There's the 'I' and 'U' but no 'team' in virtual. Startups that launch as entirely virtual may find that they're virtually successful - as in almost, but not quite there.
OK, aside from the cute word plays, there is a real reason why startups cannot be all virtual. It doesn't mean that everyone has to be together all day, 12 hours a day and commute for hours to make it happen. For one, that can be a real productivity drain, and for another, it is certainly not eco-friendly. Startups in college campuses or those consisting entirely of single folks sharing a communal apartment can skip this post in smug satisfaction - but the rest of us have to work at balancing the needs of people and planet with milestones and resources (or lack thereof).
Superior communication is how mankind evolved from grubbing for edible worms to savoring warm chocolate cake with truffle in the center (yum...). So it's not surprising that it helps the startup team to pull together instead of haring off in different directions. But communications don't get established by saying 'we need to communicate' and everyone nodding agreement. You need to seed a 'culture of communication' and help it get established so it can be sustained without much effort.
Technology (the output of many startups) has made it really easy to communicate across distances - Skype alone has probably caused a 1000-fold growth in virtual teams. But just because the tools are there doesn't mean that people know how to use them effectively. Ideally you'd want your team keeping in touch the way they would be if sitting across each other in a bull pen, but with the cranked up productivity of sitting in their PJs on a couch at home. Can it be done? Sure - but only if they've built a rapport and can ping a colleague (or the CEO) mid-way through coding with 'this is the short-cut I'm taking - what do you think?'. The team has to feel comfortable asking and telling, and not worry too much about interrupting or wasting time.
And how do you build this rapport? By meeting often, and in person, especially during the early stages. If you don't have an office (which is most likely, pre-funding) there's your living room, the legendary glamorous garage, and the #1 worldwide alternative to the home-office: the ubiquitous coffee shop. It doesn't matter where and it doesn't have to be all the time - but meet often, preferably on a schedule and spend time hashing things until you've not only got the communicating habit inculcated, but everyone's got the quirks figured out and doesn't get huffy at a co-worker's skepticism (she just likes everything spelled out) and remembers to touch base with the CEO on everything because he wants to be in the loop (startup management - that's another post).
The rest of the time, when you're not meeting face-to-face, set it up so that you're in touch every day with every one by chat, con calls, whatever it is, pick the medium and use it often so everyone gets into the rhythm and isn't wasting time decoding the message (a la teens and texting). And of course, there's always the getting together over lattes, dim sum, pizza and beers - more of the rapport building.
Sometimes it may seem that all the touch-feely stuff is taking away precious time from the serious work of building a product. But you aren't just building a product, you're building a company - and without adequate communication you may end up building something you don't want. Think about it - you have a vision for something new and innovative that you and your team are trying to build. You can't really expect that the vision can be documented in sufficient detail to provide a comprehensive blueprint - and if you're spending enough time to attempt to do so, maybe a startup's not the right thing for you. Communicating the vision requires constant refinement, from the big picture to the tiny pixels. And along with the product vision, there's also the myriad operational details of what to do or not, choices to make or not, that are not obvious and won't become standard operating procedure for a long time (until, let's face it, you're big enough to afford structure and bureaucracy). So keeping everyone on the same page (even as you keep turning it!) is essential and not fluff stuff. That's not to say you can't be efficient about keeping connected, but remember to provide a venue for questions, debate and casual what-iffing too. The creativity of the communications in the early days is a big part of the fun of launching a startup.
Virtual+frequent+communication. Yup, there's a team in there. And fun too (I'll stop now).
Channeling the inner entrepreneur who views life as a startup. Musings about people, their spirit, the startup ethos and the entrepreneurial attitude, with an emphasis on education and social ventures. The 'how-to'? Not so much. But definitely the why, the what and the whatever.
What to do with those other ideas
I just saw a new comment added to an old post on what to do with an idea - its a question actually, and answering it seems like the thing to do.
The original post was about answering a question from a fellow traveler and walked through the 'doing the due diligence' and vetting the idea before building anything. But this question, from Anonymous, is 'what if the idea is not for a product, but for marketing or advertising?'. Anonymous doesn't give any any more background info, so I get to have some fun hypothesizing (and take a break from spread-sheeting).
So, where's Anonymous coming from? I'm guessing s/he is not currently in a position of power and influence which would make this question unnecessary - probably just one of the rest of us. But what Anonymous is currently doing and wants to do also have an impact on how this question is approached.
The original post was about answering a question from a fellow traveler and walked through the 'doing the due diligence' and vetting the idea before building anything. But this question, from Anonymous, is 'what if the idea is not for a product, but for marketing or advertising?'. Anonymous doesn't give any any more background info, so I get to have some fun hypothesizing (and take a break from spread-sheeting).
So, where's Anonymous coming from? I'm guessing s/he is not currently in a position of power and influence which would make this question unnecessary - probably just one of the rest of us. But what Anonymous is currently doing and wants to do also have an impact on how this question is approached.
- Works in an established company and has an idea for marketing/advertising a current or upcoming product. Anonymous must do what any 'intra-preneur' would do: build the business case and build contacts who can champion the cause with the ones with power and influence ('investors").
- Works in a startup. Ditto, except it'll be at 3X speed, and you shouldn't have to build contacts in the startup (if you aren't drinking buddies, you should at least be watercooler ones) and you may beef up your story if you have some outside experts weighing in. Key point, do the homework and build the case - and you'd better be really motivated, as you're probably putting in crazy hours already.
