The Perils of Shiny New Objects by Mark Suster
I have a saying that I employ as a powerful metaphor at every startup with whom I work — “beware of shiny new objects.”
All of this whiplash is destroying your business. All of these features, products, business models in their own right are valuable. Slowly. Sequentially. Thoughtfully. Methodically. Tested. In due course.
I strongly believe that your success will be more defined by what you choose not to do than by what you choose to do.
Of course what you choose to do has be be meaningful, timely, valuable, prescient and high quality. Else you suck regardless.
the entire model of a startup is prioritizing resource constraints. So what you choose to do, do well and go deep. Or you risk having a product & business that is a mile wide and an inch deep. Great at nothing.
Everything you say “yes” to is incrementally one more thing to support and you die a death by a thousand cuts. I’ve seen it a million times. It’s more common than rare.
Focus is hard — especially when you’re not seeing immediate results. But ask yourself the harder questions of “why” and test remedies rather than just quickly trying the latest thing you’ve heard about. So when you’re in your resource allocation meeting, think about what things you can say “great idea, let’s add it to the long-term suggestion list” as opposed to actioning it.
Mark Suster 2x entrepreneur. Sold both companies (last to @salesforce). Now @UpfrontVC looking to invest in passionate entrepreneurs.