Plenary Expansions Part II: The Founder’s Fallacy
All founders are artists in their own way.
In most cases, they are a mix-breed of romantics, idealists and utopian artists, who see things as they are and ask: “why not?” By definition, such artists reject the world as it is and yearn for recreating it anew. Unique, different and meaningful: that’s how founder-artists envision themselves and their magnum opus – their startup. (Sidebar: did you know that the Latin plural of ‘magnum opus’ is ‘magna opera’?)
In this post, I presented the idea of true artists making every piece of art a plenary expansion of themselves. They weave their soul into the very fabric of their creation: each and every aspect of the art is a reflection of the artist, of their core essence. It’s a noble (and passionate) way to live and work as an artist. As a startup founder-artist, however, it can spell disaster.
A startup is by definition chaotic and has very limited resources. It’s like an archer trying to target one specific bird from amongst a flock who are all flying about frantically, and the archer has just one arrow left. Given that the archer has the necessary skill to do this, what is of paramount importance to meet the target?
Focus.
When resources are limited, we need to be able to focus on the most important thing. Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt, author of The Goal used to say: “If you focus on everything, you focus on nothing.” His Theory of Constraints (TOC) is one of the best methods for finding focus when dealing with complex systems:
1. Identify the constraint
2. Exploit it
3. Subordinate everything else for (2.)
4. Elevate the constraint.
5. Go back to (1.)
Here’s a brief explanation. The underlying belief of TOC is that every system has at least one constraint blocking its peak performance. Once you identify it, you should exploit it, that is squeeze out every ounce of performance till the last drop at its existing capacity. Nothing should go to waste. Towards that end, you should subordinate everything else: everyone should work together to ensure that the constraint ‘works’ at full capacity at all times. Once there, we should then elevate it, that is we increase its inherent capacity (by adding more resources, say). Now, it’s no more a constraint! But instead of patting our backs for a job well done, we go back to step #1 and start over again.
The reason we need to go back is that the constraint will now have moved to some other place within the system. A system is, after all, an interconnectedness of distinct parts and its performance depends upon the weakest link. Elevating a given constraint in step #4 will most definitely cause a ripple effect across the system and something else might hinder its peak performance: say hello to the next constraint and go back to step #1.
A constraint can also be thought of as a leverage point because, by its very nature, it has a disproportionate impact on the overall performance of a system. It’s the 80/20 principle in action. And it’s a focusing tool, as it informs you where you should pay attention.
Where should a startup pay attention? What is its primary leverage point?
To begin with, it’s the product. Actually, it’s the MVP.
A startup is a conspiracy to change the world in some meaningful way. The product is the secret vehicle to affect this change, privy only to the founding team. If the product fails, everything fails. But if it does, it can change the world. It’s the ultimate leverage.
Founders – who are in fact utopian artists, aspiring to infuse their spirit into the very fabric of their startup – tend to lose focus, which is of paramount importance in the chaotic and resource-parched environment of a startup.
Founders need to remember that the first constraint – the first leverage – is the MVP. That’s where they need to bring in their creativity, their passion, infuse their spirit and f*** do whatever it takes to make it work. It has to solve a real problem its users face so that they fall in love with it. Nothing else matters.
As we saw earlier, once a given constraint is elevated, the system gets kind of reconfigured so that something else becomes a constraint. Once the MVP is ready and working as intended, the constraint of the system may shift to other things. Like marketing, talking to users, and getting the users to experience the MVP. Of course, it’s wise to have already started working on these things before the product is ready, but don’t forget that the first constraint is the MVP. Only then will it shift to other areas.
The time to make the marketing a plenary expansion of you – that is, to reinvent marketing, to make it stand out, to make it unique to you etc. – is when it has become the next constraint. Not before that.
This way, founder-artists can go on infusing their spirit into the fabric of the startup, one department at a time.
The last of the constraints will be the startup itself.
By this time, a startup has created a successful product that users love, it has worked out the sales and marketing and optimized internal operations as well. What’s necessary now is to reorganize the startup in such a way, that it becomes a serial producer of star products. This is where the culture of the startup will get defined. This is the point, where the startup finally starts showing itself as a plenary expansion of the founder.
The greatest example of this is Apple. “Apple’s greatest innovation is not the iPhone, but rather, Apple itself,” John Scully said in a 2013 interview with The Huffington Post.
Over the years, Apple has identified and exploited a series of constraints ranging from the product to marketing to software to customer education etc.
But ultimately, what allowed Apple to bring out a series of amazing products was the way Steve Jobs simplified the organizational structure to make it more conducive to innovation. This new structure helped to foster a culture of innovation and collaboration within the company, which was critical to the success of the iPod, iPhone, and other iconic Apple products.
Since then, Apple’s organizational structure has evolved to support the company’s continued growth and expansion into new markets, but the basic principles of collaboration and simplicity that Jobs introduced in the later 1990s and early 2000s still underpin the company’s approach to management and innovation today.
If you are a founder, you are also a romantic artist. You will want to make the startup a plenary expansion of yourself.
But remember, the product is the first battlefront. Make that a plenary expansion of yourself first. Don’t try to innovate on anything else before you have the MVP. It’s all right to adopt standard processes for every operation within your startup. Attack them one at a time.
If all goes well, eventually you’ll get what you wanted: a startup that’s a plenary expansion of you.
(Disclaimer: These are all my personal views on the subject of startups and founders. I am the founder of Pulse of Learning and have been running it for more than three years. Here I share my own learning through the things that have and have not worked in my journey. These ideas are not based on any rigorous study across the industry; but rather on my singular insights. I am a teacher, content creator, learning experience designer and someone who is passionate about learning, about the artist’s way, about creating, about startups and in general about becoming a better person. I write about these things based on my own experience and thinking. If you don’t agree with any of my views, you are welcome to initiate a dialogue. But be polite, kind and respectful. Trashy comments will go where they rightfully belong.)
