Recently Georgi wrote a post on startup math and shared some really valuable insights on the power of entrepreneurial mind. You can read his original post in his blog, but here, I want to summarize and elaborate a bit more on the lessons learned.
You can be better in doing business and research than bigger companies
The common perception is that if a well established, resourceful company is tackling a problem, a startup can’t really outperform and thus needs to pivot.
To be able to do that startupers need to be really dedicated. Startup business is like sports. There are people that can coach you, but you need to do the exercises, you need to get early in the morning and run, eat healthy, rest enough so you have the power to perform.
Your hobby is your startup and your spare time is actually filled with activities connected to your project. There’s nobody that will do that research for you, or will summarize these scientific papers so you can hack straight away. You need to find ways and time to fill in the blanks. Grit is required to do so. A recent study shows that people with grit are more likely to succeed. It’s not your IQ, nor social intelligence or physical health. Grit is passion and perseverance for very long-term goals, sticking with what you want to achieve, working on it 24/7 until you see if fulfilled. Grit is not a week or a month of full commitment, it’s working really really hard to make the vision reality.
Pareto in Full Power – 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes
Georgi puts it this way:
And this is one of the best and most romantic and revolutionary things about startups – you must be extremely resourceful! And Pareto is on your side here – with five times less resources you can still achieve 80% of the result, of course only if you are smart/intuitive/customer-oriented enough to figure out exactly which 20% to go after.
Startups need to focus on things that really matter, work on the MVP of their product, use the most effective marketing and sales channels to be able to put things together. It’s not so easy to find that winning 20% but it’s possible.
Every Hour Counts
Whatever you do, should be done with the presumption it will be helpful to advance your startup. Yes, you need to sacrifice lots of fun activities – going out with friends, playing games, TV, etc. It’s like being on the war front. If you are not there on you post watching out, somebody will take over the land. That doesn’t mean you’ve become startup slave, chained to your startup, no pleasures whatsoever. Remember, what you drives you is your vision, your believe you changing the world, providing better product, service for the others. It’s like the first faze of love relationship – you want to spend every second with your beloved, you call him 3 AM in the morning just to tell her how much you love her.
Now, have some fun and go back to what you are supposed to do to see you startup blossoming. I promise, it will be worth it.