Are You Ready To Move At Startup Speed?

Startup Speed describes how successful startups get things done... quickly, dispassionately, unburdened by ego. It feels familiar to Move Fast, Break Things but, in my opinion, is more productive, and less tech-bro-boastful.

Startup Speed is exhilarating when you're in the middle of it, but terrifying for anyone used to working in a more hierarchical, orderly fashion. (And yes, exhilarating and terrifying are essentially the same emotion - they're just perceived differently, depending on who's feeling them.)

Like most things in startups, Startup Speed is driven by both the carrot of growth, the the stick of meagre resources. 

It can be characterized by (among other things): 

• Learning efficiency - Is everyone committed to learning? More important, is everyone committed to sharing the mistakes they've just made, so the rest of us can learn, too?
• Decision speed - Is there an emphasis on making quick decisions, or gathering additional data? 
• Strategic agility - Are plans modified and resources quickly reassigned when goals aren't being met? 

My job as a revenue brand builder is to drive revenue for founders now, as well as building brands that will create revenue consistently into the future. Startup Speed is my go-to mode. 

Here are a few of the tools I use. You may find them helpful.

Find the money in plain sight

Normally, I begin an engagement by defining the company's positioning, value prop, customer profile, etc. All the stuff that helps everyone understand why the heck they're doing what they're doing. 

But very quickly (often concurrently) I engage my performance-driven marketers to catch the fish already swimming around the lure. Often, frequent website visitors, newsletter readers, and social media clickers just need the right nudge to buy - not a shiny new value prop. And when they buy, that drives revenue. And that in turn buys runway, ensuring the good stuff we're building will actually see the light of day. 

I also engage my grant writer. Grants are free money that can be unlocked if you have the patience to find them, and apply properly. I don't have the patience (and often, neither do the founders I work with) but I'm lucky I work with someone who does. 

Finally, I prep the bankers and investors I know, alerting them to the work we're doing, and that within very short order they should expect to be hearing from an entrepreneur who'd like some support in accelerating their growth. Please and thank you.

The goal? Drive revenue. Increase runway. And (most important to me) gather insights on what pitches work in the wild. 

Focus on the MVB action

In my days as a turnaround-engineering creative director (I helped raise 3 ad agencies out of the doldrums), I learned that from the moment I stepped into a job, I had 6 months max to execute a lightning strike - launching a campaign that alerted everyone to watch this space. 

I define this as the MVB action. MVB = Minimum Viable Brand. If my brand is turnaround guy, I need to prove it, fast. 

You don't need endless meetings, lengthy research, pointless iterations and out-the-wazoo testing to launch a brand. You need to focus all your fire on a very small action, succeed in that action, then move on to bigger things. 

Treat each pitch like a research interview

I'm not talking about investor pitches here. I'm talking about pitches to win pilot projects and trials. Win enough of these, and you get the traction that makes pitching for investment easier (or even unnecessary) down the road. 

Pitches shouldn't be approached as pitches. They're interviews. Your job is to tell your prospect what you've learned about them, and why a solution that does what your solution does might be helpful. 

Then shut up and listen. 

Faced with thoughtful silence and rapt listening, people open up and start to talk. And they do say the darndest things. 

Just this week I've started a conversation asking a prospect what their pain points were, and had them proceed to unpack all the competitor solutions they'd tried, why they'd all failed, and why they wanted to give our solution a try. Unprompted. 

After that, all we need to do is pause a few days, build a simple proposal that covers what they asked, and put it in front of them. Done. At Startup Speed.

Triage

When you're gathering insights from consumers, prospects, and partners, you'll get their thoughts on campaign ideas they'd like to see. 

When you're reflecting insights back to your clients, you'll get their thoughts on campaign ideas they'd like to see. 

When you're laying in bed wondering about the firehose of information you're drinking from, you'll come up with campaign ideas you'd like to see. 

Long story short, you'll have a long list of things you'd like to do. And a startup budget. 

Here's how I give this massive wish list a sense of order and priority, quickly:

• Which action is easiest to execute,
• That costs the least, and
• Promises the biggest bang for the buck?

It's like medical triage. But instead of saving the patient who needs care most urgently, I'm prioritizing campaign actions to move at Startup Speed. 

Ready to Accelerate?

I've developed tools (and by sheer willpower, a brain that sorts stuff quickly) that can help any entrepreneurial venture turn Startup Speed into a competitive advantage. 

If you're interested in finding out more, I'm happy to chat.