One pattern that has held-back my personal side-projects from ever achieving any real value (other than my own education) is that I'm always finding ways to drop back of schlepping and back into experimentation and analysis. Knowing this tendency in myself has held me back from any serious contemplation of actually quitting my job to start a business; I can schlep with the best when the goal is in sight and preferably there is a gun to my head (like an insane deadline I've signed up for). But I don't know how to do it when the value of the work is questionable, or so far down the road that I can't really see it from where I am now. I'm constantly plagued with "what if no one ever wants to use this?"
Great point. From what I've read and experienced, you're right on the money: there is a very good chance no one ever wants to use it.
Don't let this paralyze you though - it's why the idea of an MVP and Kickstarter are so popular right now. The best advice I've heard on this topic: just give it the best shot you can, fail fast if it doesn't get traction, and try to learn as much as possible from failing so that your next project is less likely to fail.
This gives you a really great deadline too: MPV in 2 months, fail if no traction in 6 months (or even faster?).
Alternatively, if you really don't like the above idea or you can't build your idea into an MPV in a couple months, stick with your current job and work on your product on the side. This let's you take as long as you need to make the product, removes the pressure of starving, and can turn into an enjoyable hobby even if you don't get much traction.
For that reason, I may take the several novel series in my mental queue (some drafted, some not) and, instead of bringing any one of them all of the way to polished books, start with short stories in their settings. Whichever ones people read - never mind buy - go to the top of the "write more" list.
Short stories as MVPs. The metaphor could apply to all manner of projects.
Paul's original article (linked by aegiso) is awesome, and I couldn’t agree more. When I did my first Startup (that failed) I was trying to do something that was Fun. After experiencing failure and learning my lesson(s), I realized that Fun is not necessarily the best focus to build a business. My second attempt (which is where I am now) has a focus on Value, which has been much more successful. I believe that Value is directly determined by what pain points you solve, and how many people they affect. In many ways I've had to train myself to identify the biggest pain points that fall within my experience/knowledge, and just go for it!! I'm a designer, but as a technical co-founder, I put a strong emphasis on Product Vision, Business Models, and solving Big Problems. The bottom line, anything is possible. We just have to identify what needs to be built, and build it! I'm learning how to code, but I've realized that team work makes the dream work. So right now my goal is to build a few strong founding teams for a few of my highly ambitious ideas. I am experimenting with a new concept (a team building exercise) that shares similarities with some of the new ‘Studio Startup’ models people are using. I will be essentially 'CrowdFounding' the Projects, open to anyone that can execute. Hopefully I can succeed and solve some of these huge problems I've identified (mostly related to Infrastructure and Security)
Quite so. I'm thinking that the whole lean startup movement in some ways exacerbates the schlep blindness problem PG refers to. If you expect instant rewards/feedback/traction before discarding an idea, you might sometimes be overlooking something.
Good point. I've always felt uncomfortable with the lean startup mantra "If it's not working out, pivot." If something's not working out, it could be for one of two reasons: either you're doing the wrong thing, or what you're doing needs more time and hard work, that is, you just met the schlep. Deciding which one of the two you're looking at is incredibly hard. I don't think that there are any rules. The pivoting mantra just kinda glosses over that whole problem. The best advice I could distil from it would be, "If it's not working out, don't cling to it at all cost, consider pivoting." Ok.
IMHO, this isn't really what the Lean Startup mantra is all about. Lean-wise, one is really trying to see where there is customer/product fit. When there is, it's like finding a filter's resonance point : Suddenly you've found people's hot buttons.
[ no, no, meh, hmm, YESYESYES, hmm, meh, no, no]
The key to the Lean part is only doing a schlep when you've identified that it'll pay off once done. Don't schlep until you've got evidence that the destination will be worth the trip.
Don't schlep until you've got evidence that the destination will be worth the trip.
I see what you're saying. I just think that this leaves unresolved the one crucial question: what constitutes "evidence that the destination will be worth the trip?"
I agree. People who "pivot" every few months don't give enough time to figure out whether or not the idea will work. Sometimes the path to success is just to keep going, not to change direction.
Sometimes people need to be reminded of this. A lot of the representation the press gives seems to imply that people simply walk into money. As usual, pg gives some perspective.
