Steer the ShipTM

A repository of good ideas is one of the most important assets a business can have. Anyone can copy your products or your business model, but the ability to generate new ideas is not easily replicated. If you cultivate a prolific idea machine at your company, you’ll have a much better chance of sustaining your competitive advantage.

Of course, no one really knows whether an idea is any good until it’s proven — and that takes a lot of serious work. Unfortunately, when results don’t materialize it’s often an idea that’s blamed for the failure. Guess what happens to idea generation at that point. It goes flat, because no one wants to offer up something that could be connected with laying another big goose egg.

Make sure that everyone in your company understands that ideas are just ideas, and nothing more. Giving ideas a chance to flourish will allow you to build up a treasure chest of innovation. You’ll also give morale a big boost by letting people be heard and by demonstrating that you value their input.

It’s simply impossible to have too many ideas. However, it’s frightfully common for companies to act on too many ideas and to waste a lot of time and money doing it. Contrary to popular belief, failure to execute isn’t what kills new ventures. It’s failure to focus and execute on the right things, which usually comes about when ideas aren’t market-tested. Ideas can’t do any harm until you act on them. But make no mistake about it. If you don’t vet actions with a sanity check against the market, you’ll definitely put your company in harm’s way.

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Business is clubby. And the most important clubs don’t have a name, a membership list, or a front door. That’s what makes it hard to find the right one to join. Sure, you can sign up for lots of things that will keep you busy and make you feel like you’re building a network. On the other hand, Groucho Marx probably had it right when he said “I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member.”

Everyone knows that you need to pay your dues in order to position your company for success in a new market. However, many early-stage entrepreneurs spend their time building a network of people who do what they do. How many sales do you think they end up making to the members of that club?

When you’re going after a new vertical market, you should be hanging out with potential buyers in that market. So if you look around and you see mostly sellers, you’re in the wrong club. It’s that simple. You can’t build a business on the respect of your peers alone. Worse yet, if you don’t change course, you may end up spending your time proving your worth to potential competitors.

As unnatural as it may seem, get out of your comfort zone and separate yourself from the frenzy of sellers. That takes some guts, and will definitely disqualify you for the coveted “Best Networker” award from your peers. But the only way you’ll learn to think like a customer, develop relationships with buyers, and prepare the market for your product is to break into the clubs that may not initially accept you as a member. That may take some time, so just keep Groucho’s words in mind. “Getting older is no problem. You just have to live long enough.”

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Take a look in the mirror. If you’re running an early stage company, and the life of your new venture depends on launching a disruptive product in the marketplace, you’ll be staring into the eyes of the person who should be driving the initial, complex sales efforts. Let’s hope that those eyes reveal an intense, change-the-world, never-give-up attitude, because that’s what you’re going to need to get across the “valley of death” that lies between your product idea and a successful business.

So why should it be you? It’s really pretty simple. You’re the one who will ultimately have to sell the idea to those critical early adopters and marshal the resources to deliver the products and services that meet their expectations. You’ll have to tell a story and provide a vision that will compel people to take a leap of faith. Your first customers may be enamored by your product, but they must believe in you and, by extension, what your company can do for them. In fact, early adopters may not want to deal with anyone but you. They’ll be taking a big risk, and they’ll want to know that you’ll be there for them.

Are your friends and advisors always telling you that you need to hire a sales person? Take their advice to heart, but think about what they are really saying. There’s a good chance that you aren’t telling a story that gets them excited about your product and the prospects for your company. In addition, they may not believe that you are going to make selling your top priority. Regardless of who will do the actual selling, you’ll need to get your story straight and demonstrate your priorities with actions. After all, you’ll inevitably be the principal role model for anyone you bring on board.

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Everybody talks about focusing on results in business. But talk is cheap. The reality is that it’s easy to zero in on outcomes when times are good. The hard part is to avoid distractions when progress doesn’t come without a knock-down, drag-out fight.

