Startup problems multiply faster than human cells

Why it matters

• In general, founders’ personalities float around the “problem solver” and “knight” archetypes.

• Our instinct pushes us to follow any opportunity to fix something. We see a problem, we go after it.

• If we can stick to one of these quests, we have a chance. It’s only one “problem cell” and its implications to handle.

• However, if we chase every dragon and try to save every princess on the way, we get exposed to many more problems. And that will certainly make us distracted from our initial quest.

Don’t poison your focus with more “cancer-problem cells” than you can control and defeat.

The Problem’s Law

If you’re building a software company, you know Reed’s Law1. It’s a mathematical concept that the utility of a network (e.g. social media platform) scales exponentially with the size of the network.

I have formulated my own variation of this model:

The Problem’s Law states that the number of problems grows exponentially with the number of actions we take.

The common startup problem-cells that multiply at a rapid pace:

• More than one product before product/ market fit

• Overly broad customer groups (trying to save everyone)

• Scaling too early

• More people on a team

• More investors on board

My backstory

I’ve taken that lesson the hard way myself.

When starting REDD Platform, we decided to launch one software product (good decision!) to serve three groups of professionals (mistake!) in the commercial real estate market.

From there, it was a waterfall:

1. To handle product development for these three customer groups, we hired more people.

2. More people → more management issues → lower performance per person → not so fast development as we’ve planned

3. More management issues → less time to listen to our clients → less accurate product → harder to reach product/ market fit

4. Less accurate product → harder sales → more pressure on cashflow → more time in spreadsheets → less time to develop a better solution → less accurate product.. and the circle closes.

To summarize, we’ve made a simple “cell-decision” to serve too many customers, and that cell multiplied into hundreds of problems that could end badly.

Today, we are in a good place. We are focused to deliver value to one key group of clients. We still face many problems, but these are fun to overcome. Always in control.

What I think

1. One problem at a time.

2. Kill the cancer cells.

3. Get immunized.

4. Explore further… one problem at a time.