“All start up companies have one thing in common-they all get in trouble. It’s how they and you on the board handle their trouble that separates the winners from the losers.” Tom Perkins
This quote couldn’t be more accurate - especially in the current economic climate. It got me thinking about the roller coaster nature of building young companies. As M. Perkins says, every startup has issues. If you don’t, you’re either lucky or you’re not pushing hard enough.
So, how do you deal with the ups and downs? I’ve seen people ride them all the way. When things are up, they have boundless energy. Nothing can go wrong. When things dip down, you see the stress building. They can’t think straight and they start messing up - only making things worse.
If living the highs and lows is too much, another strategy of course is to not care. You just come in do your thing and go home. I don’t have to say it, but that just won’t work. You won’t win.
So, how do you find balance? For me, it comes down to four elements:
Perspective: This comes with experience and/ or with good mentors and advisors. Accept that there will always be more work to do than can be done and that there will always be problems.
Pick your battles: You can’t bring equal intensity and passion to all your work. Some projects will keep you working around the clock. Others will get done only when time permits.
Clarity of vision: Day-to-day execution is muddy. You need to always keep the overall mission, vision and value proposition close to you. Step back as often as you can and recalibrate yourself and your company against these benchmarks.
Team: This is by far the most important element. If I know I’ve got a kick ass team around me, I can handle all the ups and downs. In fact, in those inevitable valleys, the big thing that gets me through them is the knowledge that even though I may not have the answer, I’ve got the team and collectively we can figure it out.