- Works/studies somewhere else and has a great new idea for marketing/advertising and wants to start a company with that. Same process. Though this is a service, not a product, it is still something to sell to customers (whoever they may be), so Anonymous has to go through the same steps of scoping the market, value proposition, pricing etc. and maybe pilot (aka give it away for free) with a couple of customers before deciding this is a keeper.
The last lecture - another view
If you've not been totally oblivious of the goings-on in popular media (yes, that could happen even if you're not in Bora Bora watching nothing but the waves), you must have heard of Randy Pausch's last lecture. If you haven't, you could go over to the store and pick up a copy of the book version from the bestseller shelves, or find various clips on YouTube. But, do yourself a favor, take the hour or so you'll need to see the full lecture, not just the Oprah sound bites. Yes, it is geeky (he's a professor at Carnegie Mellon after all), but that has its own charm and is part of who he is. Go to his website http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/ - it's bare bones, but you can view the lecture as well as get the all-important backstory.
What's so special about this last lecture? After all Randy doesn't say anything we wouldn't find in self-help books or the secrets to success from movers and shakers - though he has lived an impressively accomplished and fulfilling life in a relatively short time. Much of the impact is from knowing that he's dying, though he doesn't dwell on that, and instead breezily moves past it with self-deprecating humor. It's the distillation of lessons from a life well lived by a very smart and caring person - the kind of person who'd make a great mentor.
So what's this got to do with entrepreneurship? Quite a lot actually. Even though he is an academic, he exhibits many of the characteristics of an entrepreneur and almost every piece of advice he gives would resonate with those of an entrepreneurial ilk. My personal favorite is the bit about brick walls being there to prove your dedication and how badly you want something. For startups, the road is not only rocky, but brick walls pop up at seemingly every turn. And not only do you, as the entrepreneur, have to bulk up to swing the metaphorical jack-hammer, you have to get your team to do the same - preferably on their own, without waiting for the caped crusader to do it for them. If you - and your team - are truly committed to your venture, you don't see just the brick wall, but you also see the cracks, the toeholds, and the myriad ways you can get past it.
Of course, like everything else, it is easier said than done, and practice does make it more automatic. One reason the last lecture hit home is that recently our team did a roadmap and targeted a mini-launch based on a date driven by the market and our business goals, and what we believed to be the must-haves in the product. The team then went off to do a detailed scheduling exercise and came back with a date that was over 2 months out from the original target. As it was all well thought out and reasonable, they felt that it was 'reality' and I should be ready to face it. I probably sounded like a woolly-headed new age flake when I responded with it being just one reality, not the one that I was willing to accept, and that my aim was to figure out how we were going to make the target date because that milestone is super-critical to our success. I was confident there was a way, though it might have appeared I was delusional. To keep it short, and sweet, with some discussion, juggling and a dash of 're-thinking' we got to the target date with an acceptable deliverable - and a hefty boost to the morale all around.
So check out the last lecture. But for a few who may be squeamish about it's earnestness, most will find it an inspiring packaging of life lessons. Much of it applicable to startups too. And a reminder that when you really want something, the goal should define the path and not vice versa.
What's so special about this last lecture? After all Randy doesn't say anything we wouldn't find in self-help books or the secrets to success from movers and shakers - though he has lived an impressively accomplished and fulfilling life in a relatively short time. Much of the impact is from knowing that he's dying, though he doesn't dwell on that, and instead breezily moves past it with self-deprecating humor. It's the distillation of lessons from a life well lived by a very smart and caring person - the kind of person who'd make a great mentor.
So what's this got to do with entrepreneurship? Quite a lot actually. Even though he is an academic, he exhibits many of the characteristics of an entrepreneur and almost every piece of advice he gives would resonate with those of an entrepreneurial ilk. My personal favorite is the bit about brick walls being there to prove your dedication and how badly you want something. For startups, the road is not only rocky, but brick walls pop up at seemingly every turn. And not only do you, as the entrepreneur, have to bulk up to swing the metaphorical jack-hammer, you have to get your team to do the same - preferably on their own, without waiting for the caped crusader to do it for them. If you - and your team - are truly committed to your venture, you don't see just the brick wall, but you also see the cracks, the toeholds, and the myriad ways you can get past it.
Of course, like everything else, it is easier said than done, and practice does make it more automatic. One reason the last lecture hit home is that recently our team did a roadmap and targeted a mini-launch based on a date driven by the market and our business goals, and what we believed to be the must-haves in the product. The team then went off to do a detailed scheduling exercise and came back with a date that was over 2 months out from the original target. As it was all well thought out and reasonable, they felt that it was 'reality' and I should be ready to face it. I probably sounded like a woolly-headed new age flake when I responded with it being just one reality, not the one that I was willing to accept, and that my aim was to figure out how we were going to make the target date because that milestone is super-critical to our success. I was confident there was a way, though it might have appeared I was delusional. To keep it short, and sweet, with some discussion, juggling and a dash of 're-thinking' we got to the target date with an acceptable deliverable - and a hefty boost to the morale all around.
So check out the last lecture. But for a few who may be squeamish about it's earnestness, most will find it an inspiring packaging of life lessons. Much of it applicable to startups too. And a reminder that when you really want something, the goal should define the path and not vice versa.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)