Its 2021 and I reached 40 years of working life .. certainly there have been plenty of ups, relatively few downs, many new friends and so many lessons along the way.
My 40 years have been starting a lot of start-ups, corporate ventures, and leading strategy pivots .. about 14 depending on what you call a start-up and venture. Either way, it was 14 times of visioning, business designing, launching, cat herding, strategizing, watching fails, celebrating wins, sad stories, dumb ideas and continually moving along.
One thing I did learn, is these same 9 lessons apply for the big or small, corporates or startups, and for strategies, pivots or innovation. They are fairly basic and always consistently true:
- No matter how big you are – bad ideas are still bad, poorly considered plans simply fail, and market forces or timing is often beyond your control.
- Even if you are a one-person start-up .. the same rule above applies and good timing of market opportunities matters even more.
- If it was my money, I wouldn’t use my money .. the ideal is to have buyers first (ie people who want to give you money) before you build; or have very deep pockets and a high risk appetite.
- Learn when to stop or pivot fast no matter how passionate you are to your idea, or find those very deep pockets.
- People will help when you are successful, and they will run when you fail.
- Find mentors who are diverse from your industry or passion so you get outside your own square.
- Test test test test always getting feedback, from potential customers.
- Don’t sign up when the strategy sucks from the outset and you can’t change it, unless you like don’t mind painful outcomes.
- Personally, I’m a planner and like to spend time thinking way ahead .. it hasn’t failed me yet. See article ‘I’m a fan of the plan‘.
Keeping it simple, and happy New Year of the Ox folks!
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