Go out and do things and the world will be kind to you - this is my one takeaway from the past year.
2021 was the year of ‘getting things off the ground’ for me. I knew I wanted to build a business, but wasn’t sure how or with whom. I spent a lot of time:
Validating ideas
Doing market research
Doing user research
Trying to find a cofounder
Figuring out a business model
Figuring out a GTM strategy
Thinking about building my own distribution
Picturing if the product would work
I enjoyed this cycle. It involved lot of analysis, research, and learning about new industries. I was happy staying in my room and drawing on my white board. But somewhere along the way I realized that a. I was moving way too slowly this way and b. there was an ‘action’ version of each item on that list that moved me forward 10x faster.
Validating ideas → putting a deck together and pitching people in the industry
Doing market research → Talking to founders who have been there before
Doing user research → Actually going out and interviewing real people
Trying to find a cofounder → Working on a one month project with a candidate
Figuring out a business model → Selling a crude version to your friends and seeing if they pay for it
Figuring out a GTM strategy → Running a few ads, writing a blog post
Thinking about building my own distribution → Writing a post on LinkedIn
Picturing if the product would work → Getting through the cycle and putting an MVP in people’s hands
There are many ways to put this - have a bias towards action, fail fast, put yourself out there. They’re all just different and fancy ways of saying ‘do the thing.’
I'm excited for our launch early next year because it’s the ultimate manifestation of ‘do the thing.’ We actually get a product in people's hands and either get validation, or understand we have to pivot. Either way we get direction, and can choose what to do with it when it comes.
I’ll end with a gem from Twitter that particularly resonated with me through all this: “don't let the perfect be the enemy of the pretty crappy to be honest but nobody's paying attention.” - just go out and do the thing.
