And Fred gives this out for free?
Entrepreneurs! Pay attention!
Fred Wilson, to whom you normally have to give a nice size fraction of your start-up to get his wisdom, is continuing his firesale on great advice over at his blog.
The punitive new pricing schema? FREE!
(Not much of a business model, Fred!!! ;) )
Hoopla aside, I've mentioned before how much I love Fred's VC Cliche of the Week.
Today's installment is a classic, particularly if, like me, you're going through the exceed one period / underperform another period seesaw that is the life of an entrepreneur defining a new market.
It feels awesome when you crush expectations by 100% and hurts real bad when you miss, even by 5%. But that culture of knowing, disseminating, and, yes, meeting the numbers is critical to a business.
Because having the numbers written down is like a little message in a bottle to yourself today from yourself 3, 6, or 12 months ago. Old You looked at the market and made an educated guess about where you could end up in the future.
And that Old You could be easy to ignore, especially when it's the Old You reminding Today's You about how you've failed to live up to expectations (that's what parents are for!)
And the danger is that it is natural and psychologically common to try to dismiss the past expectations when not met. All sorts of rationalizations can come into play.
Getting the numbers written down, getting a committment to meeting them, and getting it into your head that missed numbers are a plain, bald fact that you can't ignore, are all essential to making sure that you don't ignore that Old You, and that you're equipped with the tools to truly understand how the market actually is responding to you new product or service.
Because the most dangerous thing we, as entrepreneurs, can do for the health of our businesses is to say "it will all work out."
If the numbers aren't there, buddy, something isn't working out, and it's high time you and you team started facing facts and making changes...
...do you have the right strategy?
...do customers want your product?
...are customers pleased with your product and will they recommend it to friends?
..and most importantly, do you have the right people in place to help you explore, understand, and solve your new problems in your new market?
These are great questions, these are essential questions. And without the benefit of meeting the numbers to force you to ask them of yourself, you might not realize you have a problem until it is much too late....
