Success can be about less than you think
Don’t fall victim to unfocused ambition
A recent conversation with a CEO/founder I respect greatly illustrated the pitfalls of pushing too hard on too many targets all at once. The CEO raised a seed round and is planning to be “Series A” ready by the end of the year. To him, Series A ready means hitting a number of ambitious targets all at the same time: (1) revenues at a certain level, (2) a meaningful number of design partners, (3) some great customer logos, (4) successful self-service onboarding, (5) significant progress on the product, (6) user engagement, and (7) demonstrated proof from customers that the product is adding tangible value to their bottom line in a quantifiable way, coupled with (8) detailed references from customers explaining why the product is so valuable to them. Sounds great right?
It is great. Or, more accurately, it would have been great if it was remotely possible. But a deeper conversation with the CEO revealed a few critical things that were hidden just under the surface of this otherwise brilliant plan for world domination:
First, these targets are probably simply unattainable. Without going too deep into the details of an anonymous company, you can probably tell from the list of targets that there are just too many of them. Very few companies manage to hit all of those objectives with a small seed-stage team. This is even more the case for a company that is pre-revenue and still working through challenging and critical product, tech, and UX issues. Those challenges are normal for the earliest stages — especially for the most groundbreaking companies — but they also imply that revenues and happy customers might be a bit further off.
Second, too many targets can cancel each other out if pursued simultaneously. Take for example, target #2 (multiple design partners) and target #6 (end user engagement). On an early product that is not really ready for prime time, you often have to choose between the number of design partners and the quality of those relationships. At the early stage — especially with a groundbreaking product — a small number of design partners (sometimes only one) can be enough to learn what you need to learn about the product roadmap. More design partners can be better — but only when they are engaging meaningfully and when you have the resources to devote to drive those relationships. It can be hard to learn about product design goals and repeatability at the same time.
Finally, most of these targets are irrelevant for this company at this stage. The idea of chasing eight stretch goals at the same time only makes sense on the excels and keynote slides of a junior VC somewhere. Yes, in theory, if the CEO hit all those goals, he’d be lined up for a killer Series A. But — as Mike Tyson said, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” In other words, your plans will disintegrate as you start dealing with the realities of actual customers in your actual product. Fortunately, hitting a few key objectives (and knocking just those out of the park) are usually enough to get you to the next level with the right investors. At Angular, we specialize in groundbreaking products: the kind few people believe can be built. Typically, the founders we work with are initially focused on proving a technical capability and/or a product capability. If the seed-stage milestones are kept tightly focused on a few key proofpoints, they should be enough to get to the next round.
Focused ambition. VCs and founders talk a lot about “ambition,” and the prevailing view is — of course — that ambition is good and more ambition is best. I’m all for ambition, but focused ambition is way more powerful and valuable than generalized vague ambition. Listing all possible “Series A” milestones can feel ambitious and empowering — but it can lead founders down a self-defeating path of trying to do too much and, thereby, failing to do the one or two key things they really need to do to derisk the company and unlock the next level. Focused ambition, on the other hand, can be a very powerful strategic tool for aligning true innovators with their customers and their investors. As you navigate the months ahead, ask yourself: what is the focused ambitious target that — if you hit it — will signal your potential to anyone who really understands what they are looking at?
If you are operating in the enterprise or deep tech domains, I’d love to hear about your focused ambition and where it will take you over the next twelve months. Drop me a line at gil@angularventures.com.