This post could have been about the great aspects of being an entrepreneur. The sense of adventure and discovery that comes from working toward your own destiny. That's not what this post is about.
Rather, this post is about the danger that early stage technology companies face when they lose their way. It's normal for entrepreneurs to not have all the answers and thus to feel lost at times. It's part of the job and the sense of adventure. However, there are times when early stage companies totally lose their sense of direction. I've seen this -- even experienced it. It's not fun.
When this happens, the whole start up organization starts to leak energy as the company drifts in this direction and that. It's very much like a row boat at sea with one oar.
Don't allow this to happen to you in your company.
The way to avoid this is to stay super close to your customer and keep solving and addressing their needs.In addition, you should develop forcing functions for yourself as an entrepreneur. For example, write down the list of short term decisions that have to be made each month and what milestone has to be met -- and then, don't let yourself slip from that timeline and schedule. This practice can act as a forcing function to make decisions about moving the product, marketing, and organization in some direction. And some direction is better than no direction. The direction may not be the best or right direction but it at least gets you moving out of the entrepreneurial woods -- i.e. moving out of the vortex and whirlpool of founder's who are confused about what business they're building.
excellent post sir andy, well wrought indeed!
Posted by: bukk stronmburg | April 04, 2010 at 11:48 PM