Today I’d like to talk about the two kinds of founders we see at Pivotal and suggest one type is much more likely to be successful at the earliest stages.
200 startups over the last 5 years Today 30 concurrent startups Across our 4 offices
project management tool that’s doing very well.
I’m interested in the earliest stages of the startup, YMMV applying this frame more broadly. Success is building a product someone gives a crap about.
He knows exactly what he’s doing. He has clarity of purpose. He convinces others he’s right and they follow him. He’s great at building and leading organizations. Investors love this guy. But when it comes to products he… thinks the details should be obvious and implied by the vision. He doesn’t value user feedback if they don’t get the vision. He doesn’t measure or learn. He sees incremental or pre-vision releases as a necessary evil rather than an opportunity. He sees the vision as something that can’t be validated until you’re done. He overdesigns, overbuilds, overspends, and ultimately tries to sell a vision to users who just need a better mousetrap. In short, visionaries sucks at building products.
She isn’t necessarily sure how she’ll ultimately change the world but sees a clear near-term problem or opportunity. She’s often a domain expert, but doesn’t presume to be the user. When it comes to products she… She is user facing. Because she’s focused on user’s needs, she sees simple solutions that can deliver immediate value. She can’t wait to get new features in user’s hands and lives to make them happy. She values releasing as soon as features are built and lives to see users get excited. When she’s wrong, she listens to feedback and adjusts course. Missionaries make products happen.
Your vision is like a beautiful flower and I’m not here to criticize it. Vision get you get you off the bench. And they can keep you from quitting. But successful products get built by missionaries. And at the earliest stages success is building a great product.
