Start-ups Don't Starve, They Drown
by Matt Heinz
A former colleague who worked with me at a couple different start-ups had this quote at the top of his white board at all times:
"Start-ups don't starve, they drown."
The point is simple - very few of our organizations have a lack of opportunity, or things to do. One of our most important jobs is to choose the right things to do on a daily basis, and ensure our priorities are well thought-out and are kept in perspective, despite the daily fire drills and interruptions that fight for our time.
Author Om Malik recently wrote about the downsizing of Joost, and offered a similar, thoughtful perspective:
"Joost hired too many people, too quickly. It never behaved like a start-up but instead felt like a grown-up company with too many bureaucratic layers."
Remember what your mom used to say when you took too big of a bite? If you're not careful, you're going to choke. Start-ups are just like that. Unless you focus, you're going to choke."
Matt Heinz is principal at Heinz Marketing, a sales & marketing consulting firm helping businesses increase customers and revenue. Contact Matt at matt@heinzmarketing.com or visit www.heinzmarketing.com.
A former colleague who worked with me at a couple different start-ups had this quote at the top of his white board at all times:"Start-ups don't starve, they drown."
The point is simple - very few of our organizations have a lack of opportunity, or things to do. One of our most important jobs is to choose the right things to do on a daily basis, and ensure our priorities are well thought-out and are kept in perspective, despite the daily fire drills and interruptions that fight for our time.
Author Om Malik recently wrote about the downsizing of Joost, and offered a similar, thoughtful perspective:
"Joost hired too many people, too quickly. It never behaved like a start-up but instead felt like a grown-up company with too many bureaucratic layers."
Remember what your mom used to say when you took too big of a bite? If you're not careful, you're going to choke. Start-ups are just like that. Unless you focus, you're going to choke."
Matt Heinz is principal at Heinz Marketing, a sales & marketing consulting firm helping businesses increase customers and revenue. Contact Matt at matt@heinzmarketing.com or visit www.heinzmarketing.com.Labels: Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Matt Heinz, Startups
posted by Blogging Innovation at 7:29 AM
1 Comments:
An interesting thing about Moore's technology adoption lifecycle is that if you work your way through it starting with custom applications, and live only on current income, you have no choice, but to be small and focuses. Once in the verticals you could grow too fast, but you should be at a particular spot among the verticals, and that might be a small spot, again, keeping you small.
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