Is There a Secret Code to Creating Successful Startups?

“When your product solves a problem that costs customers sleep, revenue, or profits, things are definitely looking up.” — Steve Blank

Turn Setbacks into Opportunities

Wouldn’t it be great if there was a Startup algorithm or code to help you build a business? Many people have written books about how to start a business or launch a startup. Most people would agree it’s not so easy to quantify. There are no simple steps to follow and there are no guarantees. It’s hard to calculate the potential success of a business since there are so many variables involved. You can create a business plan or project future revenue all day long but there is never a guarantee that things will go as planned. People’s preferences change, employees come and go, economies shift, and the unexpected happens that could put you out of business overnight. (Think 9/11 or Covid-19).

Maybe the success of a business has more to do with the people starting the business than it does with the product or service. After all, there are numerous stories of people that struggled through failure after failure, were repeatedly told by experts or investors that they would fail only to succeed in a big way (like Elon Musk and Sara Blakely of Spanx). Failure happens and it’s a normal process of business. Those who succeed use failure as a learning tool.

What do successful people do differently than the rest? In my view, there are problem finders and there are solutionaires – those people who find solutions to a problem with a vision on how to close the gap. The premise is that once you identify the problem you are one step away from solving it. These are the visionaries that press forward without validation, they trust their gut, and take risks other people aren’t willing to take. They are the dreamers and have what Zen master’s call Beginner’s Mind. They look at products and services and ask, “Can this be done differently? Is there a better, more efficient way?” They find the gap (the pain point) and uncover the opportunity. They find the sweet spot of doing something in a completely different way nobody else is doing. They uncover unmet needs and seize opportunities. Their ability to visualize the future is so strong that nothing can stop them.

As an entrepreneur, I’ve had my fair share of successes and failures, and if there was a way to code for business success, this is where I’d start:

1. Believe in yourself and in your vision — if you don’t know one else will.
2. Fill a need — are you filling a need for your customers or trying to create something and find a need for it? You can come up with the greatest idea ever but if your customers don’t want it, you got a problem.
3. Turn setbacks into strengths— focus on what’s working and capitalize on wins.
4. Develop flash teams — a network of cognitively diverse people that come together quickly, work hard to solve the problem, and disband.
5. Gamify work — playing games with others can improve relationships, build team cooperation, and foster creativity.
6. Pay attention to ‘ah-ha’ moments — be flexible enough to know when to pivot and be prepared to pivot again and again and again until you get it right.
7. Keep an eye on the horizon — embrace change, evolve, diversify, know your competition, and stay ahead of the pack.
8. Create a repeatable and scalable business model — Mark Cuban says, “Forget the passion, passion is a given, go for the green, not the dream and ask yourself what do I do differently that nobody else can do?”