The world of early-stage startups tends to be very collegial, supportive and inclusive. While this environment is both comforting and energizing, entrepreneurs must not lose sight of the very nature of business.
It is beyond trite to speak of business as a game, but trite or not, it is a competition, and the prizes for high performance are money, professional freedom and position within the community. These are big rewards, so the battle for superiority will be fierce.
If you have chosen to start a business, you are, de facto, in the arena—so you need to have a battle plan.
Understanding Your Rivals
Every new venture must, almost by definition, try to be the best in the world at what it does. To that end, you should start with a thorough and exhaustive evaluation of other companies’ products or solutions. Once you document the shortcomings of existing solutions or approaches, you will possess a clear understanding of the gap your company can fill. This is your first competitive edge.
Preparing for Breakups
Most of the folks around you—and, in fact, maybe all of those with intimate knowledge of what you are trying to achieve—will be trustworthy and helpful. It would be naïve, though, to believe that everyone is deserving of such good opinion.
Establishing appropriate safeguards is simply good business. Liberal, but appropriate use of nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) is perfectly acceptable. Just like other interpersonal relationships, business partnerships can always come apart at the seams, so defining the rights and limitations of the parties in the event of a breakup is critical.
A Question of Timing
Next, the venture must turn its attention to time. There is no greater enemy of any deal, business, product or relationship than time. Time permits the introduction of unforeseen consequences, environment changes, competing priorities, new entrants, hard feelings and so many other deal killers.
Work feverishly to commercialize your product or service. Satchel Paige’s famous quote about not looking backward “because someone might be gaining on me” is an absolute.
Entrepreneurs will therefore face a conundrum: do I rush the product to market with flaws, or wait until it is bulletproof? There is no perfect answer, but generally, the right decision is somewhere in between. A terribly flawed introduction will damage or kill an otherwise good concept. Perfectionists whose product is never finished and never commercialized can only comfort themselves with a belief they did it right—while someone else takes the chips off the table.
Here is the reality: entrepreneurs are almost always product-focused. It is the product or solution that excites them and drives their behavior. Entrepreneurs believe that when the product is finally ready, the market will see what they see and adopt it with minimal prodding.
This belief is universally held among entrepreneurs, or else no one would submit to the blunt head trauma that comes with starting a new venture. The good news is that your potential competitor will be struggling with the question of timing, too.
Finishing the product is just the beginning, but you must finish it. From there, the work really begins, as you move to commercialization and ubiquity. Competition heats up along the way, and competitive intrusion plans are born. The game is on.
It’s Only a Game
A very unfortunate outcome of concern over competition could be paranoia and isolation. This is actually inhibiting and destructive, as collaboration is stifled.
Do not forget that this is a game, a big game for sure, but a game. You have chosen to play, so make sure you have a great time, develop wonderful friends and collaborators, and learn to enjoy the process of innovation, not just the outcome. You will then remember this as the best and most exciting time of your life.
