“It’s not a sprint—it’s a marathon!” We hear experienced entrepreneurs use this phrase to caution new founders about going too fast, too soon, and burning out. We absolutely agree with part of this expression—starting a company is certainly not a sprint. But as endurance athletes ourselves, we would put a twist on this: Getting a startup going is a lot more like a multisport endurance event, like an Ironman, than it is like a marathon. Why? Because it takes several different skillsets to launch a successful venture, not just one. Like a triathlon, there are at least three major categories of uncertainties founders must navigate—working with people, understanding the market - both competition and customers, and developing the product. We call these the human, marketing, and technical oceans.
Ironman athletes cover 140.6 miles in a single day. They must complete the event in under 17 hours to be an official finisher. Those miles include 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of biking, and a full marathon of 26.2 miles. Quite the long day! So what can we learn from endurance sports training and these athletes? There are three core concepts to sports science that we think translate nicely from triathlon to startups: Periodicity, Specificity, and Recovery.
Startup life is like an Ironman triathlon…
Periodicity is the concept that training follows cycles of activity in both short and long-horizon planning. Within a workout, most cycles include a warmup, some intervals of activity, and a cool-down. Across a week, workouts should vary by both intensity and duration. A runner does not get faster by running the same course as fast as possible every day. Rather, having some long, slow endurance days combined with some shorter speed sets will lead to better fitness and pace gains over time.
Across a month and a year time horizons, there are similar cycles that allow for an athlete to stress their body and then recover. Three hard weeks should be followed by a lighter recovery week. Over a year, endurance athletes might focus on strength and cross-training activities in the fall or off-season, building endurance and sport-specific strength in the early season, and some harder efforts for speed and ample recovery before major events in the summer season. The recovery before major events is particularly critical. Believe it or not, Ironman athletes will taper for as much as a month before a big race—this means that the longest, hardest workouts might occur four weeks before the event.
Specificity recognizes that athletes can do some general strength and conditioning work and survive to complete events. But to get better, they must engage in the specific activities that occur during the event—i.e., swimming, biking, and running. Getting in the pool or on the bike 2-3 days a week might be enough to maintain fitness. But to get faster, you might need 4-5 days/week of focused training. Most people cannot train to improve in all three sports simultaneously, so planning what event to focus on in different times of year crosses specificity and periodicity.
Recovery is perhaps the most important, but least recognized, core training concept. Muscles get stronger by being broken down during a training session. They need recovery afterwards to reap the benefits. Across a specific workout, during a week, and over a year, both mind and body need programmed recovery to sustain and benefit from training over time. For example, every week should include a day off for recovery—and no, “just a short run” does not count as recovery! Every month should include a lighter week, and every year should have a 2-3 month window of a different focus. All of these windows help short- and long-term recovery.
How does this translate to starting a company? Founders deal with immense pressure and uncertainty across multiple dimensions. Trying to run at 120% capacity, 120% of the time, will certainly lead to bad decisions, poor navigation, and possibly ruined relationships. Be sure to give yourself a break (Recovery) across micro and meta cycles within each day, week, month, and across the year. Within and across weeks and months, be sure you are paying attention to each critical activity within the firm, including the people, products, and customers (Specificity). How are your co-founders, first employees, and customers doing? What gaps do you need to fill in your network? Have you had coffee with your key advisors to catch up? Finally, have a plan for the next critical constraint holding your company back. Is it most important to focus on adding features to the product? Getting the next customers? Securing funding? Or just building general organizational capacity? Periodicity suggests that the pace and focus of activities are likely to ebb and flow over time.
The New Year is coming up. Take some time to craft a plan for incorporating periodicity, specificity, and recovery into your work, whether you are an entrepreneur or another type of innovator. Your venture, your customers, your investors, your colleagues, and your friends and family will thank you for it!