Category: entrepreneurship

grow into it

“Sure, those pants may look big on you now, son, but you’ll grow into them.” “There is too much space in our (ware)house, but we plan to expand the family or business.” “The cloud infrastructure may seem over-engineered, but we’re expecting press coverage and massive load on our servers anytime soon.”

All of these statements are based on one foundation; we’ll grow into it.

There is no use in running before you can walk. However, the ability to plan meticulously, anticipating what will be, surely is a craft.

One crucial parameter to enable the decision-maker should be: when we reach the point where the pants, (ware)house, cloud infrastructure is no longer sufficient, what’s will be the switching cost? Expressed in both money and time.

For pants, there is virtually no switching cost.

For a (ware)house on the other hand, it could be cumbersome. Depending on where you are, finding another suitable location is tough, and moving into it, takes much effort.

For cloud infrastructure, migrating an entire application definitely isn’t something that happens overnight.

Another important parameter should be, for the time being, what’s the price to pay?

Wearing pants that are too big may feel uncomfortable, but it doesn’t cost money in principle.

A (ware)house, on the other hand, that’s too big, costs tons of money. Before all the available space is being used, it’s just money down the drain.

Cloud infrastructure that’s over-engineered is also a costly affair. Especially if the press release never comes, and there aren’t any customers to serve.

The lower the switching cost, the more interesting it becomes not to plan ahead.

With a high switching cost, the current price to pay should be kept as low as possible.

accountant’s power

Good accountancy can make or break a business. However, I often see companies falling into a trap, set up — unconsciously — by their accountants.

Let’s say there are two ways of approaching this challenge. Either tell the accountants what to do or have the accountants tell you what to do.

Suppose the accountants make demands about how the rest of the business should organize their processes to facilitate optimal bookkeeping. In that case, there is a chance that the rest of the company will suffer. Maybe the applications used for accounting don’t allow for integrations or real-time reporting. Now the business is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

If, on the other hand, the business enforces the accountant(s) to work in a specific manner, accounting itself might suffer tremendously. Maybe they didn’t consider some fiscal laws. Needless to say, the business is still stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Bad accounting is a one-way ticket (on a bullet train) to entrepreneurial hell.

Not all things and processes are suited to be designed by a commission. Accountancy, however, because it’s very determining for the success of a business, is something where all parties should be involved. Different people and departments should have a say, preferably as early as possible, throughout a company’s lifecycle.

co-win

An athlete breaking the world record for a hundred meters sprint is obviously an exceptional human being, capable of extraordinary performance. Athletes don’t get to the point where they break a world record by playing solo slim.

What about the parents that brought them to every training? The trainers pushing the athlete when they thought they couldn’t go on anymore. The physicians, the fans, a whole entourage, all assisting the athlete. When the athlete wins, the entire team wins.

I often hear: Rome wasn’t built in a day… Well, it sure wasn’t built by one person alone either.

The way to win in life is to look for synergies and keep looking for new ones as you go along.

little things

Are ngato gozamas. That’s what I said upon having my Japanese take-out meal handed to me while making a bow. Even though I could only see the eyes, due to her face mask, the tiny chef seemed to be instantly filled with joy. She, of course, returned the gesture and expressed tons of gratitude. Thanking me for my business as I made my way out the door.

Switch positions. In this case, I was the customer, but as the provider of goods and services, there is tremendous potential to invest in these seemingly random acts of kindness.

Random acts of kindness are immensely undervalued. The little, surprising moments of delight you offer within your product or service, throughout your customer journey, really make a difference. With the potential to create a long-lasting impact.

expected goal

Expectation is the root of all heartache. A quote usually attributed to Shakespeare, but as it turns out, Shakespeare never said that. Regardless, when we build up expectations in life, there is much potential to be let down eventually. Obviously, instead of disappointment, a delightful surprise could manifest itself just as well.

If we can avoid disappointment, why go through the pain? A pleasant surprise, on the other hand, is more often than not a welcome event.

In business (as opposed to life in general), that’s not really the case. Not formulating expectations is a recipe for disaster.

