Know What Inning You Are In
As entrepreneurs, we believe our solution is unique. Otherwise, we would not leave the stability and sanity of the real world to enter this parallel uni- verse. Once we make the leap, we are convinced that our idea is unique, necessary and the missing solution in an underserved market. Our perspective is, “I’m surprised that the market isn’t clamoring for my solution now! Once we get it out there, we will be off to the races.” While this perspective can be exciting and invigorating (there’s that passion taking over again), it can also create misalignment of people, financial resources and expectations.
“Uniqueness is both a blessing and a curse.”
Understanding what inning you are in is critical to:
- establishing the right pace for your company
- setting expectations for your team and other constituents
- aligning capital and other resources.
Uniqueness is both a blessing and a curse. When an idea or product is unique, it is new to the market. This may be what makes it sell, but it is also what makes the market slow to comprehend and adopt your innovation. So, one of the perspectives we must develop is the ability to clearly judge how ready the market is for your solution. Put another way, if you have a nine-inning baseball game, you must know what inning you are in so you know how to align your resources. If you believe you are in the ninth inning, you would bring in your closer to end the game. If you are actually in the second inning, you have used the wrong pitcher at the wrong time. It would be like putting on your wedding dress at 9 a.m. for a 5 p.m. wedding. Seems like a good idea at the time, but by 3 p.m. you’d be crying for your jeans and t-shirt.
Being realistic about what inning you are in during the investment or acquisition process is key to pulling the levers you need to pull at the right time.
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