Oof. 8 OT and GA Tech Lost: The myth of Default Alive

We are a Georgia Tech family. Myself (Alum and past Adjuncf), my sons (Mechanical and industrial), my wife, my sister and a lot of our friends. This past Friday we had our rivalry game with University of Georgia (ranked 7) on their home turf in Athens, GA. As a GT family, we are proud of many things, football has not been a highlight of our relationship with GT. So when GT had some major upsets this season, the optimism was building.Well, that optimism continued into the very beginning of the game and continued through halftime. “We” went into the locker rooms up 17-0. GT owned the time of possession most of the game including a 3rd quarter march down the field from their own 2 yard line. GT quarterback, Haynes King was a force of nature. At one point it felt like he was all that mattered. The play calling was wild as GT had a former coach from UGA that knew their playbook really well. The commentators kept referring to a cat and mouse game. Ultimately, UGA came back to tie, and eventually win in 8OT. For those of you that know me, know that I’m not a sports person and I only watch entire games if I am attending and there is usually a VIP suite involved. I loved playing sports, but killing hours of my life parked in front of a TV is not my thing. BTW, in case you missed it, most sports viewership these days is driven by the gambling culture of our young men. I digress.. so why do I care about sharing this with my founders. Well, I’m still tired. 7:30pm to 12:30pm is not exactly a relaxing game. I feel like I may have been as tired as the players. I mean..their young. Unfortunately for those that love me, I can’t just experience things and walk away. I always have to have a learning experience. I come by it honestly, my Dad bored me with his analysis of everything around us. We once went to the Air and Space museum in DC. My Dad was explaining “space frame” design of the atrium structure and the moments/stresses. I was 12. I was like “Dad it’s a huge rocket, I don’t care about the building!” Well, I was thinking it. If I said it out loud, he would have probably smacked me, or worse “talked” to me. 

So here we go, “KP, WTF does this have to do with my startup and how as I reflect on 2024 that I’m almost out of cash and just trying to hang on.”

1. GT QB, Haynes King was a beast. His determination was amazing. Generally he has really good judgement. Reminds me of founders. They want to keep the ball and run every play. They get positive results and this reinforces that it’s the right thing to do. Lead by doing.. Unfortunately, like this 5 hour game, the founder journey is long and a founder cannot keep it up alone as the game gets protracted. 
2. Time of possession. GT owned this. It reminds me of how I disagree with Paul Graham on his theory of “Default Alive”. Just because your startup survives for a long time, doesn’t mean you will win the game. Isn’t that all that matters? Yes, being default alive may keep you in the game. That’s a great stat (most startups fold under 3 years), it doesn’t mean much on its own. 
3. Beating an incumbent. UGA is the equivalent of an incumbent company that a startup is trying to beat. GT was up early by being scrappy and running unusual plays. They also had a lot of grit. Eventually, experience wins. The UGA team was an all senior team that had never been defeated at home. This wasn’t their first tough game together. While it took them a half of a game, they eventually figured it out. As a founder, you may have an initial product that takes share from an incumbent. If you get their attention, they can course correct. As a startup, you have to keep innovating. 
4. Poaching an employee. GT hired a former UGA coach and it helped them have an advantage at the beginning. Too many startups hire away a star salesperson from a competitor. They think that their relationships and “black book” (for my younger readers, contact database but notebook) will be a huge growth advantage. It’s not. A salesperson is not going to walk into a former customer and tell them “remember what I sold you last year? That was trash. This new thing is the best!” Instead hire for experience and their ability to be productive in similar game day situations. 
5. Always be aggressive . GT was ahead by 2TD and had their defense play “back”. They figured that we can let them score and hopefully the clock will run out. Never stop playing the game as aggressively as possible.  
6. External threats. Those damn referees made some crappy calls at the end that became game defining. No matter how hard you work, sometimes shit happens that is not in your control. 

So while I am sure many UGA alumni are still out there celebrating, us GT grads are back at working changing the world. 

My evergreen incubator is open to all startups to apply, regardless of stage.

https://kpreddy.co/incubator