AI Circle reposted this
Startup execution. Boring I know, but the most important !! You can botch a lot of things, but if you have world class execution then you'll be fine. If you botch execution, it's nearly impossible to survive, let alone thrive. What does WC execution look like? 100 hour weeks? rapid sales? building prodict quickly or high quality? My hot take (and I'd love to hear yours): 1. talk with customers (ideally 100+) 2. pick a rough strategy for product/eng & marketing/distribution/sales, and validate it - if you build it, they'll really use it (if your market is >1M weekly users, then don't worry about revenue yet, and don't take investment from anybody who focuses on revenue). This strategy informs what constitutes execution. 3. select a quality bar for this strategy - what is "good enough" ? 4. execution is how quickly you deliver #2/3 and how quickly you iterate. How fast is enough? Depends on two things: (1) running out of money (losing access to capital), and (2) competition (including future competition). Last thing: "if you want to go far go together, if you want to go fast, go alone" - this is why startups win and why they should be very picky about hiring. (as usual, reposts appreciated)
Just curious, for B2B vs. B2C, I would expect the ideal # of customers (1.) would be different. Thinking 10+ vs. 100+. Wdyt?
Ironically, world-class execution might just mean not repeating others' mistakes. Execution isn't just speed; it's knowing when to slow down and rethink. Who knew wisdom was boring?
Nearly all the investors I've spoken with recently have demanded revenue. For pre-seed. 😕 Even spoke with one VC who flippantly responded, "I built a web app with my cousin over the weekend that is making over $10k a month".
Re: Talking with customers: Yes! Though also *listening* to them is critical. I remember watching a mini PBS documentary from 1981 on Levi Strauss's entry into men's suits. The doc shows a behind-the-scenes look at the Levi's team talking with consumers (skip to 13:20) and retail buyers. With consumers, the conversation absolutely stopped dead when the revealed the clothing line would be made by Levi's. Retail buyers had hesitation, too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Moo-zstRQJY Levi's spent the time talking to consumers and buyers, but they didn't truly take in what they were hearing. There was enough corporate inertia that kept the plan moving ahead despite what they learned. Fortunately for Levi's, they licked their wounds from this failure. They pivoted to launch Dockers five years later in 1986, which deemphasized the Levi's name and was a less formal offering than the original Levi's suits. This article has some more commentary on this case study: https://www.marketingweek.com/mark-ritson-marketers-data-privacy/
Well said, Adam Sah. #2 is where ruthless prioritization and focus is paramount. It's very easy to overreact to a splashy launch from a competitor or build a "one-off" feature just to close a deal. In isolation, that’s fine because you need to grow, but living in "feature factory" mode for too long can kill momentum. Focus, focus, focus.
Is it just me or is startup execution actually super exciting?! 0>1: exhilarating. 1>5: incredible 5>50....so absolutely exciting! (But totally noted on the execution mattering as much as the strategy behind it in order for things to actually work / work out)
So important. Thanks for sharing your insights Adam.
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