Uncertainty

“A startup is a human institution designed to deliver a new product or service under conditions of extreme uncertainty." - Eric Ries

Most of us would agree with this Eric Ries on this one. The point I would like to stress on here is ‘conditions of extreme uncertainty’. 

Uncertainty is one thing you can definitely be certain on in your startup. I realised this the hard way and wish I and my team members didn’t have to find it out like we did. And this is one of the reasons I haven’t been able to honor my promise.

I’ll be honest with you - we were running behind on our product development schedule. Not because we were confused as to what to do. Nor was it poor planning nor was it lack of motivation. It was factors which were just out of our control and all of them happened at the same freaking time! 

• Two of us had our family members who were sick and we had to go to attend them. Days Lost per person - 15.
• One of us had to leave country for what was an unavoidable trip with the parent. Days Lost per person - 15
• Two of us went about looking for new place to rent. Then stuff gets packed and moved. Then stuff gets opened and settled. Then a man takes a beer and relaxes. Days lost per person - 5

There were more but I’d refrain from listing them all down. There were a few bright lights in between but mostly it was pretty bad. These events were unavoidable and were emotionally sapping. You just can’t plan for such things. And its not a startup specific thing but can happen to anybody - though its just that its effect is felt the most in a startup because we are all building what we think is going to be next big thing and running on really tight schedule to make it happen.

Lessons Learnt: Shit happens. You will run into things that you have no control over. You will feel its a conspiracy against you. But, more often than not its just sheer bad luck. Things eventually do turn around for the better. We came out stronger from that phase, touch wood. We are working harder than ever before on our product. The team has responded admirably to all this and I feel proud of us all. So, thanks team! Keep the faith and keep building. 

Suggested Reading: This too shall pass

When in doubt - TALK!

In any startup, you ARE going to have arguments, misunderstandings and even fights with your co-founders.

You have a co-founder with you whom you know him from your school/college days. So, you can shout at him when you want to and he probably would understand. But, what in case you had met someone new and who became your co-founder over a period of time, what to do then? Do you shout ? He might get offended. Do you sugarcoat your words? It might lose its effect.

We have the same situation - 3 co-founders, 2 of them who know each other from college days and the third one is someone whom we didn’t know for a long time. The best way to deal with the situation is to TALK it out. Start with the belief that all human beings are inherently nice people, and you know what, you’ll find that it is true. So, just relax, take a  deep breath and speak your heart out the way you would to a friend. And see the the effect. This obviously comes from personal experience as declared earlier.