Way--it really is! But first, another update on our journey. This week, the eBook version of The Titanic Effect: Successfully Navigating the Uncertainties that Sink Most Startups became available on Kindle. And yes, we purchased one on the first day.
Entrepreneurship is an “Uncertainty” Management Job that Evolves over Time
People sometimes describe entrepreneurs as risk takers. They see starting a company as a risky activity. Yes, there is risk involved. But, navigating uncertainty rather than being risky is the essential task of the entrepreneur. What to build, how to build it, whom to partner with, whom to sell to, and how to fund growth… these are really tasks laden with uncertainty.
What are the Growth Patterns for Startups?
Most founders we talk to have a little glaze in their eyes as they share their vision. You can tell that in their mind’s eye, they see their startup as a Unicorn. At a minimum, they can see revenues of $100 million. And that’s great – they should have a lofty and bold vision of what they can accomplish. Without that vision, they are guaranteed not to get there. We wondered, just how likely is this kind of an outcome?
Why A Startup Needs to Launch in An Existing Market Category
If you listen to a variety of startup pitches or work closely with startups, one refrain you often here is – “we are unique, there’s no one else like us.” What appeals to a founder about this idea is that they don’t have any competitors. Instead, this is a hidden debt that we explore in the Marketing Ocean.
So, why do we say being in a market category of one company is a bad idea?
Why Getting to Product/Market Fit can Sink a Startup
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)
SaaS Market Trends for 2019 and How to Align Your Startup Growth Strategy
Click To Send…The Point of No Return
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.