporters to help them get connected to employees, customers and investors. If you want to understand more about how and why supporters (we call them venture advocates) help startups, check out our academic article – Venture Advocate Behaviors and the Emerging Enterprise.
Common advice to entrepreneurs is to experiment and “fail fast.” The idea is that you move forward with something that might or might not be right. Take a stab. See if it’s working. If it is, keep doing it. If it’s not, stop.
With our early marketing efforts for the book, we wanted to have some experiments to see how some of these “low-cost” marketing tools work. Of course while these experiments were in place, we were watching and tinkering. But now, it’s time to step back and see what happened.
