I was cruising the Demopit at Techcrunch50 and spotted Tim O’Reilly a serious tech veteran and celebrity. I thought I’d stop him and get his thoughts on focus. Of course I’d sure he’d give us sage advice on why they should be brutally focused.
I was wrong.
OK, he’s right. For some startups, at early stages, exploring is good. Actually in all startups, regularly exploring is important. I’d suggest that at some point and at most times, the priority needs to be given to focus. But you need to look around. You need to try things. Think of different angles. See what other companies in different markets/industries are doing that you can learn from.
What’s the balance? Hmm, let me throw up some completely instinctive thoughts.
- Before starting – 90% exploring, 10% focus – going completely wide might drive you completely wild.
- Started, pre-launch – 30% exploring, 70% focus – some exploration of people, markets, ideas for your core utility, but mostly focus on that first, tiny product.
- Launched and growing – 10% exploring, 90% focus – one thing at a time, focus on getting it done. Some exploring to avoid myopia.
What do you think?
Were do you think you are right now?
Do you have the balance right?
I did interviews with most of the TechCrunch50 experts backstage and there was a common gripe about the companies launching there: Not enough passion, not enough swinging for the fences, not enough trying to change the world. There were too many people building nike shoes safe businesses, too many companies just trying to make existing things slightly better, and too many people wanting to be the next Mint.com, not the next Google. Nothing against Mint, but Silicon Valley wasn’t built on $170 million exits.
Paradox for startups. We need to reach for the stars… but Google didn’t start off trying to be what Google is today. Many startups fail because they try to be Google at the start.
Thanks for the comment Rohail.
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