Talking to a founder of a new business they are just exploring right now, we had an interesting thread of conversation. Here is a rough recollection of it;
Mick: “There is definitely a vision worth pursuing there, but the fact that we don’t know the first step says to me that we need to do more focused exploring. We can’t build it and hope.”
Founder: “Yes, we really have never known what our starting point is. What our X-Factor is?”
Mick: “Mmm, I’m not sure it’s an X-factor. That says that it’s one thing that when we add it in makes the difference. I think it’s more the right mix. There are 1,000’s of variables with any idea. There is no one right combination, but lots of wrong ones.”
It really made me think about the sequence of a startup. Here are some options.
- Think about something, work on it and never launch it because it’s never perfect.
- Build something, get an average response, try to grow it, have an average business.
- Build something, get an average response, change the mix, get an average response (or worse), change the mix, get an average response (keep going until…), change the mix, get a great response, try and grow it, have a great business.
Clearly I’m cheering for option number 3, but the key point is ‘change the mix’, not ‘add in a new feature’. More features just add more complexity making it harder for customers to like you and makes you slower to move.
WDYT?