“Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.” - Dwight D. Eisenhower
How many times have you heard the statement, “We need a road map to make sure we are headed in the right direction?” In fact, sometimes the business plan is described as “the road map” for the buddingstartup. Unfortunately, the road map as a metaphor prompts all the wrong associations for even the most promisingnew startup. Why?
When White Star decided to change strategy from building fast ships to building large ships, it still needed to find a way to differentiate its ships. So, it decided that the Titanic would be both the largest and the “finest” ship in the world. Its innovations would rival even today’s massive cruise ships. To accomplish this goal, it had a number of engineering and design challenges to overcome –
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.
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?
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?
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…
What Do Icebergs Have to Do with Startups?
Great question. Of course, an iceberg has to be included in any book about the “Titanic.” More importantly, we recognize that startups have to make decisions under uncertainty. Choosing one path can incur hidden debts because of the path not taken. We call those hidden debts icebergs. Well, we actually call them “debtbergs” in “The Titanic Effect.”
Once we landed on the concept of decisions having debtbergs attached to them, we then realized we needed to learn more about icebergs. What we discovered is that icebergs themselves are both interesting and diverse.
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.
