"In reality, just about all start-ups are ugly in the early days."
Encouraging entrepreneurs is a tricky business.
It's a lot like parenting, as condescending as that may seem. I say this because parents are advised to maintain clarity regarding the difference between the child herself and certain annoying, embarrassing, non-productive, and even anti-social behaviors. The child is not "bad." The child is "naughty." I love you, sweetie, but that behavior has got to go, period.
The challenge for any parent or adviser is to encourage course changes without damaging the student's Moxie... and also to preserve your relationship at all costs.
For things to change in any real sense, the difficult child must be presented with information that leads her to draw a fresh set of conclusions about the results of behaviors on her own.
So much for my challenges as an adviser to entrepreneurs. Here's one for you Mr. Entrepreneur.
Please ask yourself, regularly and honestly, "Is my baby ugly?" Have I dreamed myself a Market opportunity instead of actually finding one? Does my response to the perceived Market need really constitute Magic? Or is it just a me-too? Which of my fundamental assumptions carries the lowest confidence factor? What simple tweak in my plan would gain me the most leverage?
Every swan, said Hans Christian Andersen, begins as an ugly duckling. And Dharmesh Shah counsels,
Accept That Your Baby Is Ugly: Just like most parents think they have beautiful babies, most entrepreneurs think they have beautiful start-ups. In reality, just about all start-ups are ugly in the early days. Don’t spend time trying to explain to others why your start-up baby is beautiful. It’s not. Instead, spend energy explaining why your baby is going to grow up into something that’s beautiful.
So, if you're feeling adventuresome and self-confident, try something new today. Re-visit every one of your key assumptions about market size, end-user needs, competitive behavior, advertising effectiveness, contracting systems, manufacturing quality control, raw material costs, and so on. Assume that at least part of your baby could benefit from some plastic surgery.
Ask yourself: how much of my plan's beauty is in only the eye of this beholder - me?
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