What really matters in a startup
One of the hardest things about running a startup is keeping the focus on what really matters. Why is this so hard? Because on any given day you have to do all of the things that keep the startup engine running: finance, accounting, hiring, legal issues, taxes, investor relations — you get the picture. It’s pretty easy to get lost in all of that activity. It’s all important stuff, but how much of it really matters?
We’ve been talking alot about “what matters” inside of Punchbowl over the last few days. Our goal has been to identify the very few things that we believe can drive our business in the short-term. With our limited resources, we don’t have a lot of bandwidth to be spending on things that don’t really matter.
Here are a few questions that will help you decide if your startup is currently working on what ”really matters”:
- As a company, what is your next important milestone?
- If you are raising capital, what are the critical metrics and proof points that will help tell your story?
- What are the revenue drivers for your company? (users? eyeballs?) How does your priority list directly relate to your revenue drivers?
- Is your development team working on features that are “nice to have” or are they critical to moving the business forward?
- What’s the most important thing you can do to grow your business?
- Who feels the pain if you don’t do a particular item on the list? Your users? Your investors? Your employees?
It’s been an interesting few days as we’ve whittled down our laundry list of things we want to do to only the things that matter. The list above has been a useful tool for me as we’ve focused on what really matters.
If you’re in a startup: ask yourself the questions above. Are you currently working on the things that really matter?