While launching new initiatives, a clear expectation must be articulated prior to launching them.

choices made for us

A muffled “krak”-like sound. That’s what I heard when I landed out of a jump in rehearsal. With that sound, something in my knee snapped. Finishing my dancing career in the theater in the blink of an eye.

One lousy landing wiped away everything I had vigorously worked for in an instant. All the holidays sacrificed. All the things regular kids were able to do. Had it all been for nothing? Training to be a dancer is similar to training to be an elite athlete, with an added layer of artistry.

From the outside in, it may seem like entrepreneurs always are their own bosses and that they’re able to make every little choice in their career for themselves. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

This one goes out to all the entrepreneurs who had choices made for them. Entrepreneurs forced to quit due to road works in the street of their shop. Restaurant keepers taking heavy blows due to lockdown regulations. Co-owners who have no choice but to forfeit because their partners decide to quit.

If you ever have a choice made for you, know that the sparkle, your unique ability to do what you have been doing in your entrepreneurial career is still there. You must find a way to re-apply it, perhaps in a different domain.

Choices made for us impact us differently as opposed to choices we deliberately make for ourselves.

possibilities paralysis

Adversity caused by limited options isn’t necessarily a bad thing. While having (too) many options may seem desirable. It’s not always the case.

Surely, by now, many are familiar with the paradox of choice or “choice overload” principle. Presenting consumers with many options doesn’t necessarily boost sales, quite the contrary. As studied by Sheena Iyengar from Columbia – and Mark Lepper from Stanford University.

An overfunded company has the luxury to try a couple of things simultaneously. Launch a bunch of new features, enter a new market segment, and so on. This can lead to possibilities paralysis.

A company that is underfunded, on the other hand, doesn’t have that same luxury. Arguably, in the absence of that luxury, focus increases. It’s like a hit or miss situation. Probably the reason why Amazon’s motto is: it’s always day one. This isn’t a plea for deliberately underfunding your company. Being chronically underfunded is expert-level adversity and can take the “living soul” out of a company.

Maybe entrepreneurs are sadomasochistic in a weird way. Sometimes, actively looking for adversity can be a good thing. Starting a company isn’t: maybe I’ll do some of this, and then some of that, and maybe some of this as well.

Starting a company is do or die.

defying conventions

Society shapes us. We behave in ways — consciously and unknowingly — that fit into a set of (un)spoken agreements.

To do business in a particular society means to have a profound, empathic understanding of how that society works. Or does it?

Setting up a bakery in some parts of the world, and closing down on Sunday morning, is probably a bad idea. In other parts of the world, closing down a bakery on Friday or Saturday morning would be a terrible idea.

What’s true of established business models isn’t necessarily true for novel business models.

To go where no business has gone before means throwing off the shackles. Nothing but bold moves, defying (societal) conventions every step of the way.

Standing out doesn’t happen by blending in.

don’t hurry worry

Troubles ahead cause us to worry. Whether they’re challenges to overcome, an arduous journey to embark on, or problems to solve. In an attempt to plan ahead, worries might arise, and that’s fine.

The troubles start when momentarily too many worries accumulate. Our mind RAM gets overloaded, and if we’re unsuccessful at decreasing the dimensionality of the problem, we might get stuck in analysis paralysis.

Now you’re stuck with a sequence of contingent worries. However, there is a big chance that the second worry in line might no longer be relevant once the first worry gets tackled.

Worry, one worry at a time.

i need you to want me to win

We’re products of our environment, and we take after people we spend time with. Knowing this, depending on what we’d like to achieve, we could change our environments. We could even hang out with different people. Birds of a feather flock together after all.

One of the best pieces of entrepreneurial advice I ever got is this; smart people will save your business. Uncomplicated, straightforward, and most entrepreneurs will realize this by default. However, when you’re in the trenches, it’s easy to forget to reach out to friends and mentors or even networking altogether.

In “Don’t Push Me” 50 Cent raps; I need you to care for me, and I need you to want me to win. I need to know where I’m heading ’cause I know where I’ve been”.

Actively look for those people who are cheering you on relentlessly. Not the ones who, after the facts, say, I was with them from day one, and I always knew they’d make it. No. People who actively lift you up.

People who don’t wholeheartedly want you to win have arguably little to contribute to your life.