More, or less

One of my managers from many years ago was very fond of the word 'interlock' - especially in the context of 'achieving interlock' between marketing and development or sales and engineering. His was a world of departments of a few hundred people each and budgets in mega-millions, but I believe it is a big challenge in an early stage startup too.

We're all intimately familiar with the balancing act between time, resources and scope, delivering a wobbly visual regardless of which metaphor you choose. Scrunch it down to the startup when all you have are minimal resources who most likely are on a steep learning curve (in a startup it's hard to totally avoid the bleeding edge) while trying to deliver the prototype or beta or whatever, and do it so the customer/user will be blown away - which means an ever-increasing scope of course. And you need it to have happened yesterday so you can get the traction and funding you need to get out of the bind you're in (or so you think).

This makes for some exquisite tension in the team. Yes, you're all passionate and all committed to delivering a quality product that'll take the world (or the little piece you're going after) by storm, but time's a-slipping even when the team's putting in 18-hour days, so what's an entrepreneur to do?

I believe now's when you need your values and focus, the stuff you can measure your decisions and actions by, and makes it easier for your team to accept.

• Customer focus. This is why you don't settle just for what's technically faster or easier to deliver, but what will really make a difference to the customer. It's why you should weigh every option and reject it if it would take away from the user experience.
• Excellence and integrity. The reason you don't want to put out a shoddy piece of work, even if it is only a prototype.
  
• People focus. It's one thing for everyone to work hard because they want to make a deadline, but there are times when you may have to move the deadline because working long hours continuously only burns people out (and also diminishes quality and productivity).
• Staying hungry. If you, like Steve Jobs, believe hunger keeps you sharp, you don't want to go too soft on either your deadlines or you deliverables. And for many startups, hunger is real - they need to make their deliverables, and do it fast, in order to get funding which will help them eat (OK, so no one's starving, but maybe the team hopes to dine on something better than a large 1 topping pizza - $3 off with coupon). You need to be zipping along, not coasting.
  

In reality, there's no easy answer. The most experienced entrepreneur, with the best-intentioned and committed team, will run into this conflict, again and yet again. There might a whole slew of adjustments and compromises to be made, but it can be done successfully. The trick is to remember to keep your values front-and-center, and hold on to your cool too.

Doubt, caution

First off, I admit to having my post titles influenced by catchy movie ones ;)

It's pretty much established that an entrepreneur has to be passionately committed to his/her idea, and believe in it - s/he needs to be a bouncing poster child for optimism. This kind of gung-ho dedication is a must-have to lead the troops and stick it through the ups and downs (the many downs) of a startup. All the entrepreneur self-help books will tell you so.

But, there are times, usually in the wee hours of the morning, when a person may be visited by the dreaded 'doubt'. What if I never get funding? What if my idea turns out to be a stinker? What if I don't have what it takes to get this done? Conventional wisdom says you shouldn't be thinking such things, but isn't that just sticking your head in the sand and refusing to face reality?

Conventional wisdom is spot on in this case. An entrepreneur has no use for doubt, but can benefit from a healthy dose of caution. 'What if I don't get funding?' is better replaced by 'What are my options for boot-strapping?'. 'I should develop a plan to validate and refine the concept' is a much more useful approach than dire imaginings of your idea flopping like a goldfish fallen on the floor. Figuring what's required to get the job done and who can complement your skills is vastly more productive than wallowing in despair over your perceived shortcomings, be it lack of experience or a lack of a high net worth network.

The entrepreneur has to be both an optimist and a pragmatist, but also swiftly squelch any signs of doubt. Let others audition for the role of doubting Thomas, they don't have much to lose.

A Gandhian entrepreneur?

October 2nd was Gandhi's birthday - the Gandhi, the Mahatma, not the thousands with the same name. It's a holiday in India, and with globalization and flat-earthing one has to pay attention to when people work or don't. It got me thinking though. Gandhi's the icon for the ages when it comes to non-violence, but he's also expounded his philosophy on a wide variety of subjects. Is there a Gandhian way to entrepreneurship?

This doesn't aim to be a scholarly treatise on the subject and I didn't research Gandhi's life story or teachings. I know the highlights of course, and also know Gandhi was a big proponent of 'cottage industries' - the stuff that the rural poor can do on their own to make a living, with minimal capital investment. The spinning wheel was his icon - he would have got a kick out of the fact that organic, hand-spun and hand-woven clothing is a luxury item now. If Gandhi were around now he'd have plenty of burning causes to keep him busy and it's most unlikely he'd be off starting a company, but he'd probably have some good words for the clean energy and sustainability efforts, or anything that fights hunger and poverty.

So, no, Gandhi is not likely to be a startup guy, but is there anything in his philosophy that an entrepreneur may find worthwhile? Let's start with the first of the two most-popular Gandhian quotes (a mixed blessing when they're on mugs and New Age rocks): Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony. Nice one to live by - most of the time. For example, if you customer satisfaction is your #1 goal, sure, go ahead and paste it on a poster - but having your team solicit and pay attention to user feedback will build value and morale (knowing your work is in alignment with company goals is pretty satisfying). But few entrepreneurs are in the position to call all the shots in a startup - there are too many constraints, too much to be proven and too many players and stakeholders. There will be times when you may not want to say what you think and you should definitely not act on it. You may just want to slam down your laptop and scream "what a %&*! moronic idea" at your investor who asks you to make a 180 degree shift in your business model just when there's an uptick. This is why you're thankful the weekend stress management class you took 6 months ago kicks in and you're mentally chanting "he gave us $2 million, he gave us $2 million" while you deflect with "hmm, interesting idea, we'll go run the numbers on it, but let me show you our latest release". It definitely is not the time to say what you think, even if you deleted the %&*! expletives. This Gandhism is great for the big things, like principles, but most entrepreneurs would be happy to just be able to hold on to discretion and a semblance of calmness in the daily challenges of startup life.

Another over-used but undoubtedly cool quote is: Be the change you want to see in the world. This is not just a variation on the previous theme. It's a call to lead by example. If integrity is on your list of company values, be careful who you accept funding from. If you've always believed that companies could be run better, here's your chance - take time to make it happen, don't let it get lost in the startup chaos. If you're concerned about global warming, be serious about telecommuting options and don't keep putting it off for 'when we're bigger'. If 'doing good' is important, do it, and support your employees when they want to do it. I believe this is a Gandhism an entrepreneur could hold on to (got the inspirational mug?).