THE DREAM IN ACTION

It is easy to say focus on the customer or focus on agile rather than waterfall methods of development and even to focus on on thing and to be ruthless about eradicating anything that does not create a slipstream of value creation.

Isn't the key discovery of a startup is discovering the stuff you don't enjoy doing but which are on the critical path of a startup? That early sacrifice of having to do it all means recognizing the importance of that stuff when the business has begun to grow and one can either outsource that or start the process of transforming into an incorporated state where expenses and payroll start kicking in as a managed reality.

There are people who do MBA's in the evening and engage the executive existence in full time employment, usually becoming the unsung heroes that undo the damage of poor strategy cascading. I think when hoshin kanri works in larger organizations, that kind of hand off is theoretically well thought out flow creation in the organization, but more often than not it is heroics that take the place of intelligence.

Having a moment to think of downstream problems, i.e. the nice problem to have - to anticipate success rather than wake up morning and getting what you wished for, is the vision thing. I think that having that somewhere in our mindstate gives us a horizon to work for, but also one whose reality is shaped and changed as we encounter the unexpected.

That then means the reality of building resilience. In doing all those small things that startup entrepreneurs engage or do, there is both a toughening up process because is being educated in the moment and getting a feel for their own business that can't be found in business school or text books, and at the same time, there is always the question of what to do with facing uncertainty and the unexpected.

Some people focus on startup mortality which to me is giving up on business life even before the embryo of pioneering spirit has had a chance to form into the next phase of the growing up process, that life cycle of a business that Aries De Geus spells out in The Living Company. One does not need to read De Geus to figure out that organizations take on a life of their own when they are all grown up.

Startups are however babes in the wood and just as new parents have to face really odd and cranky hours and sometimes they look at someone else's baby that sleeps like a peach, while theirs yells and hollers, the reality is what has given birth to and rolling up the reality sleeves to deal with the foster parenting part of making it through the early years. Organizations however are not replica's of human behaviour, they are constructs of corporal imagination and organic investment.

The point for me of going to the big picture is to create a horizon of anticipation, a future anchor point which is customer-focused (because cashflow is the lifeblood of the infant organization). The mere fact that many startups which should have been viable die on the sword of cashflow is one aspect of startup mortality that can easily be figured out - but it does not require endless hours of thinking, it requires immediacy of navigation, that both deals with the present emerging situation and the endless state of the long-term lifecycle of the developing organization - which is the always unreachable horizon.

The next key question is how much of one's business is a living experience, where decisions become autonomic rather than thinking too much, it is that which starts becoming natural to our way of being because we have become it. We become that which we have immersed our intent in and if that leaves us in an unsatisfactory place, the navigation sense of our business has been distracted or disrupted - whatever that distraction is, is either a challenge to overcome or a pointer to our true calling.

Of course we can observe for ourselves what has made others successful, but not at the cost of losing sight where we began our journey, where we are now in terms of the project we have chosen to engage and how facing and beating the obstacles and challenges that will inevitably come in our way, releases new energy, new learning and new inspiration to elevate the understanding the nature of our business and most important of all, the realization of this to our customer.

Ultimately Ryan I don't possess the answer for you. It is in you already and a bit like Michelangelo quote

u00e2u0080u009cIn every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it.u00e2u0080u009d

All I can do is chip away at what it is I do and have trust in the process, for my particular process is about emergence. You are the shaper of your process, the unique proposition that draws from the customer only that which you need to focus on - like Michelangelo without a benefactor there is no chisel to enable that sculpture. The benefactor today is our customer - moreover we can have immersion of relationship with the customer in ways that were not possible for - or as they in Star Wars "Use the Force Luke" :-)

As always I am being terrifically selfish to use your question for my own purposes but whether my process is a waste of time is going to be and solely is my own long-term discovery.

[Em]

thanks so much!

Interesting post. I have stumbled this for my friends. Hope others find it as interesting as I did.

Really solid advice. I'm a big fan of playing up strengths and not focusing
on weaknesses. Thanks Michael! I'm so appreciative of your advice (that's to
everyone!)

Hi Ryan, thanks for sharing on starting out with your initial experiences with entrepreneurship. So many personal stories begin once things are fine and dandy, but that isn't realistic. I am now (for the time being anyway) working freelance and have, in the past, gone through the process of launching a business from nothing. I can identify with you. When you work for an established company, be it a progressing start-up or a corporation, you have a role with responsibilities. These responsibilities may change and evolve and push you to do the same, but having a role with a company will rarely necessitate wearing many hats as one who must nurture the growth of something into existence (in your case, Ubercab). So while you are no doubt great at all the things you mentioned, having them all occur at the same time and being the one responsible for them is a daunting task, and not something that would ever occur when you are an employee with specific duties. There would be other employees to handle those very different tasks. So first off, good for you to take this on and push forward to innovate and cultivate.

Now, the words that matter more to you, my suggestion is two-fold. First, role with your personality more. Don't try to conform to the tasks, but conform them to you. We all have highs and lows, even throughout a one day period; harness this. When you are mellow and lacking the energy you would need for a cold-call, use that time to focus on analysis and the more laid-back tasks. When you are just overcome with energy after having 3 cups of caffeine or a natural high of helping out a person on the street, get on the phones and use that positive energy to knock out the tasks requiring upbeat persuasion or presentation. This can make the switch seem easier. Which leads to my second suggestion.

You won't be able to do everything in one day, you just can't. And I've read over and over that saying "no" is important, even when we don't want to. So perhaps, much as another reader commented, block days or parts of days to say "no" to anything that comes up which is not part of business dev or straight sales. On another day, block off anything that doesn't relate to budgeting and analysis of figures. Make your own rules. This works well for me at least, because switching back and forth and back and forth may show great effort, but if you are wasting many hours adjusting your mindset then what's the point. You're being less productive while trying to be more productive.

Cheers!

Awesome Casey. Seriously appreciated bro. I very well may give that a whirl.

RG

This is certainly something I struggle with as well. What's been suggested to me is that I block out certain times of the day or week for each type of activity. An example, keeping it real simple, is: Tuesday is going to be my strategic day. I'm blocking out my calendar for strategic planning all day. Don't set up meetings with me, and don't bother me at my desk. Then, other times can be devoted for more detail-oriented things or for whatever comes up. I'm still working on instituting that in practice, but it may help.