What do executives do when good results become distant prospects? Many of them turn to process. They figure that if they aren’t pumping out new products, bringing in new customers, or increasing the top and bottom lines, then they must have a process issue. This leads them to shift the reward system to benefit those who do the “right” things. As a result, they also say bye-bye to performance.

It’s not that process isn’t important. It’s just that when people get too much attention for analyzing software development procedures or studying sales strategies, they may become disconnected with the objectives of the battle. Focusing on process is often the path of least resistance, because improving an internal process is almost always easier than getting a business result. So you can guess where your team will go when it’s under stress, especially when it’s rewarded for process-oriented behavior.

That fact is that you really don’t want to be in the tedious and counterproductive position of worrying about how people do their jobs and where they do them. That’s process. Before you go there, take a look at the people that you have in place. Figure out who will respond to the challenges of what (and when) work needs to get done. And inspire them with an impassioned answer to why they are doing it.

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Do you ever feel like your business is on a roller coaster? To some extent, external factors like the economy can create unavoidable ups and downs for your company. That’s the business cycle. That’s life. Don’t exacerbate the situation by taking actions that create even more volatility and make you feel like you just jumped on the Breakdance ride at Coney Island after gulping down a greasy corn dog. You don’t want to go there with your business.

But it happens all over. When things are really good or really bad, there is a tendency to act without stepping back and putting some common sense into the equation. Investors, governments, consumers, and CEOs often overreact, because they feel that there is a need to be dramatic. This only makes matters worse.

Drama is for actors and politicians, not business people. So before you make another “bold” decision of the week that gives your business a bad case of whiplash, try to put things into perspective. Wild gyrations on a carnival ride create excitement, but this probably isn’t the kind of thrill you want to get out of your business. Jerking your company around creates unnecessary stress for everyone involved.

And the stakes are extremely high. You can easily derail any progress that you’ve made over the years by making hasty and emotional decisions just to “do something.” When you buy your ticket to ride on any course of action, make sure that you understand where it might take you.

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There’s nothing more resilient than a startup company. Maybe it’s something about the “change the world” mentality that repels negative thoughts. Just look at American presidential politics of late.

So why is it that entrepreneurs lose that “can do” feeling over time? When you have nothing, even small achievements will lift your spirits and provide additional momentum to your business. However, after you’ve been in business for a while, suffered a few setbacks, and put some mileage on your ego, you may find it harder to appreciate your accomplishments.

Whenever you get discouraged, first take stock of what you have. You may be surprised at how far you’ve come. Next, look at your company as though it were a startup venture. Chances are, any startup would kill to have your business relationships, your intellectual property, your customers, and your team.

You may sometimes feel like you’ve suffered too long and accomplished too little. But you probably just need to get your mojo back. Just sit back and think. What would you do if you had just started your company? You wouldn’t take a setback lying down. You’d ignore it and charge on to the next thing. You’d also cherish every asset you had — and leverage it to the hilt. Moreover, you’d have the audacity to think that the next big break is just around the corner. And you’d probably be right.

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Smack! That’s the sound of your sales hitting a brick wall — a market that just isn’t ready for your brand spanking new idea. You’ve spent loads of money on product development and market research. And your new sales team has enough mousse in their hair to grease the skids with any customer. The only problem is that markets take their sweet time embracing anything new.

If your idea is the least bit disruptive, you need to start warming up the market with some serious foreplay, long before product launch. This concept always gets entrepreneurs riled up. “How can we sell something that doesn’t exist yet? If we can just get this thing built, our investors will be happy and everyone will want it.”

Well, they may want it — ultimately. But they may not be ready to buy it. In fact, potential customers may not even understand what it is you’re offering and how it fits into their world. Interestingly enough, entrepreneurs often solve legitimate problems well in advance of the market’s admitting that the problems exist. Being ahead of your time is mandatory for product innovation, but it can be a disaster for sales.

