Swim or Sink
As we get into the year and grapple with how to manage the pandemic and its effects, many founders are busy trying to get their companies back on track and make up for COVID-induced losses. Let’s talk about the great white sharks. Great White Sharks are the largest predatory fish, they have such a strong sense of smell that they can detect a colony of seals two miles away. And check this out — if there was only one drop of blood in 100 liters of water, a great white would smell it! Like a few other species, they would suffocate without forward motion or a strong current of oxygen-rich water flowing towards their mouths and gills. Not all sharks need to keep swimming to live but some of the greatest predators and food chain leaders do. If Great Whites stop moving they sink to the bottom of the ocean.
Why is this important? We think the great white sharks are analogous to startups. startups are designed to spot opportunities in the most unlikely places and just like the great white shark, the moment startups stop moving/growing they begin to sink and eventually die. Whilst 2020 might have been the year where the pandemic was an excuse for no / slow growth, it’s expected that founders would have reevaluated their options, better understand new user behaviours and chart a path to growth in 2021. Think of your startup like any lifeform, but not just any creature, a shark — a great white shark, the moment you stop growing you die.
How do you keep swimming and growing?
Define and Track Growth
Firstly, you need to define growth. What does growth look like to your startup? Do you classify an increase in users, revenues, or partners as growth? What’s your most important metric, that metric that if it continues to grow and every other thing goes badly, your company would most likely still survive. Growth has a different meaning to every startup. Take your time and think through this process; it is essential. Next set a goal. Think about it this way; if you have a guide, you have a better chance of getting to your destination. Set a weekly or monthly target growth rate and just focus on hitting that. Remember to enjoy and learn from the process.
Re-Evaluate your distribution Channels and strategy
What is the path to your customers? where are your potential customers hanging out, are there new channels you can creatively engage to acquire new customers (e.g Clubhouse). Do you need to discard some of your old distribution channels as consumer behaviours are changing, how do you close that enterprise customer as they no longer work onsite.
Take a step back and ask — what channel works best for my product? What do my users respond best to? Experiment with this as much as possible and also learn from your competitors in the industry. Once you figure that out, commit to a channel or 2 and double down on extracting as much value from it. For example, If your product relies on community building then work that circuit. Go where your users are, and recruit.
Be the underdog
In your early years, you should go all out to pursue growth. Your startup may be competing with older incumbents but that just means there’s more room to experiment. Larger companies have too many users to build a personalized experience, but you can. If you take the extra time to nurture your first group of users they can become your biggest disciples. Send emails, place calls, connect on Twitter, Clubhouse, Instagram live. When it comes to engagement, there’s no such thing as too much engagement for a startup. The more engaged your customers are, the more you are able to learn from them, which fundamentally helps you in building a better product.
Growing a startup is hard, but with the right foundation, the process gets a little easier.
May the force be ever in your favour.