Starting Point – Motivation
I showed in my last blog post that a lack of market need for your product is the #1 reason for startup failure.
A big question to ask is “What is your motivation for starting your company?”
If your primary goal is to sell your company to Google or Facebook you might struggle to find good product-market fit. Moreover, many venture capitalists will see through you and refuse you funding.
Why? Because, starting out with money as your ultimate goal leads in the majority of cases to failure…and VCs know this.
They want to fund something that meets a big need in the world; that solves a major pain point for a large enough market so that the solution generates them a 10X or more return.
Instead start by creating a vision of what broken part of society you’d like to radically fix. Begin with the end in mind and see it, feel it, believe it…dream big and have an audacious goal that at the same time makes you incredibly excited and petrifies you.
Then figure out the cause that is leading to the effect that you want to change. Work at the correct end of the cause-effect spectrum. Too many people accept what’s been given them and blame their circumstances for their results.
Instead, examine why you’re getting these results and identify the cause. Then create your company that works to change the cause.
All this requires thinking, and lots of it. Bernard Shaw said, “Two percent of the people think; three percent of the people think they think, and ninety-five percent of the people would rather die than think.”
The most successful multi-millionaire business owners are extremely busy and you’d wrongly assume they have time for frivolous things like thinking. However, they realize that their thinking time yields them a higher return than any other activity they participate in. And so that time becomes sacred to them.
How often do you just sit down and think? I mean really think with no distractions for a minimum of 30 minutes in room all alone with a pen and notepad?
Your answer to this question could define your success going forward…