It starts with an idea to solve a problem. People believe the potential of the solution. Now it’s time to build a company. Some frameworks to discuss problem, market, and product with some random examples.
The order is important
Simon Sinek has evangelized ‘Starting with Why’ as a simple but powerful model for inspirational leadership. Why now? Why you? Working on large client transformations in my early management consulting projects, we first confirmed why leaders thought there was a problem that needed to be solved. We then worked on getting clarity on three items in order: what is the big idea, how would we start small, and what would scaling fast look like within the available resources. Starting with why and this framework also worked well at startups like Twilio. We should have thought bigger in the early days of Workspot. We burned a lot of resources too early at Pathmind by building an open source project with no accompanying paid product designed to scale. Be clear on a big Northstar, enjoy the small victories, and then get ready to run.
Sell painkillers, not vitamins
“We sell painkillers, not vitamins” was ingrained into enterprise sales teams by Larry Ellison during my time at Oracle. As such, product and marketing teams were tasked to address must-have problems leaving vitamins to the Facebooks of the world. Managing risk, time, and cost are constants in business. Making people do different things with new software tools is hard. Constant examination of must-have versus nice-to-have status is a mindset that needs to be company-wide.
Timing matters
Getting the timing right was a key lesson learned. The PEST (Political, Economic, Social, and Technology) framework is an oldie but goodie from business school. If it’s a real problem, what’s holding up adoption? Is it timing or will to change? Can we afford to wait for that market to develop? At one startup, we created mobile task automation software for people on the go (e.g. pharmaceutical sales) for Palm OS and Windows CE devices over GPRS networks. It was 10x faster and easier than market leader Siebel Handheld, but it did not get wide adoption. The user experience was still lacking. What we really needed came a few years later: the iPhone over 3G networks.
Doers describe the way
Validation with customers is a continuous process. “If you are not building it, you are selling it” should be embraced. Every external person who has the “a-ha moment” using a new product is a potential champion. A clear moment for me was talking with a Midwest field sales agent in the early days of Workspot. She was polite in her feedback about our mobile access ambitions, but very specific on what she really wanted: simpler application access across mobile and personal desktops. She wanted flexibility to get up and running quickly, anywhere and anytime. Users and IT wanted us to replace Citrix and VMware entirely. What she described was what Workspot eventually evolved to be while serving a bigger market: a 100% cloud-based, virtual desktop delivery company. A key component of achieving the elusive product-market fit is building a critical mass of Doers who believe that your new way of getting things done should be the must-have default.
Walk the box
Driving adoption of new technology needs clarity and qualification of many factors including: buyer that funds the Doers, pain that cannot wait to be addressed, compelling event that drives people to take action, and alternatives that do not meet time, cost, and risk requirements; timing is the wrapper around these four elements. Walking the box as a team helps with collective learning and pattern matching around the drivers of adoption. Experienced enterprise account executives have this type of framework in mind as they qualify opportunities. Sales Development playbooks get more clarity and repeatable. Marketing programs become more precise. I am grateful for the many sales people who shared their insight, stories, and lessons learned on the road with me.
People defend what they value
Over the years, I have come to associate questions about competition with value from two perspectives. From the customer perspective, how do they evaluate us versus others in delivering value to what they are trying to accomplish. From an internal company perspective, how do we value what we do for customers. If a customer values what we do, are we doing and charging enough to create a lasting company that ensures continuity and trust with that customer. A competitive moat means building something that customers value and are willing to defend with you, without needing to go it alone.
Sell to, sell with, or sell thru
Going direct or “sell to” customers is essential in the early days of startups to learn, build processes, and iterate. In a world of limited resources and time, leverage is a must-have by choosing a go-to-market path. Each path needs a sales playbook, so your product and team need to be ready; check out Sequoia Capital sales ready product. Educators, like industry and peer groups, are valuable subject matter experts that can validate new approaches and spread the word. A third party application partner that pulls through your product as part of their customer purchase is great for either “sell with” or “sell thru” scenarios. In the case of professional services needed to facilitate adoption, Integrators provide great leverage but require predictable and sizable project revenue in order to allocate its people. Werner Vogels at Amazon put it best when it comes to partners: work backwards from the press release.
Speed and control
Cycles repeat themselves when it comes to new technology adoption. For example, check out these two Harvard Business Review articles on vertical integration comebacks and horizontal integration prowess within years of each other’s publishing date. Change is a constant, but one feeling remains strong: people want speed and control when it comes to leading transformation. Your place and timing in the cycle is the tricky bit.
Battle hymn of the Doer
Software technology circles often describe the '“10x developer” as someone who is 10 times more productive than others with an equal level of expertise in the field; let’s call them “Doers” in general. While many things kill startups, people and culture are the foundation from which to build. Easier said than done; much easier. A company of Doers should be united in seeking clarity for all things, investigating ways to get more precision in solving problems, and celebrating the accuracy of results together. This order is important when thinking big, starting small, and scaling fast together.