It’s not that you should neglect product development in favor of selling. However, while you’re in development mode you should also be out testing the market and preparing buyers for your revolutionary new offering. This will give you an opportunity to shore up your business plan, fine tune your product, develop important relationships, and build a more compelling story for investors.

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Entrepreneurs often start out with lofty goals. That’s just the nature of the beast. And let’s face it. No business would ever get off the ground if someone wasn’t willing to take significant risks. The problem is that many business plans require heroic efforts in order to produce results that are relatively unexciting. “We’re going to capture 1% of the huge market for…blah, blah, blah.”

That would never fly with Jim Phelps, the IMF (Impossible Missions Force) team leader on the classic TV series “Mission Impossible.” Imagine opening the show with this — “Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to rescue 1% of the people in the world from the global nuclear holocaust that is going to be triggered by terrorists at noon tomorrow.” That sounds more like mission unfathomable. Phelps wouldn’t even wait for the recorder to self destruct. He’d torch it himself.

Take a cue from Jimbo. Focus on dominating a market niche with your company from the start. If you’re successful, you’ll have something of real value. It may be ok to have a small piece of a big pie at some point, but it’s hard to build a business and get other people to rally behind you with that as the battle cry. Don’t waste your time nibbling away at the market share of competitors. That’s b_o_r_i_n_g.

Consider this. If the missions really were impossible, why did Phelps always succeed? It wasn’t just for the reruns. There was no choice. It was all or nothing. If you feel that way about your business, you’ll probably see your employees, investors, and customers follow suit. Now all you need is some cool music playing behind you.

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A business and the human body share an important trait. Over time, they both can become very specialized in their abilities. A chronically complacent couch potato might be on the 12,000 calories a day Michael Phelps diet, but he isn’t about to compete in the 200 m freestyle and live to tell about it. Even the hardest working power lifter may not be able twist himself into the most basic of yoga positions without busting a gut. Likewise, your business may require more endurance, strength, or flexibility in order to change course. But after years of neglect or long periods of intensely focused endeavors, any change will meet with resistance. The good news is that you can take steps to ensure that change doesn’t harm you or your business.

If your company has had a good run, hang onto the core that works and use it as your platform for change. There’s a lot at stake, including all those things that you’ve tried to ratchet up over the years — capabilities, reputation, relationships, position, and money. For that reason, change as little as possible in order to achieve your goals. The connections between people, ideas, and systems get stronger over time. If you try to change everything at once, you may end up with a tangled web of issues, bound together by the Super Glue of entrenched staff who will resist your sense of urgency at every level.

If you’ve got multiple, interrelated problems, it may take as long to sort them out as it did to create them (and the links between them). Go for the gold, but take time to get — and keep — your company in great shape. Otherwise, you could end up sitting out the most important part of the game on injured reserve.

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Business may be the only human endeavor (other than, say, ax murdering) in which you will be encouraged to stop doing something as soon as you get good at it. So what’s your claim to fame? Whether it’s selling, engineering, or finance, you probably discovered that you had “it” somewhere along the line. And, if you’re like many entrepreneurs, at some point you’ve felt pressure to delegate the work that is near and dear to your heart. There’s nothing wrong with that.

For some reason, however, entrepreneurs frequently operate at the extremes on the management scale (i.e. micromanagement or abdication of responsibility). That’s because it’s hard to find the path that allows you to lead by example and avoid meddling in everyone’s business to the extent that you end up undermining the people who can help you the most. Don’t give up. If you work at it, you can still be the best-of-the-best and help your team grow even more.

Whatever you do, avoid the dreaded “handoff” – turning over everything to someone and washing your hands of it. Let’s kindly call this approach the kiss of death. If you go cold turkey on something that is clearly your passion, chances are that no one else will want to touch it with a 10-foot pole. So take pride in practicing your art. It’s bound to be good for you, good for the people around you, and good for your business.

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