I just returned from a week of fly fishing on one of California's prime trout rivers, the McCloud. Along side the blue green running water I camped with my best friend. During our long ride up and back in my Jeep we had time to catch up and share a lot of what was going on in our lives. After each day of great fishing, I cooked a delicious camp dinner and we talked further, until we were ready to climb into our sleeping bags and quickly sink into a deep, restful sleep.
Today I thought I'd share with you more of the lessons for startups that you'll find in fishing.
- Be quick and agile. I fish a stream by starting on one section of water, choosing a fly patter and casting to see what fish will respond. Often nothing happens after alteration of technique and fly patterns. So I then move on. I don't spend a lot of time pounding the fishing hole with a thousand casts. Instead, I spend ten to fifteen minutes there and if nothing exciting happens, I then move to the next section of water. Startups that are quick and agile behave the same way. They test the market with what they have to offer, target a demographic segment of customers and start selling. If the response is mild, then the startup alters the offering for a short time to see what else might work and what does not. If only a mild response continues, then the startup moves to another market segment. This continues until the sweet spot is found and sales start to jump.
A good example of this agility was reported in The Risk Takers, a special segment in Business Week of June 22, 2008. Here is a real startup that is quick and agile:
"JustAnswer is a San Franciso company that lets customers ask questions of experts in almost any field for a small fee. It had been chugging along for five years when the recession hit. As the housing market crashed and homeowners slowed their purchase of appliances, CEO Andy Kurtzig anticipated a demand for repair services. He devoted an increasing portion of his marketing budget to appliance repair advertising. Much went to buying key words on Google and other search engines. It worked: JustAnswer has seen a 57% increase in questions about repairs over the past year. Refrigerator and computer repair quieries have risen 409% and 780%, respectively."
The reporter, Brian Burnsed, commented further that "The common thread among successful entrepreneurs is that they're daring to be aggressive rather than defensive amid the weak economy."
BOTTOM LINE: Startups that are quick and agile thrive in challenging times. But hello, when are times not challenging for startups? The lesson is simple: the CEOs who use startup agility are the ones who not only survive, they thrive in these times. It is part of their unfair advantage.
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